A 2015 fire at 22nd and Mission Streets fueled a theory that landlords were torching their own properties for profit. The site still sits empty and neglected, and the SF Planning Commission just delayed a plan for its notorious landlord to make that handsome profit.
The vacant lot with a swamp born from neglect at 22nd and Mission streets has been a vacant lot with a swamp born from neglect for so long — now ten full years — that people forget it was once home to the Mission Market Food Mall, a Popeyes, and some 60 residents in the apartment building above.
All of that was lost in a January 2015 fire that took the life of 38-year-old Mauricio Orellana. And there was plenty of outrage at the time as reports surfaced that the building did not have working fire alarms and fire escapes were blocked, all giving birth to a popular theory at the time that landlords were torching their own buildings for profit.
That theory caught on even more when news broke that the building’s owner Hawk Lou was hoping to sell the property for $20 million. That sale did not happen, and then-Mayor Ed Lee personally pressured Lou to sell the property to the city for 100% affordable housing. That sale did not happen either, and as seen below, Lou is now submitting plans for a ten-story, 186-unit apartment building that has riled Mission District residents because it only contains the legal bare-minimum of 21 affordable units.
That new project went before the SF Planning Commission Tuesday, with more than 50 public commenters there to vent their outrage that Lou is in a position to make a ton of money off the deadly fire. And Mission Local reports the commission simply delayed their decision by two months, likely until April. But the commission also admitted they would probably have to approve it, and that Lou would likely profit quite nicely from his alleged neglect.
“We don’t have the power, unfortunately, legally, to do what the community wants us to do,” commissioner Sean McGarry said at the meeting. “We cannot put the moral over the legal, because it’ll just be overturned a week from now.”
This is personal for Mission Local, because their offices were also destroyed in that 2015 fire. And that outlet reported the heck out of this story in the months and years afterward, finding that Lou owned 19 other buildings, many run-down and with faulty wiring and electricity.
But the biggest bombshell they broke was the cause of the fire. Lou’s attorney Pat Miller said at Thursday’s meeting, “The source of the fire was … a singular unit in the residential area where a pot boiled over.” But Mission Local reported in 2023 that “The San Francisco Fire Department confirmed to Mission Local last week that it pegged the cause of the blaze as an electrical problem within the walls of the building — not a tenant’s cooking fire.”
For better or worse, the new development is expected to pass the Planning Commission when it returns to their plate, likely in April. It would not be shocking to see that decision appealed to the SF Board of Supervisors. The only other things that could halt this discouraging development would be a years-old lawsuit from the displaced tenants, or a separate lawsuit from the adjacent condo Vida’s insurance company. But those lawsuits have been tied up in the courts so long that Lou’s proposed development is clearly outpacing them.
Related: More Details, Photos Emerge From Deadly Mission Fire [SFist]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
