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Seven years after snapping up a prime site on the bottom of Mason Street, Cecil Williams is finally fulfilling his dream of building housing in the Tenderloin.
Williams, the legendary head of the Glide Memorial Church, is preparing to break ground Thursday on a pair of adjacent developments that will bring 137 affordable housing units to two surface parking lots near the corner of Market and Mason streets.
The projects, which will combined cost $70 million, are a joint venture between Glide Economic Development Corp., the Tenderloin Neighborhood Housing Development Corp., and Millennium Partners.
Millennium is bankrolling the majority of 81 units of family housing at 125 Mason as affordable component of its Millennium Tower project, a luxury highrise at 301 Mission St. The second development, at 149 Mason, will provide studio apartments and services for formerly homeless adults.
"Step by step, we're realizing our vision of creating a healthy and vibrant neighborhood in the Tenderloin," said Williams, chair of GEDC's Board of Directors and CEO and Minister of Glide's National and International Ministries of Glide Memorial Church. "More than just affordable homes, these new buildings will provide a safe community for our working families and our homeless neighbors."
The buildings will fill an urban void on that block by replacing two parking lots now on the sites. The fourteen-story building at 125 Mason will feature landscaped courtyards, a secure sun-filled outdoor play area for children, community lounge areas with outdoor decks, and multi-purpose rooms for community events. 125 Mason is slated for completion fall 2008.
"Millennium Partners is proud to be part of this collaborative effort," said Sean Jeffries, a principal of Millennium Partners. "These projects will truly make a difference in this underserved area of the community."
2 comments:
Anonymous said...
I just want to add that the property on which reverend Williams is building the housing project is where two porn joints used to be located. The Chez Paree was a clip joint where topless pile dancers would fleece tourist suckers of their money with water-ed0down drinks.
The other place was a quarter-booth porn shop, where patrons would drop tokens into video machines inside a tiny booths. Many of them we stand in the booths smoking crack cocaine.
Williams bought the property, evicted the two businesses and tore down the buildings. That in itself was a positive step for San Francisco.
Friday, March 23, 2007 10:09:00 AM PDT
Anonymous said...
I haven't seen Rev. Cecil Williams for some years. I enjoyed reading about his new project and seeing a picture of him. Cecil Williams is a remarkable man.
But ... did Jan Mirikitani, his wife and Glide CEO, dress him in that horrible Boris Karloff Frankenstein outfit?
2 comments:
I just want to add that the property on which reverend Williams is building the housing project is where two porn joints used to be located. The Chez Paree was a clip joint where topless pile dancers would fleece tourist suckers of their money with water-ed0down drinks.
The other place was a quarter-booth porn shop, where patrons would drop tokens into video machines inside a tiny booths. Many of them we stand in the booths smoking crack cocaine.
Williams bought the property, evicted the two businesses and tore down the buildings. That in itself was a positive step for San Francisco.
I haven't seen Rev. Cecil Williams for some years. I enjoyed reading about his new project and seeing a picture of him. Cecil Williams is a remarkable man.
But ... did Jan Mirikitani, his wife and Glide CEO, dress him in that horrible Boris Karloff Frankenstein outfit?
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