Trinity Plaza Faces Do or Die Vote at Supes Meeting Today

In December 2004, a deal was reached to end a dispute over the rebuilding of Trinity Plaza that involved Mayor Gavin Newsom’s first veto, a ballot initiative wrongly removed from the November 2004 ballot, and a proposed special election in June 2005 to resolve the issue once and for all.

Central to the deal was owner Angelo Sangiacomo’s unprecedented agreement to rebuild all of the current 360 rent-controlled apartments and place the new units under rent control, notwithstanding state law exemption of such units. Subsequent negotiations between Trinity, Supervisor Chris Daly and the tenants resulted in an extraordinarily detailed agreement whereby existing tenants would be moved to far more desirable units in the new building at the same rent, and receive a number of benefits they do not currently enjoy.

The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Trinity Deal in June 2005, and the project moved through the Planning Department and was approved in early August 2006. The assumption was that the Land Use Committee would hear the measure by mid-October, pass it on to the Board, and that construction of the rent-controlled building would commence by spring 2007.

But that’s when a project creating a landmark precedent for preserving rent-controlled housing, and that would revitalize the Mid-Market neighborhood, ran into trouble.

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