The TODCO Group Story

IN THE BEGINNING – THE 1960’s …

The City of San Francisco approved the massive Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment Project in 1964 to demolish SOMA’s longtime “skid row” – home to its 4,000 residents – and build a convention center. To fight back, in 1969 the poor and elderly tenants living there in dozens of rundown residential hotels and apartments organized Tenants and Owners in Opposition to Redevelopment – TOOR – and vowed “We Won’t Move!” In 1969 TOOR filed a federal lawsuit demanding decent relocation housing that brought the redevelopment project to a halt for four years.

1971

TOOR Incorporates Tenants and Owners Development Corporation to Build Replacement Housing for Residential Hotels Demolished By the Yerba Buena Redevelopment Project

The idea of neighborhood-based housing development organizations – instead of public housing and charity groups – was new. TODCO was San Francisco’s second “community-based housing development corporation.”

1973

Landmark “TOOR vs. HUD” Lawsuit Settlement Guarantees Yerba Buena Replacement Housing

Despite bitter political attacks against TOOR, the City and Redevelopment Agency were legally forced to provide four development sites in Yerba Buena Center for future new housing to replace demolished residential hotels, along with City Hotel Tax funds to finance their development. Four Tenderloin residential hotels were also required to be privately rehabilitated for immediate replacement housing prior to demolition, and they are still affordable senior housing today. And additional new senior housing projects to be built by the Housing Authority, Salvation Army, and St. Patricks’ Parish were also added to the YBC Plan.

Since That Beginning …

1976

TODCO Begins Yerba Buena Housing Development Work

TODCO’s original staff – organizers Steve Dutton, Sandy Marks, and TOOR’s co-founder Peter Mendelsohn – working with architect Robert Herman secured the initial project’s financing commitment from the then-new California Housing Finance Agency to develop the first Yerba Buena TOOR site.

1979

Woolf House Phase 1 Is Completed and Opens in Yerba Buena

TODCO’s Housing Development Named after TOOR’s co-founder and Chairman George Woolf who died in 1971, Woolf House opened with 112 new apartments for seniors on the first TOOR Housing site at Fourth and Howard Streets in the heart of Yerba Buena Center.

1980

Dimasalang House Is Completed and Opens in Yerba Buena

A HUD-funded joint venture – forced by City politicians – between TODCO and the Filipino-American Caballeros Dimasalang, Dimasalang House (since renamed San Lorenzo Ruiz Center) opened with 149 new apartments for seniors on the second TOOR housing site. TODCO withdrew from this joint-venture in 1986.

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Provides First Vision of Commercial Developer Funding for Affordable Housing Development

Providing crucial technical assistance to the civic advocacy group, San Franciscans for Reasonable Growth, addressing the environmental and social displacement impacts of downtown development, TODCO drafted a set of growth mitigation proposals, including the seminal concept to charge “exactions” from commercial developers to fund production of affordable housing. This concept was ultimately adopted by the City, producing over $500 million for that purpose during the last 40 years, and has spread throughout the United States.

1981

TODCO’s Community Planning Formulates the Yerba Buena Neighborhood Plan as a Community Vision for the Future

Working with the Yerba Buena Consortium neighborhood council, TODCO’s Plan first proposed creation of a real all-age, all-income residential Yerba Buena Neighborhood as one central goal of the Yerba Buena Redevelopment Area. 20 years later, the Consortium is as active as ever, and all of the Plan’s main recommendations – including at last a local supermarket in 2003 – have been achieved.

TODCO’s Housing Development TODCO Buys Two Derelict Residential Hotels in the South Park Area to Prevent Their Demolition

South Park was a run down neighborhood a few blocks from Yerba Buena Center, and its Madrid Hotel and South Park Hotel had been shut down for public health violations. Ultimately these two hotels were renovated by Mission Housing Development Corp., and today provide 85 rooms for the formerly homeless, while all around South Park has been transformed into a fashionable center of San Francisco’s Tech Industry.

1982

Woolf House Phase 2 Is Completed and Opens

TODCO’s Housing Development This first addition to Woolf House, also financed by the California Housing Finance Agency with additional City Hotel Tax funding, added 70 more new apartments for seniors.

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Secures a Commitment to Affordable Housing in the Future Rincon Point/South Beach Redevelopment Area

Working as a member of the Northeast Waterfront Citizens Advisory Committee, TODCO secured an overall goal that 50% of the new waterfront project’s housing would be affordable. As a result, after 20 years over 600 affordable apartments have been developed, almost 30% of the total.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Secures Neighborhood Appreciation from San Francisco Convention Industry

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium successfully proposed that Moscone Center host an annual ‘thank you’ event for the senior residents of YBC for the Center’s everyday impacts on their lives. The event has been held annually for 1,200+ YBC senior residents ever since.

