SAN FRANCISCO, CA – San Francisco Flower Mart is happy to announce a partnership with Kilroy Realty Corporation that will preserve the flower market at its current South of Market location at Sixth and Brannan Streets in a new, state-of-the-art facility for many decades to come.
“Over the past several months we have been working to finalize our agreements with Kilroy and begin designing the new flower mart facility,” said Bob Otsuka, Executive Vice President/General Manager of San Francisco Flower Mart LLC. “With an updated, more efficient facility, we will be able to stay competitive in our conveniently located market and service our customer base. The San Francisco Flower Mart will remain the traditional anchor for small businesses and working class jobs in a neighborhood that is going an exciting transformation. We realize what the San Francisco Flower Mart means to the floral industry, and San Franciscans, and are dedicated to preserving it at its current site. Our goal is to keep seamless continued operations during construction to service the growers, wholesalers and retailers who supply, sell and buy here at the Mart. Our market will remain committed to offering the unique variety of global products we built our reputation on.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Otsuka, and his team, will continue to manage both the current SFFM, and the new facility when it is completed. The new facility will contain 115,000 square feet of warehouse space with 150 parking spaces, and an additional 10,000 square feet of retail space dedicated to SFFM. Among the many guarantees made between Kilroy Realty and SFFM, all vendors/tenants have been offered a five-year extension of their leases at their current rent and terms. All tenants in good standing will be offered space in the new facility. The new San Francisco Flower Mart is tentatively scheduled to be completed in 2018.
“SFFM and Kilroy Realty have agreed to affordable rent levels in both the existing and new facility. The leases offered enable us to plan for our future in a way that we could never do on our own without this partnership,” said Steve Oku, owner of Oku Nursery, a tenant of the Flower Mart, and President of the Board of Directors of SFFM. “The agreement not only ensures that we will have a new flower market, but that it will be affordable to the current tenants, which has been our goal all along,” said Oku.
The proposed project, which will include office space above an underground wholesale flower market and ground-level retail space, is still being designed, according to Mike Sanford, Kilroy Realty’s Executive Vice President for Northern California. “We envision the new San Francisco Flower Mart to be a real destination – a mixed-use development where flower vendors, retail tenants, office users and visitors mingle together to create a unique, organic environment that complements all of the varied uses on the site,” said Sanford.
For more information please see www.thenewflowermart.com
The San Francisco Flower Mart dates back to the late 1800’s in San Francisco. Local flower growers would bring their products to Lotta’s Fountain in downtown San Francisco and sell on the city streets. The market has relocated four times over the past century, but has remained at its current home at Sixth and Brannan Streets since 1956.
Source: San Francisco Flower Mart