San Francisco City Officials Put Pinterest HQ Plan At Design Center On Hold
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — A plan by the tech firm Pinterest to move its headquarters into the Design Center in San Francisco's Showplace Square was put on indefinite hold by a Board of Supervisors Committee on Monday.
Pinterest wants to relocate to the Design Center at 2 Henry Adams Street in the heart of San Francisco's Showplace Square, where there are over 100 furniture businesses and showrooms, and convert most of the space to offices. Former Mayor Art Agnos urged the Land Use and Economic Development Committee to vote against it.
San Francisco City Officials Has No Interest For Pinterest HQ At Design Center
"They should be here but not in this particular site because what they're replacing are people who are working in blue- and white-collar jobs who are spread throughout all of your districts," Agnos told the committee.
The Pinterest proposal did have some support—mostly as a result of community outreach and promises to contribute to the surrounding South of Market and Potrero neighborhoods.
The tech company, which provides users an online tool to collect ideas for their different projects and interests, could only convert the Design Center to offices if the building is declared a landmark, which they attempted to do, but the supervisors committee put the landmark status on indefinite hold instead.
Agnos called it the commercial equivalent of an "Ellis Act eviction" and the committe not only refused to grant landmark status but moved forward legislation to make office conversions, like the one planned by Pinterest, more difficult in the future.
Pinterest's headquarters is currently located at 808 Brannan Street in San Francisco.