1983

TODCO’s Community Advocacy Secures historic Jessie Hotel façade retention within the Yerba Buena Paramount Apartments project, plus 20% (100) affordable units and $3 million for SOMA SRO acquisition.

The one-time home of TOOR, the Jessie Hotel/Breens Cafeteria parcel was redeveloped with a 500 unit 40 story apartment house at Third and Mission Street by The Related Companies.

1984

TODCO’s Community Advocacy Secures Vital Adult Day Health Center for Frail Central City Seniors

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium co-founded the North and South of Market Adult Day Health Center, Inc. in 1984, now Steppingstone Inc., and proposed and advocated for SFRA funding assistance for construction of the North and South of Market Adult Day Health Center in Mendelsohn House which opened in 1989 and presently assists 140 Central City low-income elders.

Ceatrice Polite Apartments Is Completed and Opens in Yerba Buena

TODCO’s Housing Development Named after stalwart TOOR advocate Ms. Ceatrice Polite, this HUD and City Hotel Tax -funded project added 91 new apartments for seniors on the third TOOR housing site.

TODCO Starts its Resident Services/Activities Program To Provide Support Services for Tenants of TODCO housing

Community Building - Beginning with a small daily lunch Nutrition Program at Woolf House, TODCO’s “RSAP” program has since grown to now provide each year over $2,000,000 of supportive social services, nutrition programs, special events, trips, arts programs, and activities for the almost 1,000 residents of TODCO housing.

1985

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy proposes an “Annual Limit On Office Development” for San Francisco to regulate its environmental, infrastructure, housing, and social impacts.

Working with a coalition of community and civic advocates, the “Proposition M” ballot initiative measure was successful passed in 1986 to implement the Annual Limit.

1986

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Secures Essential Wider Fourth Street Sidewalks

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium proposed and advocated for widening of Fourth Street sidewalks from Market Street to Harrison Street as a pedestrian safety mitigation measure for Moscone North expansion project. All construction was completed in phases by 2002.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Secures Essential Traffic Intersection Mitigations

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium proposed and advocated improved pedestrian safety traffic intersection signals with exclusive ‘scramble’ pedestrian phases, red-light cameras and mandatory assignment of Traffic Control Officers as mitigation measures for Moscone West Expansion Project. Phased implementation was completed in 2004.

TODCO’S Neighborhood Building Alice Street Community Gardens Is Completed and Opens in Yerba Buena

The first part of the Mendelsohn House project and a major goal of the YBC Neighborhood Plan, this ever-popular beautiful garden/park replaced the earlier Clementina Street community garden where Ceatrice Polite Apartments was built, providing 250 planter beds for all Yerba Buena Neighborhood residents. The name “Alice Street” keeps alive the memory of one of the SOMA alleys wiped off the map in the process of Yerba Buena’s redevelopment.

1987

TODCO’s Community Advocacy Assists Development of Affordable Childcare in Yerba Buena Center

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium supported and advocated for the Market Street Association’s proposed construction of a Childcare Center as part of Yerba Buena Gardens CB-3 to serve Central City families. The YBC Childcare Center was built and opened in 1998, to enroll 99 children, including 1/3 low-income households.

1988

Mendelsohn House Is Completed and Opens in Yerba Buena

TODCO’s Housing Development Named in honor of TOOR co-founder Peter Mendelsohn who had died in 1985, this HUD and City Hotel Tax funded project added 189 new apartments for seniors on the fourth and last TOOR Housing Site. In 1989 it was a Fannie Mae Foundation Maxwell Awards of Excellence Finalist, and in 1990 it was awarded the national American Institute of Architects Honor Award for its outstanding design.

TODCO Starts Its Neighborhood Building to Provide Community Facilities for All Yerba Buena Residents

Beginning with the new North and South of Market Adult Day Health Center in Mendelsohn House, over the years TODCO has provided storefront spaces within its housing developments for vital community-based service providers and grass-roots community groups.

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Leads to City Hotel Tax Funding for Senior Housing Development

Set to expire with the completion of the four TOOR Housing Sites, TODCO initiated City legislation that has since provided over $80 million of City Hotel Taxes for development of affordable senior housing throughout San Francisco. This funding ended in 2013.

1990

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Contributes to Community-Preservation Rezoning of SOMA

Working with a coalition of SOMA community groups, TODCO provided extensive technical input to the five year City Planning process that resulted in complete “South of Market Plan” rezoning of western SOMA to preserve existing housing and working class jobs, yet encouraging compatible new development as well.

