In the two years since its opening, only 13 of the building’s 146 luxury apartments have been sold at the Four Seasons high-rise located near San Francisco’s infamous drug selling sites.
The Tower Residences, which has a $49 million penthouse, views of the San Francisco Bay, and a variety of facilities – including a vehicle elevator – is situated in the Tenderloin and SoMa neighborhoods, which have become the epicenters of the city’s crime and drug problems.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, the last sale at the apartment complex occurred on June 1, meaning there was not a single transaction in the third quarter of 2022.
After four years of construction and an estimated $500 million price tag, the building released its units for pre-sale in 2020.
In 2020, NBA player Stephen Curry and his wife Ayesha are rumored to have signed a contract for a $8 million, 2,800-square-foot condo on the 30th floor.
According to the Business Journal, as of October, none of the 13 sales at the Tower Residences had the Currys’ name or LLCs affiliated with them, implying that the basketball star abandoned his aspirations to move into the building.
It is unknown why the wealthy have shied away from the Tower Residences, but major crimes in San Francisco are up 7.4% from the same period last year, assaults are up 11.1%, and robberies are up 5.2%, with much of this criminal activity occurring in the blocks around the building.
San Francisco has constructed a pair of drug treatment clinics in the Tenderloin and SoMa neighborhoods, which, according to locals, have done little more than lure scores of dangerous addicts to the streets.
The Tenderloin Linkage Center was opened in January 2019 to assist the city’s homeless and drug users in finding assistance.
The center, which pays $75,000 per month in rent and operates at a cost of almost $19 million, has declared it would close at the end of the year after failing to reduce crime in the city.
In the first five months, barely 0.1% of those who sought assistance at the center were referred to treatment, according to critics. Only 18 of the 23,367 drug users who visited the site between January and April were referred for treatment.
And a big component of the Linkage Center was providing a’safe location’ for users to shoot up, which, according to critics, did little to improve the problem.
Instead of addressing the issue, the center became an open-air drug market, with users camping out in the center and nearby streets, shooting up freely and passing out where they sat.
And down the road in SoMa, neighbors claim they are arming themselves with baseball bats and shock guns because a newly opened drug rehabilitation center has attracted aggressive users to the formerly tranquil neighborhood.
Since the SoMa RISE drug sobering clinic opened in June, people are outraged, claiming that ‘troublemakers’ have plagued the neighborhood.
Residents told Fox News that rather than reducing drug use, the center has instead attracted serious drug users to the area.
Residents asserted that with these users comes crime, which creates a cloud of danger over the community.
The center was opened with the assistance of Democratic San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who described it as a safe refuge for recovering addicts.
The office of Mayor Breed described SoMa as a’safe indoor area’ for addicts to ‘get off the streets,”regroup,’ and’stabilize.’
Mark Sackett, a SoMa resident and business owner, stated that the city’s intentions were not being realized.
Sackett told ABC7, “They’re allowing their clients to come out here and get high, then go inside and get sober and then get high again.”
Another resident, identified only as Ghis, provided ABC7 with a similar account.
“More troublemakers are settling here, feeling comfortable using drugs, urinating and defecating in the street, and obstructing the walkways,” Ghis claimed, adding that the neighborhood is experiencing “a moment of lunacy.”
Bill, a local resident, stated that he had questioned his safety every time he left home for work since the center’s opening.
Every morning is a game of chance. ‘Are there going to be ten people passed out in front of your office when you arrive?’ he said. Are they planning on being violent? This was never an issue prior to HealthRight 360’s arrival.
Bill continued, “If you ask me, it should be shut down and other ways should be taken to the homelessness and drug problem we all face.”
A recent survey reveals that the majority of San Franciscans believe their city is deteriorating, and one-third plan to leave within the next three years. This is despite the fact that drug use and homelessness are common on city streets.
In a survey of 1,653 persons, 65 percent indicated that the city was decreasing, while 37 percent indicated that they would relocate within three years. An astounding 84 percent of those aged 65 and above stated that they intend to leave.
It presents a grim picture of a city renowned for its Golden Gate Bridge and beautiful ‘Painted Ladies’ residences but is beset by poor leadership and urban deterioration, where the sight of addicts shooting up on the pavements has become all too familiar.
The San Francisco Chronicle conducted the study after the recall election of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who was removed in June due to public safety concerns in the heavily Democratic city.
Homelessness topped the list of the city’s most pressing issues, followed by public safety and housing expenses. Nearly 70% of respondents expressed uncertainty that these issues will improve during the next three years.
A 53-year-old respondent, Dae Echols, told The Chronicle that he was “bore up with the city” and that growing prices will certainly compel him to retire elsewhere. The average monthly rent in San Francisco has increased to $3,750.
I recall that the hippy generation was all about caring for your friends and brotherly love. This is completely gone,’ remarked Echols.
Since the beginning of 2020, San Francisco’s drug issue has resulted in nearly twice as many deadly overdoses as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new proposal, titled “San Francisco Recovers,” was very similar to the Linkage Center’s safe-space and open-air market strategy.
The plan advocated for “supervised consumption sites where drug users can take narcotics securely under medical supervision in order to prevent accidental overdose deaths.”
Matt Dorsey, a supervisor, stated that the objectives were purposefully’soft touch.’
They include electronically tagging users and having police officers track them down and seize their drugs if they enter known drug-trafficking regions.
Supervisors in San Francisco favor job placement and training in lieu of incarceration for those who agree to quit dealing drugs, as well as ‘right to recovery’ zones surrounding treatment facilities with zero tolerance for drug possession and dealing.
The San Francisco Standard quotes Dorsey as saying, “This is a manner where nobody goes to jail, but we’re doing a good job of disrupting the drug market and drug scenes.”
Parisa Safarzadeh, a spokesperson for San Francisco’s mayor London Breed, stated that the Linkage Center had been a worthwhile experiment.
She stated that the location was a “urgent intervention to stabilize the community in the near term while the city implemented its long-term plans for Tenderloin.”
In recent months, the progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin was ousted in a recall election as a result of community resentment over his allegedly lax practices, heightening discontent with the city’s downfall.
Gina McDonald, co-founder of Mothers Against Drug Deaths (MADD), told DailyMail.com that the organization applauded the site’s closure, stating that numerous contractors had reaped enormous profits from its operations.
She stated, “San Francisco has become Gotham.” “It must be altered.”