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Revealed: The anonymous donor behind $100M Market St. housing project

A collage with a tall building, a stack of money and a woman with blonde hair smiles warmly at the camera.
Source: Photo illustration by The Standard / Photos by The Standard; Getty Images and Mark Cavagnero Associates

The matriarch of a prominent San Francisco family is responsible for a donation of $100 million for an affordable artist housing project on Market Street, sources say.

Mary Miner, 81, donated the cash to fund a 17-story, 100% affordable artist-housing project slated to go up at 1687 Market St., according to sources with direct knowledge of the gift.

Plans for the 100-unit building near Civic Center were announced in May, but there had been no information on the donors behind the total $100 million to finance its construction.

Miner is the widow of Oracle co-founder Robert Miner, who died of cancer in 1994. Miner and their children inherited his stake in Oracle, which was worth $600 million at the time, according to Forbes. The family has a history of donating to local arts organizations, nonprofit filings show.

A modern, illuminated high-rise building stands in an urban area, surrounded by classic architecture, pedestrians, cyclists, and a car on a twilight backdrop.
A rendering of what the artist's homes could look like at 1687 Market St. | Source: Mark Cavagnero Associates
The image shows a building with a sign reading "Edward McRoskey Mattress Co." It's on a street corner marked "Market" with traffic lights and a no left turn sign.
The McRoskey Mattress Co. building could be demolished to make way for the artist housing project. | Source: Benjamin Fanjoy for The Standard

Miner, along with her children Nicola and Luke, sits on the board of the Baker Street Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to donating to the arts, including a $1 million donation to the San Francisco Ballet and tens of thousands to other organizations and museums in 2022.

Nicola Miner said in an email last month that she and her husband, Robert Mailer Anderson, are not involved with the artist housing effort. However, both chair the Miner Anderson Family Foundation, an arts and social justice nonprofit that gave $250,000 to the San Francisco Opera Association, $105,000 to the Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center, and $25,000 to SFJAZZ in 2022.

Randall Kline, executive director of Artist Hub on Market, a nonprofit leading the housing project, declined to comment.

Mary Miner did not respond to a request for comment.

Alex Mullaney contributed reporting this story.
Joe Burn can be reached at jburn@sfstandard.com
Garrett Leahy can be reached at garrett@sfstandard.com
Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez can be reached at joefitz@sfstandard.com