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Leads To Creation of New Sixth Street Redevelopment Area

Within months of the Loma Prieta Earthquake, TODCO and the South of Market Problem Solving Council neighborhood coalition convinced the City and Redevelopment Agency to establish the South of Market Earthquake Recovery Redevelopment Project, focused on making SOMA’s Sixth Street “skid row” a decent place to live and rehabilitate its rundown residential hotels.

TODCO Establishes the TODCO Development Company to Expand Its Housing Development Efforts

Having completed its original Yerba Buena senior housing mission, TODCO assessed its future activities as SOMA’s only community-based community development organization. Securing annual City Community Development Block Grant funding, TODCO determined to address the future of all of South of Market by developing more affordable housing and community facilities, focusing especially on implementing the new Sixth Street Redevelopment Project to address the harsh reality of “skid row.”

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Leads To Rezoning Yerba Buena Project Area parcel for housing development instead of office/hotel projects.

Working with the Redevelopment Agency, 600+ new housing were authorized for the completion of YBC to substantially expand the initially intended residential neighborhood, including one new affordable SRO.

1991

TODCO Community Building Starts the Innercity Arts Program with the Sixth Photography Workshop for Homeless and Hotel Tenants

Recognizing the power of the creative arts to transform individual lives and build community consciousness, for more than three decades TODCO has sponsored community arts projects, programs, and exhibits for Yerba Buena seniors and SOMA hotel tenants, notably this nationally recognized Workshop which published Positively Sixth Street in 1995 and Stories of the City in 2005, and continues to the current day.

1992

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Leads to a Neighborhood-Oriented Update of the Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment Plan

To implement the 1980 Neighborhood Plan, TODCO and the Yerba Buena Consortium convinced the Redevelopment Agency to rezone one-third of Yerba Buena for residential development and provide sites for additional affordable housing development.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Leads to the City’s Commitment to Implement the “Pedestrian Safety Mitigation Plan” for the Fourth Street Corridor in Yerba Buena Center

To implement the 1980 Neighborhood Plan, TODCO and the Yerba Buena Consortium convinced the City to widen sidewalks and change traffic lights to protect elderly and disabled pedestrians as “environmental mitigation measures” for the expansion of Moscone Convention Center.

1993

The TODCO Senior Poets’ “Dare We Dream In Concrete” Is Engraved on the Cornerstone of Yerba Buena Gardens

Another longtime TODCO Community Building InnerCity Arts Program for senior/disabled Yerba Buena residents, the Senior Poets have written and presented commemorative works for many Yerba Buena civic events, beginning with the Dedication of the beautiful Yerba Buena Gardens.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Secures New Minipark at Fourth and Howard Streets

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium proposed and advocated for a new 8,000 sq ft minipark within the Sony Metreon Project. The minipark was completed in 1999, and then improved as part of overall Metreon renovation in 2011.

1994

TODCO’s Neighborhood Development Provides Space for Yerba Buena Neighborhood Senior Services in Ceatrice Polite Apartments

Using City CDBG and Wells Fargo Foundation grant funds for tenant improvements, two of Ceatrice Polite’s storefronts now house a drop-in health clinic of the South of Market Health Center.

Knox SRO Is Completed and Opens, Sixth Street’s First “New SRO”

TODCO’s Housing Development Named in honor of determined TOOR activist Walter Knox who had died in 1987, this State of California and Redevelopment Agency funded project, in partnership with the Federal National Mortgage Association, added 140 new “single room occupancy” apartments for local residential hotel tenants – including even children – on the site of the former Anglo Hotel destroyed by the Loma Prieta earthquake. Located on some of the most vulnerable SOMA soils, its foundation used state-of-the-art construction methods.

Knox SRO “INNERCITY HOME” Mural Boldly Expresses Sixth Street Community Building Pride

As part of TODCO’s InnerCity Arts Program, artist Rigo ’94 worked with Sixth Street hotel tenants to create this powerful statement of community identity, painted on the Knox SRO and visible for miles.

1995

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Secures Redevelopment Agency Commitment to Build Replacement Housing for Sixth Street Residential Hotels.

Threatening a lawsuit under State redevelopment law to prevent loss of affordable residential hotel units, TODCO convinced the Redevelopment Agency to provide new housing in SOMA to make up for any reduction in Sixth Street hotel rooms due to its redevelopment projects. This ultimately lead to the Agency’s Plaza Hotel/Apartments project completed in 2005.

1996

TODCO Buys Grand Southern Hotel in SOMA to Prevent Slumlord Takeover

Neighborhood Development Since the 1970’s, slumlords had bought up longtime stable residential hotels one-by-one and them into indecent, unsafe, and unsanitary slums intended only to maximize their cash flow. When TODCO learned this hotel was about to be sold, it purchased it with Redevelopment Agency funding from its longtime Basque owners who did not want that to be their legacy.

