{"id":167626,"date":"2026-02-07T02:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167626\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T02:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T02:43:12","slug":"s-f-offers-50k-100k-to-fill-empty-storefronts-in-the-excelsior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/167626\/","title":{"rendered":"S.F. offers $50K-$100K to fill empty storefronts in the Excelsior"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever wanted to open a storefront in the Excelsior District, now\u2019s your chance. <\/p>\n

The city is offering one-time grants<\/a> between $50,000 (for relatively uncomplicated businesses like boutiques) and $100,000 (for permit-heavy businesses like full service restaurants and bars, or pharmacies) to fill empty storefronts in Excelsior business corridors. <\/p>\n

The grants, launched in late January<\/a> by the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, are a prayer answered for Ben Bleiman, the co-interim executive director of the Excelsior Action Group, a nonprofit helping with the community benefit district<\/a> that covers the Excelsior\u2019s commercial corridors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Excelsior is a neighborhood that\u2019s strapped for resources,\u201d Bleiman said. \u201cAnd lo and behold, they announced that grant, which is fantastic!\u201d<\/p>\n

Since he joined the Excelsior Action Group a year ago, Bleiman has been on a quest to figure out why local storefronts have stayed empty. He\u2019s talked to many owners and city officials because he\u2019s also president of the Entertainment Commission, and manages<\/a> the Discover Polk Community Benefit District<\/a> in Polk Gulch and Nob Hill.<\/p>\n

His conclusion: the high cost of plumbing and electrical upgrades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Before a new business can open, its owners have to prove that they are in compliance with all the current city codes<\/a>. In the case of older buildings, which the Excelsior has no shortage of, that can mean a complete overhaul of plumbing (old pipes), electrical, ventilation \u2014\u00a0you name it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In some situations, a landlord with an out-of-date storefront might be motivated to bring it up to code to attract tenants. But in the Excelsior, many commercial buildings have been owned by the same families for generations. That significantly reduces the financial pressure to keep a storefront occupied, despite the city\u2019s commercial vacancy tax<\/a> on landlords who leave a storefront vacant for over six months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a result, many landlords can afford to leave the spaces vacant rather than make expensive repairs, or leave it up to the tenants to take on the costly property maintenance and upgrades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andrea Ferrucci experienced that particular scenario firsthand. She spent 15 years battling plumbing issues after opening Dark Horse Inn, a gastropub on Geneva Avenue near Mission Street, with her partner Sean Ingram in 2011.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StorefrontDark Horse Inn closed in March 2025. Photo by Xueer Lu. Feb. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n

For Ferrucci, plumbing was the biggest problem. The management company of the building, Makras Real Estate \u2014\u00a0owned by Victor Makras<\/a>, who was sentenced in 2022 to three years\u2019 probation and a $15,200 fine for bank fraud \u2014 \u201crefused to do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each year, old pipes cost them thousands of dollars, from hiring plumbers to snaking and jetting the drains, buying equipment to handle minor fixes themselves, and cleaning up the backup mess in the bathroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tough, Ferrucci added, to explain to a customer that they can\u2019t use the restroom halfway through a meal because the plumbing is broken, again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the most part, customers were understanding because \u201cit\u2019s such a widespread problem,\u201d Ferrucci said. But it got to be too much for her. When their lease ended in March 2025, she and Ingram decided not to renew it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just weren\u2019t going to deal with the building anymore,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bleiman has spent the past year working with Eddy Martinez, a real estate broker contracted by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and April Gubatina, the Excelsior corridor project manager at that office.<\/p>\n

He found out that some landlords are actually well-meaning but don\u2019t have the resources they need to bring their building up to code. Commercial rent in the Excelsior is often half, or even a quarter, compared to fancy and more desirable areas like the Marina, and that affects their ability to fund renovations too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t afford to do the work. So what could they do? They could sell it to an evil company,\u201d Bleiman said. \u201cOr they just have to sit around and wait for the perfect tenant. And those tenants don\u2019t necessarily come along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lupe Oropeza, a retired social worker who opened Love & Light Yoga and Wellness two years ago at 4877 Mission St. between Russia and France avenues, says such grants work to the benefit of everyone. Oropeza received $25,000 from OEWD two years ago to help launch her studio. Martinez helped her find the space and negotiate her lease.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"StreetLupe Oropeza, a retired social worker, opened Love & Light Yoga and Wellness two years ago at 4877 Mission St. between Russia and France avenues. Photo by Xueer Lu. Feb. 6, 2026.<\/p>\n

So far, her experience with the building\u2019s owner has been good. \u201cHe has been very supportive from the very beginning,\u201d Oropeza said. When plumbing issues arise, he fixes them quickly. When the roof leaked when it last rained in January, he responded fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really listens to the concerns and acts upon them right away,\u201d Oropeza said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grants are available to individuals or organizations that have operated a business in San Francisco\u00a0 for at least three years. It\u2019s limited to storefronts on Mission Street between Geneva and Mt. Vernon avenues, and well as on Geneva Avenue between Alemany Boulevard and Naples Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will also be offered in the Tenderloin from Geary to McAllister streets and from Van Ness Street to Mason Street, as well as in Visitacion Valley on Leland Avenue between Bayshore Boulevard and Cora Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to data from the mayor\u2019s office of economic and workforce development, there are currently about 29 empty storefronts in the Excelsior \u2014 down from a pandemic-era high of 60 in 2022. While vacancies have decreased, the underlying challenges remain. Deferred maintenance \u2014 especially plumbing and electrical upgrades required to meet city code \u2014\u00a0continues to prevent many spaces from being leased.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Ferrucci and Ingram chose not to apply for the current grant, Bleiman remains optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bleiman remains optimistic. He sees this as a promising pilot program. \u201cI think it\u2019s genius. It is actually addressing a problem and not throwing money around at something we think is a problem,\u201d Bleiman said. \u201cIf it does work, I think there\u2019s a model there to expand it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Eligible recipients will be awarded $50,000 for retail and personal services such as salons, gyms or pet stores; $75,000 for coffee shops, bakeries, juice bars and small cafes, and $100,000 for full-service restaurants, bars and neighborhood-serving pharmacies. <\/p>\n

The application<\/a> is open and the deadline is Friday, Feb. 13 at 5 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019ve ever wanted to open a storefront in the Excelsior District, now\u2019s your chance. The city is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[387,43500,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-167626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-excelsior","10":"tag-san-francisco","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}