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blase · 09-17-2010, 05:20 AM

After the military closed the base it was handed over to the national park service as it's part of the Golden Gate Nature something-or-other. The problem was that the park service is good with trees but doesn't know jack about buildings.

Some of the structures were in pretty good shape from recent military use and maintenance. Others had been marginal and were made much worse by a couple years of NPS neglect.

The problem with running a park in the middle of an urban area is that it's expensive. VERY expensive. The budget for the Presidio was about the combined cost of Yellowstone and Yosemite combined. So then everybody and their grandma got involved and started getting ideas of what should be done--added to the mix of SF politics and it was a very ugly political mess.

The resolution that came out of it was the very first Federal Corporation, the Presidio Trust. Their mandate was to preserve the historic buildings (the base is older than the USA as it was first a Spanish outpost, then Mexican and finally US military). The buildings would be re-mediated to a state where asbestos would not fall off the ceiling and WWII ordinance would be cleaned up.

The Trust was given a budget that was full support for the first several years and afterwards it would decrease every year as the renovated buildings would be fixed and leased. The income from the building leases would have to cover the operating budget entirely by something like 2013 or 2015. If they couldn't meet the deadline then it potentially could be sold off for development or whatever.

The Presidio Trust works in conjunction with the NPS on conservation projects such as the Crissy Field (the beach on the northern border) and the NPS manages all the beach areas as there are no buildings in that area.

I don't know how far along they are with regards to meeting the deadline but by a quick perusal of the businesses listed in Google it would seem they've got a pretty good occupancy rate. While I was there most buildings were still really "raw" but it was fascinating to go look inside them. Now they are leased with a combination of residential and commercial tenants.

One building that I thought was particularly beautiful was being leased at the cost of $4,500 per month, keep in mind that it's a home that would sell for about $350,000-400k in my city. And those tenants are not getting any equity for the high costs. None of the buildings can be sold.

It was a wonderful experience and at that time it was still very empty so there was plenty of exploration to do with all manner of really interesting buildings and military fortifications. It's 200+ years of military time capsule.

09-17-2010, 05:20 AM	#10
blase Coronation Incarnate Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Boulder, CO Posts: 91	After the military closed the base it was handed over to the national park service as it's part of the Golden Gate Nature something-or-other. The problem was that the park service is good with trees but doesn't know jack about buildings. Some of the structures were in pretty good shape from recent military use and maintenance. Others had been marginal and were made much worse by a couple years of NPS neglect. The problem with running a park in the middle of an urban area is that it's expensive. VERY expensive. The budget for the Presidio was about the combined cost of Yellowstone and Yosemite combined. So then everybody and their grandma got involved and started getting ideas of what should be done--added to the mix of SF politics and it was a very ugly political mess. The resolution that came out of it was the very first Federal Corporation, the Presidio Trust. Their mandate was to preserve the historic buildings (the base is older than the USA as it was first a Spanish outpost, then Mexican and finally US military). The buildings would be re-mediated to a state where asbestos would not fall off the ceiling and WWII ordinance would be cleaned up. The Trust was given a budget that was full support for the first several years and afterwards it would decrease every year as the renovated buildings would be fixed and leased. The income from the building leases would have to cover the operating budget entirely by something like 2013 or 2015. If they couldn't meet the deadline then it potentially could be sold off for development or whatever. The Presidio Trust works in conjunction with the NPS on conservation projects such as the Crissy Field (the beach on the northern border) and the NPS manages all the beach areas as there are no buildings in that area. I don't know how far along they are with regards to meeting the deadline but by a quick perusal of the businesses listed in Google it would seem they've got a pretty good occupancy rate. While I was there most buildings were still really "raw" but it was fascinating to go look inside them. Now they are leased with a combination of residential and commercial tenants. One building that I thought was particularly beautiful was being leased at the cost of $4,500 per month, keep in mind that it's a home that would sell for about $350,000-400k in my city. And those tenants are not getting any equity for the high costs. None of the buildings can be sold. It was a wonderful experience and at that time it was still very empty so there was plenty of exploration to do with all manner of really interesting buildings and military fortifications. It's 200+ years of military time capsule.