As part of its Community Building, TODCO Acts As Sponsor of the Collaborative Treasure Island Homeless Development Initiative Federal Application to Acquire Housing and Property at Treasure Island Naval Station for Homeless Programs

Working with a broad group of homeless advocacy and service organizations to form TIHDI, TODCO provided essential organization startup and fiscal sponsorship. Since then TIHDI has independently grown to secure 385 affordable apartments for the formerly homeless at Treasure Island, combined with a highly successful employment and training program, that will continue as a prime foundation for the future total redevelopment of Treasure Island.

Woolf House Phase 3 Is Completed and Opens

TODCO’s Housing Development This final addition to Woolf House, built over its underutilized parking lot and financed by the California Department of Housing with additional City Hotel Tax funding, added 30 more new apartments for seniors.

1998

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Provides Leadership for Redevelopment of Treasure Island

Building upon the initial work with TIHDI, TODCO’s CEO – a member of the City’s governing Treasure Island Development Authority Commission since 1998 –provided leadership for community-building redevelopment planning for this former Navy Base until 2008.

Leland Apartments Is Completed and Opens Near Sixth Street

TODCO’s Housing Development Named after longtime SOMA resident and activist Lee Meyerzove, this HUD, Redevelopment Agency and City Hotel Tax -funded project added 24 new two bedroom apartments for persons with disabilities and their families. In 1999 it was a Fannie Mae Foundation Maxwell Awards of Excellence Finalist, and in 2000 it was awarded the national American Institute of Architects/HUD Alan J. Rothman Housing Accessibility Award for its outstanding design.

TODCO Buys Fire-Ravaged Delta Hotel at SOMA Crossroads

Neighborhood Development A terrible 1997 fire took one life and left the Sixth Street corridor’s most prominent building in ruins. Working with Filipino-American community leaders who had planned to establish the Bayanihan Foundation at this location to assist Central City immigrants, TODCO secured Redevelopment Agency funds to buy the property for total rehabilitation.

TODCO’s Community Advocacy Results in Yerba Buena Gardens Bowling Center for Central City Youth

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium advocated very assertively in the Redevelopment Agency’s planning for Yerba Buena Gardens throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s. One direct result of TODCO’s input was the most youth-friendly element of the entire project, the very popular Bowling Center that opened atop the Moscone Convention Center this year.

1999

Rehabilitated Grand Southern Hotel Is Completed and Opens One Block From Sixth Street as Hotel Isabel

TODCO’s Housing Development Named in honor of longtime SOMA resident leader and TODCO Board member Isabel Ugat, this HUD, City Seismic Loan Program, and Redevelopment Agency funded project, in partnership with the California Equity Fund of the Local Initiative Support Corporation, provided 72 residential hotel rooms for the formerly homeless. A brick building located on some of the most vulnerable SOMA soils, its structure and foundation were completely reconstructed.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Development Provides Space for South of Market Community Services in the Hotel Isabel

Using TODCO’s own working capital for tenant improvements, the Hotel Isabel’s 5,100 sq. ft. ground floor now houses the Sixth Street Photography Workshop and Oasis For Girls Center.

TODCO’s Community Building Fosters Vision of a New Bindlestiff Theater on Sixth Street as Part of New SRO Housing

In response to the Redevelopment Agency’s Request for Proposal for the Sixth Street Plaza Hotel site, TODCO joined with the existing Bindlestiff Studio, an established grass-roots Filipino-American arts group, to develop a proposal for new SRO housing that included a new 100 seat theater as an integral neighborhood-building element for Sixth Street and the SOMA Pilipino communities. The Theater opened in the Plaza SRO project of Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. there in 2008.

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy for Yerba Buena Neighborhood Building Recognized with National Award

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Consortium was co-applicant and co-recipient with SFRA and others of the biannual national urban development Rudy Bruner Award for the entire 30-year Yerba Buena Center/Gardens Project.

2000

TODCO’s Neighborhood Development Ensures Permanent Funding for Woolf House Resident Services Through Woolf House Retail Leasing

With CalHFA’s approval, taking advantage of Woolf House’s 4,700 sq. ft. of valuable retail storefronts, retail lease revenues of over $150,000 per year will permanently fund supportive services for the 350 residents of Woolf House.

2001

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Fighting SOMA Displacement Brings Mayoral Retaliation

Along with many SOMA and Central City community groups, TODCO supported laws and ballot measures to control devastating SOMA dot.com and live/work real estate speculation in opposition to Mayor Willie Brown. As a direct result of TODCO’s principled stand, Mayor Brown directed the Redevelopment Commission to reject TODCO’s recommended proposal to develop the Plaza Hotel site on Sixth Street with a “new SRO,” instead establishing an in-house Redevelopment Agency-controlled nonprofit group for a nearly identical project – but still including a new Bindlestiff Theater opened in 2008.

