People entering into becoming a shopkeeper, or service provider, whatever. Weve actually created a small, i dont know, 150 square feet each, weak carved out it into retail spaces now, they share a common bathroom. They dont have all of that extra Square Footage. Would you consider doing Something Like that . I think going back to, commissioner, the discussion about flexible retail. What you are describing is one of the trends. Retail space has become more expensive, obviously retail is changing, and evolving with both the online shopping, but also the idea that co location, of different retail brands, and that is really what you are seeing in flexible retail. You are seeing new retailers, like neighborhood goods, where you might have five different brands, with some food uses in the space, you like share bathrooms. One of the important things to note about that, as a company that has been doing retail for over 30 years here in San Francisco. Our retail portfolio is 97 leased. We intend to keep it that way. We are seeing more and more Small Businesses that are having difficulty taking these larger spaces. The idea of having some flexible space where retailers can come together and co brand. Subject to the same controls as was mentioned earlier of the ncs zoning district. We believe that is actually an option to have that provides local businesses with more opportunity here. I think there is something for me on the retail is, prado group, youre in my neighborhood as well. You own a portfolio of retail spaces. Its up to you to curate Something Interesting that keeps vacancy rates as low as you can. I trust, that you have a very vested interest in not stuffing doctors offices, nail shops, and weirdo menagerie of things that are not going to play off each other, like we see in some neighborhood commercial districts. If i can just comment on that, for a second . I actually sat on the Retail Advisory committee for the upper market, because of the vacancy we saw in the neighborhood. There are a lot of outoftown Property Owners, up in the district. We do make it rather difficult, as a city coming to get retail approved. Some of the reasons are good. Formula retail. We are proud of the fact that historically, 75 of our tenants have been non formula retail tenants. But, i think it is an opportunity, in this area, to bring some additional retail to the area, that can complement to the retail that is next door. Having that flexibility built into the project, we think is important, as the market evolves. I am a retailer in the Laurel Village shopping center, youre going to come in down the street , should i be afraid . I think, i would tell you that weve met with the Laurel Village merchants over the last four years, and admittedly, there is some fear and concern. There was an allegation early on that we were going to bring whole foods in, and put whole foods in this location. We assured the neighborhood we were doing small shop space. The good news is whole foods is coming into the City Center Development which is about two blocks down the street. Trader joes is located down the street. We have some beloved institutions. I shop at their stores weekly. We have a desire to complement, not compete with the retailers in Laurel Village. I would say a number of the retailers are excited about the idea that we are going to bring additional retail to an area that is currently owned with separate ownerships. One piece of information to know about Laurel Village shopping center, and i think we had it up on site earlier. It has 11 different ownerships. Three of those are actually local Property Owners. Out of four of the owners, they have banks. 25 of the Square Footage is banks in the Laurel Village center. To curate a mix of things that is missing from the neighborhood, and that is our intent. We are already starting to collaborate with the board of the Merchants Association to do comarketing. We have actually proposed to build a new website that would co brand and co market the whole area for the local neighbors. Thanks. Can we get into some specifics here from the Laurel Heights letter that was handed in asking for modifications. Could you comment on the request to remove 30 feet from the south side of euclid building the preserved green space . I believe you are referring to the elimination of two of the townhomes . That is second on her list. 30 feet on the south side of euclid yielding to preserve green space, i guess. Im sorry, i recall what she was referring to. We actually can put up a slide, do we have a before and after slide looking down from the euclid green . I think that will give a sense to the commissioners about what the proposed project is. If you can just put it up, i want to understand this a little better. That is the euclid side. Yes, this is a current view of the euclid green facing east or downtown. Euclid green will remain part of. Right. This is the after, will go back to the before, and then you can see with our proposed plan, which is the next slide. We are planning on retaining that corridor to downtown, it was something that was referenced by the neighborhood, very early on. We initially started with a different design of that park that had a platform, then actually step down the hill and some of the neighbors, who actually throw footballs out there, play with their dogs out there, said they wanted it to follow the natural grade. These two pictures here, the Square Footage of the euclid green remains the same . You take a some away, and is still the same size area. We are looking at one side of the euclid green right now. As proposed. This is a long euclid, this is the east facing view. There is a section, that i was referring to, that some of the neighbors had referred to that is on the north side of that green, along laurel where we are proposing townhomes, and that is currently green space that we are proposing to eliminate to include a couple of fourbedroom homes. The height of those homes are 40 feet . 