City Attorney David Chiu has filed a lawsuit against the property owner of 155 Hyde St. in San Francisco for allegedly continuing to lease units after a fire knocked out electrical, elevator and gas service.
J.K. Dineen / S.F. Chronicle
The city has filed a lawsuit against a San Francisco property owner who allegedly allowed tenants to continue to live in a Tenderloin apartment building after a fire had ravaged the structure, leaving it without power or other utilities.
On Thursday, City Attorney David Chiu filed a lawsuit against Golden Tiger LLC and Adam La, the owner of 155 Hyde St., a six-story, 52-unit residential building that was damaged in a fire in June of 2025.
The lawsuit seeks to force the landlord to fix safety issues that persist at the property and to recoup costs the city incurred by providing emergency services after the fire. City departments stepped in to provide temporary power with a generator and relocated families after the property was deemed uninhabitable following a June 2025 fire.
Article continues below this ad
In the complaint, the city alleges that Golden Tiger had allowed tenants to reoccupy the property but had not restored power or utilities, going so far as to provide tenants with butane-powered camping stoves to allow them to cook food and heat water. The extra butane stoves were stored next to the source of the fire, creating a major fire hazard, according to the city.
The city is seeking more than $650,000 in costs and penalties, according to the complaint.
The building at 155 Hyde St. in San Francisco is shuttered after a fire.
J.K. Dineen / S.F. Chronicle
“No one should be living in a redtagged building or using camping stoves for heat,” Chiu said. “Landlords have a responsibility to ensure that basic health and safety standards are met in their buildings. Following the fire, this landlord somehow thought it was acceptable for tenants to live in a fire-damaged building without heat or power. Our entire city family came together to support these tenants and keep the neighborhood safe. Now it’s time for this property owner to do his part.”
San Francisco Chronicle Logo
Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.
Add Preferred Source
The June 11, 2025, fire damaged the building’s electrical system and broiler, leaving the property without electricity, gas, hot water, and elevator service. At least 90 tenants, mostly immigrant families, lived in the building at the time of the fire. The city’s Department of Human Services worked with the Red Cross and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic to relocate the families.
Article continues below this ad
The lack of power disabled the property’s fire alert system, creating a hazardous situation for anyone in the building, according to the fire department.. In August, City departments conducted a task force inspection that revealed the owners had allowed tenants to reoccupy the property but had not restored power or utilities.
Golden Tiger LLC and Adam La have owned the building since 2011. La could not be reached for comment.
Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management, said the fire and the landlord’s lack of responsible action forced the city to respond with a “complex, prolonged multi-agency response.”
“Fire, building inspection, human services and public works each brought their expertise, while our emergency managers made sure the people doing the work in the field were talking to each other, meeting and problem solving every day,” she said.
The San Francisco Fire Department and the Department of Building Inspections issued multiple notices of violation for slew of violations including, lack of power and emergency lighting, insufficient alarm system due to lack of power, nonfunctioning elevator, lack of emergency and standby power system and unpermitted open flame cooking devices in residential apartments.
Article continues below this ad
Pedestrians walk past 147-161 Hyde St. in San Francisco.
J.K. Dineen / S.F. Chronicle
In total, city departments issued nine notices of violations and eight orders of abatement, none of which have been resolved.
Department of Building Inspection Interim Director David Kane said “depriving people of electricity, heat and hot water isn’t just illegal, it is plain wrong.” He said DBI is “committed to doing everything we can to help ensure this building is made habitable again so the former residents can return.”
Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, which helped relocate the tenants, called the fire and its aftermath “one of the strangest stories I have ever heard of.”
“Letting people live in a dangerous environment is one thing but here we are a year later and there is no work being done on the building,” Shaw said. “The owner is disconnected from reality. Where is the plan? Why isn’t he fixing it up?”
Article continues below this ad
A gate is chained shut at 155 Hyde St. in San Francisco.
J.K. Dineen / S.F. Chronicle
The lawsuit comes as the owner is marketing the building for sale, according to real estate listings. In marketing material a broker for the apartment building calls it “a prominent corner mixed-use asset in San Francisco’s Tenderloin.” In addition to studio apartments the building has a “large second floor office,” four commercial spaces and a seven-car garage.
The listing claims fire damage “did not extend beyond the service entryway, but with no electricity to the building, all tenants have had to vacate until power is restored.”
The listing says the building was “generating nearly $1.1 million in gross rent” prior to the fire. It said seven of the previous occupants have “relinquished their right to return” and that the property owner has been unable to contact other displaced families.
Article continues below this ad
“This is a unique opportunity to reposition a stately corner building and significantly increase income,” the listing states. “The current vacancy gives a new buyer a rare window to reposition the asset and realize significant upside as units turn over.”