2002

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Leads to Community Benefit Program by the Intercontinental Hotel Project

TODCO initiated negotiations with the developer of the Intercontinental Hotel project in YBC to secure community benefits for the Yerba Buena/South of Market Neighborhood, leading to two detailed Memorandum of Understanding between Continental Development Corp., and 10 SOMA CBO’s for $1.5 million in community empowerment grants. The Hotel was completed and the Community Benefits Program was implemented in 2008.

TODCO’s Community Building Results in Agreement with San Francisco Housing Authority for Joint Effort to Develop New Yerba Buena Senior Housing, Share Open Space, and Expand Community Services

Woolf House and Clementina Towers public senior housing stood next to each other decades, but had no physical or social connections. Everyday Woolf House residents enjoyed services and amenities that Clementina Towers tenants lacked. To realize their combined neighborhood-building potential, TODCO and SFHA agreed to work together. TODCO would build new senior housing - Eugene Coleman Community House – on the Towers’ underutilized parking lot, including commercial space to fund services at Clementina Towers, and both the Woolf House and Towers courtyards would be fully renovated and connected for shared use by tenants of all three residences as Clementina Commons.

2003

Rehabilitated Delta Hotel Is Completed and Opens at Sixth Street Crossroads as Bayanihan House

TODCO’s Housing Development Named with the traditional Tagalog word for “community spirit,” utilizing City Seismic Loan Program, the Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program, and Redevelopment Agency funding, in partnership with the Federal National Mortgage Association through the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation, the totally rehabilitated residential hotel provides 152 residential hotel rooms with kitchenettes for local hotel tenants. TODCO’s Resident Services Program offers voluntary support services as well. And the building’s design - fully engaging the surrounding sidewalks - has dramatically reduced crime at this key location in the Sixth Street Corridor.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Finally Results in Long-Sought Yerba Buena Neighborhood Supermarket

Since 1980 TODCO has coordinated the work of the Yerba Buena Consortium neighborhood council. Finally, after two decades of Consortium urging and Redevelopment Agency efforts, the #1 goal of its Yerba Buena Neighborhood Plan was accomplished with the opening of Whole Foods Market on Fourth Street.

New TODCO Group Mission Statement Sets Course for TODCO’s Role in a Changing SOMA/Changing World

After three decades focused on developing senior and SRO housing as envisioned in 1971 by TODCO’s founders and expanded to the Sixth Street Corridor in 1990, the TODCO Board of Directors assessed what future role TODCO can best serve in the future as SOMA’s only community-based skilled development organization. The resulting new Mission Statement concluded that the core of TODCO’s work is not simply building housing – which many nonprofits now can do in SOMA – but instead, as South of Market Neighborhood Builders, to ensure the future of SOMA’s longtime communities – seniors, immigrants, working people, SRO tenants, and the homeless – within a SOMA that is their Neighborhood of Opportunity.

2005

TODCO’s Neighborhood Building Provides Space for the Bayanihan Community Center in Bayanihan House

At this crossroads of Sixth Street/SOMA, as new a focal point of positive community energy the Filipino-American Development Foundation built and opened the Bayanihan Community Center to serve the Central City’s large Filipino immigrant population.

TODCO’s Housing Development Eugene Coleman Community House Is Completed and Opens in Yerba Buena Developed in cooperation with the San Francisco Housing Authority, this HUD, City, and Redevelopment Agency funded project added 85 more apartments for seniors on the former parking lot of Clementina Towers. It’s valuable ground floor retail space – opposite the Moscone Center – will provide a permanent source of funding for senior support services at both the new building and Clementina Towers.

Phase 1 of TODCO’s Neighborhood Development Clementina Commons Is Completed and Opens

In coordination with TODCO’s Coleman House and Woolf House projects, with Redevelopment Agency grant funding, neighbors TODCO and SFHA are completely renovating the run-down grounds of Clementina Towers public housing in three phases with a resident-developed design, connected with the renovated Woolf House Courtyard to create a lovely new Commons for local seniors to enjoy.

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Focuses on Western South of Market Neighborhood Planning

Working as a member of the City’s Western SOMA Citizens Planning Task Force, TODCO is provided technical support for community-based planning addressing the future of the changing South of Market to the west of Yerba Buena and Sixth Street.

2006

Ceatrice Polite Apartments 20-Year Renovation and Refinancing Completed

TODCO’s Housing Development The first major step of the TODCO Group Strategic Plan, utilizing Redevelopment Agency bonds, HUD mortgage insurance and Section 8 rent subsidies in partnership with Provident Bank’s Red Capital Group equity investment, resulted in an renovated good-as-new building for its residents and a permanent source of revenue for the TODCO Group.