40 feet. They are actually 30 feet, they are set back approximately 25 feet. They have a 30foot element, and then there is a 40foot element is set back from the 30foot height. So the total is 40. From the curb is 25 feet. I believe it is the end of the sidewalk, its approximately 25 feet. Maybe you can tell me, laurel street is how wide . In trying to understand the impact of what this request would do. You know the width of laurel street . And then on the other side of the street, the homes have a setback as well . The homes do have a setback. Do you know the average setback . I would guess that the average setback is probably 2530 feet. What is different though is that the homes across the street actually have driveway aprons. We have removed those driveway aprons, consolidated them into one single driveway for all of the townhomes, in order to park them behind. Ours is a continuous garden space and that now has a double row of trees. I will let other commissioners speak, but i do have other further questions. Commissioner fung . [inaudible] turner mike on. Okay. Im not sure whether my fellow commissioners and i need that much discussions on the certification of the e. I. R. In reviewing the e. I. R. , i found some typos, but nothing of significance. I will let the other commissioners bring forth whether they feel similarly. In terms of the special use districts, and the development agreements, some of the initial discussions have related to retail. I think there is a couple of points that if i could use the word opposition, or use the Word Community brought forth, somewhat in agreement with. As an example if i had a choice between larger scale open space versus open space that is in between, much smaller narrower between buildings, at that. , it is not lost on me from the discussions that have been brought forth by the community. The question of whether the flexible retail space should go beyond 11, i would probably agree with, also. There was one other point i was going to bring forth, but i cant remember now. There are some points that i am in disagreement with, and terms of where the community is. One is the usage of flexible retail. Given the challenges that retail has come i think expanding the amount of uses that can occur in a commercial zone, this is probably important to be able to maintain that retail. Secondly i am not as an outward with the sense of architectural, historical significance of the existing building that perhaps some of the others are. The concept of how one lays out these buildings, i think i am more appreciative of the design proposal, trying to reach grade around the entire site. To me that is fairly important, given the nature, the urban design nature of both masonic and pine street area. On that basis, then the imbalance, you know, i am prepared to support the project as it currently is. Commissioner moore . Thank you to my fellow commissioners for their thoughtful comments. It is interesting how we look differently at things that matter to us. What has been a large question for me is the challenge of transforming the suburban site which is an oddity on its own, into something which has meeting. The Historic Preservation is a very important one, but more important is the issue of good adaptive reuse. Someone reminisced to preserving something which has a lot of meaning to the community. How do you do that . Offers to residential is a major challenge, because there are different rules applied in particular to an Office Building that is not like many in San Francisco adapt to our use. This is a typical suburban Office Building, with that are not adaptable to residential i have to believe it is done in a manner that is sensitive solely with a large scale memory of these buildings on the site. But does all of the things to bring it into the context of an urban project as was just mentioned. In a way that is meaningful. The masonic euclid site has always been a problem, no matter how we feel about it. It was always suburban. It was always a substitute substitute freeway, it was something that did not have any scale or reason to have scale. Adding buildings and a manner that they are now lining that part of the site, including the new openings with a real sensitive ad which is great, makes this a very compelling project. I spend quite a bit of time listening to presentations that give me a far larger insight into the quality of the project, than just looking through the documents, or even hearing an abbreviated presentation, giving true creditor to what has been achieved here. I am in full support of the project, and i would like to have mr. Safir speak one more time, to the issue which i ask each time we have large projects , explained to the community your thoughts about phasing . I got a number of pages which were handed to me, based on how you want to explain it. I want the rest of the commission, as well as the public to have the benefit of hearing you, including myself, ask you a couple of questions. Thank you. We do have some slides here that will speak to a couple of issues , around the phasing. One, that i can speak to, is a construction timeframe which has been discussed among some of the members of the public, and then also how the phasing will actually work . I was as was discussed earlier, sevenyear construction timeframe with overlapping phases. I would like to note that we have every intent to build this project, as quickly as we can, and we appreciate that the community would like to see it built as quickly as possible. The construction phasing itself, when you look at the phases. It ranges from just under two years