North Beach residents rejoiced in 2023 when Red Bridge Partners filed for permits to redevelop the burnt-out Verdi Building at 659 Union St. Three years later, some are crying foul and are attempting to block the developer from pursuing new construction there altogether. 

The relationship between developer and community fractured last month when Red Bridge obtained an emergency permit to demolish the structure, which has been empty since a 2018 fire and is held up by temporary shoring. A fire also broke out at the building in 2013. 

At the eleventh hour, just as excavators were about to knock it down, a group known as the North Beach Tenants Committee appealed the permit and temporarily halted the demolition, claiming that the city approved the teardown of the historic structure under the false pretense that the job would entail only minor repairs. Other complaints included a lack of proper public notice and environmental review; additionally, the demolition would circumvent requirements to set aside housing for former tenants who had been displaced by fire.

At the heart of the conflict is the fact that Red Bridge promised to maintain the historic brick facade when it gained approval in 2023 to build a 23-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail. The development firm, led by Jeff Jurow, has since abandoned that project and last year floated a revised proposal four times larger that would see the facade torn down.

The new proposal is on hold with the city Planning Department, a Jurow spokesperson confirmed, pending a required environmental remediation that entails cleaning the soil of contaminants by excavating up to a depth of 15 feet. 

In its written response to the tenant committee’s appeal, Red Bridge said it can remediate the site only by demolishing the entire structure. 

Red Bridge sought the emergency demolition permit after two engineering firms studied the property and provided reports this year identifying the structure as an “immediate collapse hazard.” Another firm had examined the site in 2020 and concluded that permanent shoring would be economically infeasible. 

Those assessments were supported by the Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection, which issued the emergency order March 24. 

“Prolonged exposure to weather, both fires, and the subsequent firefighting efforts have weakened the mortar in the walls. It was easy for [us] to remove individual bricks with our bare hands from two separate locations,” an engineer from Dolmen Consulting Engineers wrote after visiting the site in March. 

The tenant committee challenged the emergency permit primarily on the basis that the demolition plan of 2023 was to be limited to a 50-foot section of the rear wall. The group contends that since the Verdi Building is eligible to be listed on national and state registers of historic places, any demolition would need a thorough environmental review. 

Additionally, the North Beach Tenants Committee expressed concern that Red Bridge is trying to use the demolition to circumvent commitments to set aside homes for former tenants who were displaced by the 2018 fire. 

“Accordingly, the demolition does not involve the removal of existing housing units and does not trigger replacement housing requirements,” an attorney for Red Bridge wrote in a letter to the Board of Appeals last week. 

The developer and the city’s building inspection and planning departments all say that the description of the 50-foot section in the permit was a “clerical error” and maintain that full demolition was always each party’s intent. Furthermore, Red Bridge says that since it wants to utilize state housing laws to streamline the approval process, environmental remediation was always going to be required, and the overriding legislation from Sacramento means it can bypass certain local requirements. 

Supervisor Danny Sauter, who represents the district, said it is his understanding that the demolition of the Verdi Building is not connected to development plans for the site. “Those conversations deserve their own space and community feedback,” he said. “This [demolition] is about safety. That property has been deteriorating for more than eight years and has gotten to the point that it is barely standing.” 

The District 3 supervisor added that while he supports preserving historical landmarks — as evidenced by his nominating 15 properties for designation in Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Family Zoning Plan — “aesthetic” concerns should not be prioritized over safety.

His predecessor, Aaron Peskin, expressed concern that since Red Bridge has not been publicly forthcoming about its changing development plans, the firm cannot be trusted.

“It’s been advertised a certain way for all these years, and then suddenly we have these reports saying it’s an imminent collapse hazard,” Peskin said. “It kind of feels like a bait and switch.”