2007

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Provides Leadership for new SOMA Community-Based Zoning

As a member of Citizens Advisory Committee, TODCO joined with SOMA stakeholders to develop the West SOMA Rezoning Plan that updated zoning to maintain the mixed-use character of the area, protect PDR businesses, and increase inclusionary affordable housing requirements. The Plan was approved by the City in 2012.

2008

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Provides Leadership for Establishment of the Yerba Buena Community Benefits District

Anticipating the conclusion of the Yerba Buena Center Redevelopment Project in 2009, TODCO provided essential technical assistance to the full range of Yerba Buena Neighborhood stakeholders to plan the City’s largest CBD that was then approved by local property owners’ vote, with 5% of its annual assessments allocated to a Community Benefit Fund for special projects by local community organizations. Full District operations commenced in 2009.

Clementina Commons TODCO InnerCity Arts Gallery Opens in Coleman House

As part of TODCO’s InnerCity Arts Program and its Neighborhood Building Program’s Clementina Commons, TODCO’s Sixth Street Photography Workshop and Senior Art Class programs began rotating display of participants artworks in the Coleman House passageway between Tehama and Howard Streets.

2010

Neighborhood Building Neighborhood Development

TODCO Acquires Permanent Ownership of Alice Street Community Gardens After 25 years of leasing the Gardens to TODCO, the Redevelopment Agency granted ownership of the property to TODCO so that it will always remain a vital community facility and publicly accessible open space, a key part of TODCO’s Neighborhood Building Program. Phased renovation over the course of five years will fully rebuild its worn out community garden facilities.

2011

TODCO’s Neighborhood Building Provides Space for Community Housing Advocacy in Ceatrice Polite Apartments

TODCO turned over a small storefront at no rent to San Francisco’s powerful coalition of nonprofit affordable housing advocates, the Council of Community Housing Organizations, for their administrative office.

Rehabilitation and Recapitalization of Hotel Isabel Begins

As part of the TODCO Group Strategic Plan, the substantial work not included in the original Hotel Isabel project will be finished/upgraded and project financing reinforced, utilizing State Multifamily Housing Program and additional CCSF Seismic Retrofit funds. Work was completed in 2013.

2012

Phase One of Alice Street Community Gardens Renovation Is Completed

Neighborhood Development Using grants from the City’s South of Market Community Stabilization Fund and the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, TODCO completed initial safety and security renovations, began the replacement of worn planter beds with fully-accessible new planters, and built a display pad for revolving artwork installations.

TODCO’s Community Planning Begins Development Of The Central SOMA Community Plan

As a pro-active community-based response and alternative to the City Planning Department’s Central Corridor Plan, TODCO staff began drafting of a comprehensive Plan for the future of Central SOMA to address both the positive possibilities and negative impacts of accelerating SOMA development and the City’s new Tech Industry.

2013

Rehabilitation and Recapitalization of Hotel Isabel Completed

TODCO’s Housing Development All work successfully completed @ $4,750,000, including renovated bathrooms, new windows, heating and kitchenettes in all units, a large new Activity Room for programs and events, rebuilt sidewalks, new signage, and an expanded and renovated Lobby and Marquee.

Woolf House 30-Year Renovation and Refinancing Completed

TODCO’s Housing Development: All work successfully completed @ $14,500,000, including renovation of all apartments kitchens and bathrooms, new windows in all units, new building emergency systems, addition of a third elevator, reconstruction of laundry room, reconstruction of services programs offices, new signage, courtyard landscape renovation.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Building Provides Affordable Space for Nonprofit Organizations in Coleman House and Hotel Isabel Commercial Storefronts

The city-wide Independent Living Resource Center leased the 7000 sq. ft. Coleman House Howard Street storefront as its secure and affordable headquarters for 20 years. The Central City Oasis for Girls leased the 2500 sq. ft. Hotel Isabel Mission Street storefront as its secure and affordable program home for 20 years. Both completed renovations and occupied these spaces in 2014.

TODCO Charters The Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium To Spearhead Its Civic Advocacy Action Agenda

Funded by TODCO, its subsidiary YBNC LLC undertakes formal proceedings, including administrative complaints, litigation, and city ballot measures, to directly advance the cause of Community Justice in SOMA and San Francisco.

2014

TODCO’s Community Building Innercity Arts Program’s Sixth Street Photography Workshop’s New 6 On 7 Gallery is completed and opens in Hotel Isabel

After 20 years of operation in different SOMA locations, the SSPW moved into a permanent home in a small Seventh Street storefront, continuing to offer photography workshops for hotel and homeless residents of the Central City including public displays of their work.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Neighborhood Advocacy files and settles Neighborhood Advocacy litigation against the 706 Mission condominium project and the City to secure extensive pedestrian safety improvements.

