SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston is urging the city to acquire the troubled Fillmore Safeway, so the grocery store chain site could turn into affordable housing, he announced in a press release Thursday.
Earlier this year, Safeway announced its plans to close this location after 40 years and sell the real estate property. Now, in a letter sent to the mayor (see below), Preston wants London Breed’s administration to acquire the site and turn that into community housing.
The Safeway, located at 1335 Webster St., was supposed to close in January of this year after shoppers and residents cited public safety concerns in the area. Last year, gates were installed at self-checkout kiosks to deter shoplifting. But the self-checkout stations have since closed.
Despite those issues, San Francisco leaders, such as Preston, got involved and were able to push the store’s closure to January 2025. In January, Safeway said it agreed to sell the land to Align Real Estate, which will use it for a mixed-use development project, including housing and commercial retail.
“The City should do everything possible to acquire this former redevelopment site to ensure that it continues to have a community serving grocery store and that the housing built here is affordable to the community,” Preston said in a statement. “We have a unique opportunity to prevent further displacement from the Fillmore and to bring displaced families back to the Fillmore – let’s make it happen.”
Preston’s office said Safeway and Align Real Estate declined requests to meet with and hear the community out.
Other community leaders echoed the sentiment for Safeway to sell the 3.68 acres to the city and make way for affordable housing.
“This site is so important to the Fillmore and Japantown communities,” noted Paul Osaki, Executive Director of the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. “Black and Japanese-American residents and businesses were forcibly removed through disastrous urban renewal redevelopment from these sites. Instead of more displacement, acquisition for affordable housing and a grocery store offers a different path forward, one in which those who have been driven out of this community by real estate speculation, greed, and structural racism, could return to this community.”
Preston lost his race for reelection earlier this month to Bilal Mahmood, and Breed lost her bid at a second term to nonprofit CEO and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie.
Preston set a deadline of Dec. 3 for Breed and her office to respond to his inquiry.
KRON4 reached out to Safeway and Breed’s office for comment. We did not hear back in time for publication.
