Residents of the Fillmore are calling for one of the district’s last historic buildings, which has sat empty for decades, to be made into something — anything — for the community to enjoy.
To the neighborhood’s residents, the brick building at 1190 Fillmore St. is more than just a dilapidated former Muni electrical substation. It’s one of the few structures left standing after most of the historically Black neighborhood was demolished during “urban renewal” efforts in the 1960s.
In all, San Francisco destroyed 883 businesses and 2,500 Victorian homes in the Western Addition. Along with the substation, the survivors included the Fillmore Auditorium concert hall, now known as The Fillmore; the Old Holy Virgin Cathedral; and the former Acme Brewing Company office, which currently houses the African American Arts & Culture Complex.
Now, locals want the substation restored and repurposed to honor the Fillmore’s past as the “Harlem of the West.”
“Culturally, socially, it’s very significant in the Fillmore,” said Majeid Crawford, a Fillmore activist and executive director of the nonprofit New Community Leadership Foundation.
Until 1978, the substation powered electric Muni streetcars like those used on Fillmore Street from 1895 to 1948; they were later replaced with buses. In the neighborhood’s heyday, streetcars ran down the main strip, which was home to jazz clubs, ballrooms and the Black Panther Party’s San Francisco office.
Fillmore native Quentin Hoskins, 55, said he wants the substation to house a museum honoring the neighborhood’s rich history as a nexus of Black culture and business.
“From that one power station, you got history all the way up,” Hoskins said.
Melonee Hall, 45, who has lived in the Fillmore all her life, said the building could be used as a shelter for homeless people, but she insisted that the brick facade be preserved.
“Don’t tear it down,” Hall said. “It’s such a beautiful building.”
Years of interest, no broken ground
Activists, residents and the city agree that the site should be preserved. The last significant discussion shown in city records about the building’s reuse occurred in the 2000s, with ideas centered on adapting it to be an arts or community space.
A 2007 feasibility study by Bay Area Economics said the building could be used as a space to host up-and-coming artists or a center with youth programming and resources. But the report acknowledged the need for funding sources and a suitable operator, citing the high cost to rehabilitate the structure.
In 2008, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency put out a Request for Proposals for an operator to take over the building, with a preference for arts and community purposes. Only two proposals were submitted; both were rejected.
Community meetings conducted at the time found that many Western Addition residents wanted the site to be turned into a community center or used for programs on youth entrepreneurship, jazz, blues or gospel music.
Michael Simmons, who has worked as a developer and project management consultant in the Fillmore for 30 years, said one reason the building has remained vacant for so long is that it is key to find an operator who will not only raise funds to redevelop the structure but will ensure a consistent revenue stream from whatever programming takes place there.
The cost of a seismic retrofit alone would be immense. In 2003, such work was estimated at $2 million to $3 million, according to a city memo. Simmons guessed the cost has since ballooned to 10 times that amount. The city’s real estate department said in an email that making the building safe to operate, including installing plumbing and seismic upgrades, could cost “tens of millions.”
Such fixes could include a fiberglass lining or a steel structure to prop up the brick walls from the inside, according to Peter Birkholz, president of Page & Turnbull, a historic building restoration firm.
“It’s got to be a priority for someone, but I don’t think it is for anyone,” Simmons told The Standard. “There needs to be an organization pushing the supervisor or the mayor to have it redone.”
The city’s real estate department said it has had a number of discussions with community stakeholders over the years about finding a financially sustainable use for the building.
“We recognize that the former substation is an important and historically significant asset in the Fillmore,” the department said, “and we remain open to identifying a use for the building that will be financially sustainable.”
Any chance of bulldozing the historic structure to build condos is remote at best. Planning Department Chief of Staff Dan Sider said in an email it is “wildly unlikely” that the city would approve demolition.
“I cannot think of a case where we’ve ever allowed the demolition of a city landmark,” Sider said.
Crawford, a leader of the rehabilitation of the Fillmore Turk Mini Park next to the building, has recently been conducting community outreach efforts to see what locals want done with the substation. During a virtual town hall July 25, he pitched transforming the substation into a community space named the Maya Angelou Still I Rise Center.
The idea is in the early stages, but Crawford said he hopes to incorporate much of a plan he proposed in 2010 that included three floors of office and retail space plus a “hip-hop lounge.”
“It’s a historic landmark, so I’m happy it won’t be bulldozed, but I think it should be redeveloped,” Crawford said.