After this legal challenge to the 706 Mission project’s environmental analysis of its pedestrian safety impacts, the City agreed to widen sidewalks, install new crosswalks, and improve safety signage throughout the Yerba Buena Neighborhood.

The Woolf House Project’s Financial Resources Enable TODCO To Complete Its Organizational Capacity

TODCO applied a portion of its approximate $6 million total of one-time proceeds from the Woolf House refinancing to achieve the Strategic Plan’s goal to fully staff TODCO’s Asset Management, Housing Development, and Administrative capacity for the first time, without need of any outside public or foundation funding.

TODCO’s Community Planning and Civic Advocacy Provide Continued Leadership for City Planning of the “Central Corridor” in South of Market.

TODCO’s Community Planning Program started drafting of a “Central SOMA Community Plan” as an alternative to the Planning Department’s downtown expansion Central Corridor Plan, prioritizing community protections and benefits as well as superior Neighborhood Building development requirements. TODCO’s Plan was be completed in 2017 as counter proposal to the City Plan as it is considered for approval.

2015

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Neighborhood Advocacy secures redesign of Moscone Expansion Project #4 to reduce its impacts on Yerba Buena Gardens and add $40 million of improvements and new facilities to the Gardens.

Building upon the 706 Mission Settlement Agreement, negotiations with the City secured expansion of the Gardens public spaces, and installation of the long-needed Tot Lot with bathrooms for its Childrens Playground as part of the adjacent Moscone Expansion Project.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Community Advocacy secures new affordable housing site as part of the 5M Project.

The Project developer agree to give the City a nearby Mission Street parking lot for future development of affordable senior housing.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign leadership and financial support for voter approval of two vital City affordable housing ballot propositions.

The Consortium joined with Citywide affordable housing advocates to win the “Proposition A” $250 Million City housing bond and the “Proposition K” ballot measure long-term 33% affordability goal for all City housing development.

2016

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign leadership and financial support for voter approval of another vital City affordable housing ballot proposition.

The Consortium joined again with Citywide affordable housing advocates to win the “Proposition K” ballot measure 25% “inclusionary” affordable housing requirement for future market-rate housing developments.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Building Completes 30-Year Renovation of Alice Street Community Gardens

Completed renovation of the Alice Street Gardens with safety, security, and operation improvements plus 300 new fully accessible planter beds is completed, funded by $270,000 of City and private grants.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign leadership and financial support for voter approval of a vital City ballot proposition.

The Consortium joined again with Citywide community advocates to win the “Proposition X” ballot measure requirement to retain/replace “PDR” space in existing SOMA and Mission District buildings for small businesses and arts tenants.

2017

TODCO’s Civic Advocacy Provides Continued Leadership for City Planning of the “Central SOMA Plan” in South of Market with TODCO’s Central SOMA Community Plan.

TODCO’s Community Planning Program completed drafting a comprehensive alternative “Central SOMA Community Plan” as an alternative to the Planning Department’s downtown expansion Central Corridor Plan, including designation of three new affordable housing sites ultimately included in the City Plan.

2018

ODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign leadership and financial support for voter approval of a vital City ballot proposition to fund Early Child Education.

The Consortium joined again with Citywide community advocates to win the “Proposition C” ballot measure business tax to fund universal early child education/childcare for all San Francisco families.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Community Advocacy secures new affordable housing site at the Moscone Central Subway Station

The City MTA agreed to affordable housing development on half of the Station site.

2019

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign financial support for voter approval of a vital City ballot proposition to fund Unhoused assistance programs and housing.

The Consortium joined again with Citywide community advocates to win the “Proposition C” ballot measure business tax to fund multiple programs to provide expand services and new housing for the City’s Unhoused residents.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy files and settles Neighborhood Advocacy litigation against the City’s Central SOMA Plan to secure vital community benefits and protections for the South of Market community.

The City agreed to cap further SOMA office development until full “jobs/housing” balance was accomplished in SOMA for it, and to require new seismic retrofit standards to be applied to all older SOMA buildings of all construction types.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy files and settles litigation against the City’s Central SOMA Plan to secure long term community empowerment of the South of Market.

The City agreed to continue the SOMA Stabilization Fund and its Community Advisory Committee to support Community Building projects and programs in SOMA, and to establish a new SOMA Community Planning CAC for all future planning and infrastructure city activities in SOMA.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy secures four Community Benefit Agreements with Central SOMA office developers to secure four sites for future affordable housing development.

The four agreements also require BMR neighborhood retail space, a new public swimming pool, two future community arts venues, and additional community amenities.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign financial support for voter approval of a City ballot proposition to fund affordable housing development.

