Don Carmignani, shown exiting the Hall of Justice in San Francisco in 2023, has sold a downtown building, according to records viewed by the Chronicle.
Jessica Christian / S.F. Chronicle
Don Carmignani, the San Francisco businessman who was the subject of national headlines in 2023 for a brutal Marina District confrontation involving a homeless man, has sold a Financial District building just weeks before it was scheduled to be auctioned in foreclosure.
The two-story building at 214 California St., steps away from downtown’s gleaming office towers, was sold on Thursday for $3.7 million according to a deed for the property obtained by the Chronicle. The roughly 9,000-square-foot property, which was tied to Carmignani’s early medical cannabis ventures and in recent years became the site of an Italian deli that he appears to have helped launch, was slated for lender-forced sale on March 26.
The property was purchased by 2012-4 California LLC, an entity registered to Robert Satrap, who is affiliated with the San Rafael-based painting and drywall company Russell Hinton Co. — both companies share the same address. A 26-year lease agreement was forged earlier this month between 214 California St.’s new owner and the drywall company, public records show.
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Downtown property 214 California St. has been sold ahead of a scheduled foreclosure.
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The Chronicle attempted to reach both Carmignani and Satrap, but did not hear back.
Public records show that Carmignani sold off several properties he owned in San Francisco over the past decade, including a stunning single family home in the Marina District in 2024. That same year, he purchased a home in Reno, Nev.
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The California Street building’s sale closes a fraught chapter for Carmignani, a former member of the San Francisco Fire Commission who once used the property to stockpile cannabis licences during the chaotic early years of San Francisco’s medical marijuana industry, before the state legalized recreational use in 2016. In the mid-2010s, Carmignani was known as “the Cannabis Don” because he controlled around 16 medical cannabis dispensary permits, many tied to entities registered at 214 California St.
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Carmignani’s name resurfaced in 2023 after an encounter with a homeless man, Garrett Doty, in the Marina District sent the then 53-year-old businessman to the hospital with a broken skull and jaw, requiring emergency surgery and 51 stitches.
Early reports framed the incident as a random act of violence, describing Carmignani as a former city official and businessman who was attacked with a metal pipe after asking a group of homeless people camped in front of his family’s house to move — an example of lawlessness in San Francisco at a time when there were tense debates about crime and homelessness. The attack occurred just one day after the killing of tech executive Bob Lee on April 4, 2023, and became a major political flashpoint, only to later shift dramatically when evidence emerged suggesting that Carmignani had first sprayed Doty with pepper spray.
Subsequent reports on multiple prior bear spray attacks on homeless individuals between 2021 and 2023 linking to someone matching Carmignani’s description raised questions about self-defense and the original narrative, though Carmignani was never charged with a crime and denied involvement through his attorney. Doty, on the other hand, faced a list of charges including assault with a deadly weapon, but was ultimately acquitted of all charges.
Carmignani’s political ties have been well documented: His father owned Balboa Cafe in the Marina District, which was leased to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s PlumpJack Group, according to reporting in the San Francisco Standard. He was appointed to the Fire Commission by former Mayor Ed Lee in 2013.
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Carmignani became the owner of 214 California in 2011, purchasing the building from Steven Matthew David — the owner of Matthew’s Top of the Hill electronics in Daly City — for $3.5 million, according to San Francisco commercial broker Charles McCabe.
In late 2023, months after the incident in the Marina, Carmignani appeared to have shifted to the restaurant business, receiving a liquor license in connection with a new Italian eatery called Il Porcellino Grasso at 214 California, which at the time also housed his cannabis dispensary, 2ONE2 California Dispensary. While the cannabis business appears to have shuttered — its website is down and the business is listed as “permanently closed” on Yelp — the restaurant, now operating as Grasso SF, remains open. An employee confirmed to the Chronicle on Monday that the building has sold, and that Carmignani is no longer involved with the eatery.