The Consortium joined again with Citywide community advocates to win the “Proposition I” ballot measure transfer tax to fund development of affordable housing citywide.

2020

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides campaign leadership and financial support for 58% June 2020 voter approval of the Proposition E City ballot proposition to mandate “jobs/affordable housing balance” for future San Francisco office development.

The Consortium lead the election campaign to win the “Proposition E” ballot measure that links ‘ Prop M’ City office project approvals to the City’s success in meeting its Regional Housing Needs Assessment goals for affordable housing.

TODCO’s Community Advocacy Provides technical support to the community Hub Coalition for the City’s Hub Rezoning Plan, resulting in a much-revised final approved Plan.

Working with a coalition of Central City community advocates, the City downscaled its final Hub Area Plan to minimize negative impacts on the surrounding lower-income neighborhoods of the Mission, SOMA and Tenderloin.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy secures three Community Benefit Agreements with Hub market housing developers.

The three agreements require BMR neighborhood retail space, additional affordable housing, and acquisition of the vital Mission District “Monster Project” site for future affordable housing. As one result the “Monster In The Mission” development site was acquired by the City for future affordable housing development in 2021.

TODCO’s Neighborhood Advocacy Provides Leadership for Establishment of the Yerba Buena Gardens Conservancy.

Anticipating the City’s restructuring of the extraordinary YBC open space and cultural complex, TODCO provided essential support to the full range of Yerba Buena Neighborhood stakeholders to plan a new Conservancy CBO to assume operation of the Gardens that was then approved by the City. Full Conservancy operations commenced in 2019.

TODCO’s Community Building Provides Technical Assistance for Community-Based responses to the Covid Pandemic.

TODCO staff provided extensive technical assistance to the Latino Task Force in the Mission Community for most effective community outreach, testing, vaccination, and resident support Covid response program in the Nation.

2021

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy files litigation against the University of California at San Francisco’s Parnassus Campus Expansion Project to require study of a superior alternative project location that will support significant new housing development without negative neighborhood impacts.

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy files litigation against the Association of Bay Area Governments PlanBayArea2050 to require study of alternatives that will protect Bay Area central city “communities of concern” from resident displacement.

TODCO’s Community Advocacy Provides Technical Assistance for Community-Based Advocacy in Oakland.

TODCO staff provide extensive technical assistance to the new Oakland Progressive Alliance to secure increased affordable housing and community-building support from Oakland City Hall.

TODCO’s “Build Affordable Faster California” Statewide Advocacy Successfully Sponsors Legislation to Provide New Support for Small Businesses and Community Facilities.

Assemblyman Kevin Mullen’s AB464, proposed by BAFCA, expands the use of “Enhanced Infrastructure Finance Districts” to include assistance to small business and nonprofit organizations to buy/renovate their premises. It was passed and signed into law.

2022

TODCO’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood Consortium Civic Advocacy provides leading campaign financial support for 58% voter approval of the Proposition M Empty Homes Tax in November 2022.

Today …

• The TODCO Group Owns and Operates Five Residences for the Elderly/Disabled Totaling 601 Units and 782 Residents in South of Market’s Yerba Buena Neighborhood

• The TODCO Group Owns and Operates Three SRO’s for Very Low-Income and Formerly Homeless Individuals Totaling 364 Units and 388 Residents in South of Market’s Sixth Street Corridor

• The TODCO Group Owns and Operates Commercial Storefronts in Six of These Properties That Provide Funding for Resident Services or Space for Community Programs

• TODCO Owns and Operates a Community Garden/Public Park

• TODCO’s Resident Services Program Provides a Wide Range of Supportive Programs and Activities for All These Residents and Neighborhood Seniors

• TODCO Continues To Provide Neighborhood and Community Leadership and Civic Advocacy To Meet the Challenge of Change and the South Of Market and San Francisco’s Future.

AND MORE TO COME ….

COming 2022

Knox SRO 25-Year Renovation Will Begin

The intensely used Knox SRO will be refurbished in partnership with a new equity investor and additional State Department of Housing financing.

Coleman House Accessibility Improvements Will Be Installed

All accessible units will be upgraded along with conversion to federal RAD rent subsidy to improve financial sustainability

Ceatrice Polite Apartments Financial Restructuring Will Be Completed

A TODCO Group subsidiary will replace the private investor in the owner partnership and refinancing will secure substantial new capital and operating funding for the TODCO Group.

COming 2024

Mendelsohn House 30-Year Renovation and Refinancing Will Begin

Utilizing bonds, HUD mortgage insurance and Section 8 rent subsidies in partnership with an equity investor, will result in an improved good-as-new building. Work will be completed by 2025.