for the west portion of the project, which is along laurel, to our longest phase which is three years, along the california street phase. Importantly, i think when you look at the phasing. That three year time frame, which starts at demolition, and excavation actually has the exterior of those buildings being closed up, just slightly over two years. What is positive about that is we will have subterranean garages which will have high bay heights for deliveries, and provide opportunity for to be primarily serviced and staged underneath those buildings. Even though that is a three year timeframe, from a practical standpoint, there is about two years of Exterior Construction on the longest phase. This slide that i will run through demonstrates how the phasing will work, from a site plan perspective. We have the existing parking come along california street. The masonic you euclid phase, it is a 2. 5 year phase. During the construction, and the end of progress, there will be selected demolition of the south portion of the building, and the site access will have contractor staging, on the west side, of the existing building, where there is an existing parking lot. Also, we are planning to retain the existing parking onsite, because that is used by the public currently, we are going to try to maintain that as long as we can, so there is public parking. When the phase is under construction, you can see the outline to the south of the Masonic Building on the euclid building. The contractor staging will move over in front of the jcc building. Retaining public parking, on the california street garage, and that we will also have contractor staging, and likely contractor offices on the existing structure that is currently on the northwest portion of the project. This slide demonstrates when the masonic euclid phase is complete. The center phase is still under construction. This shows the Pedestrian Access way, and also the vehicular access for the masonic and euclid building, under the masonic garage and euclid garage , while the buildings are under construction. It was still be Pedestrian Access, public parking, along california street in surface parking lot. Also, contractor staging will be able to occur on the west portion of the site where there is existing parking. When plaza anb and walnut phase comments, the center, it is assumed to still be in progress. The contractor staging will take place at the west side of the center a and b buildings. While the entire california frontage is under construction. This is our access to the masonic and euclid buildings. And then the center a and b buildings will be completed. This shows the access to both the parking, and the Pedestrian Access for center anb, euclid building, Masonic Building while the california frontage is still under construction. We then, as an interim part of the california street phase would open up the entry into the site, once the underground garage is built, to create that north and south connection, and the walnut building, and the plaza anb building will still be under construction. And then, the mayfair and laurel duplexes would Start Construction. This slide shows both construction access for staging, and completion of the remaining stages, but also pedestrian and vehicular access onto the site. This is with the completion of the plaza a, plaza b and walnut building, and the access that will then be available for those three phases. And then the access of both vehicular and Pedestrian Access, during that timeframe. Thank you for explaining that which basically has four open edges, which is extremely difficult to phase. I want to be very honest here, phasing the california street side first would have been my preference. It is a california Street Project brady want to show the most complete phase to the community, and phase away from what is basically the treasure. I am not sure, as to whether or not consider that, could you spend a moment on explaining why that did not work, so i can at least support your phasing diagram . One of the items that was mentioned, is that this project, and the Affordable Housing is being privately funded, by the project itself. The walnut phase includes the garage, and the retail, and the Affordable Housing building. In order to build up to funding, to Start Construction on that walnut building, we have to have approximately two phases completed in order to escrow sufficient funds to pay for the Gap Financing for the walnut affordable project. We do have the flexibility under the development agreement. To your point, it would be our desire to build a california street, if that is possible. Our goal is the same as the citys goal, to build the Affordable Housing, as we do not currently have a bridge mechanism, in order to build out Affordable Housing. It is something that we are strongly considering how to try to do that. I was not trying to nail you to the early realization of Affordable Housing, knowing that the Financial Issues on the property issues surrounding that are very, very complex. That would be a desire, emotionally, to have it. Im anxious to see that the project chose a very positive site, positive face on california as early as possible, does not have a construction phase on that particular part of the project. That is the longest facade, at the address. Whatever could be done to get that phase of the project, a positive site, i think is an object and should be thought about. We very much appreciate the comment, commissioner. Commissioner johnson . First i want to take just a minute to celebrate. I think it has been really heartening, and wonderful that we are all united, by the notion that we need by housing. Every Community Needs to, and wants to do its part to address the housing crisis. I think its important to celebrate occasionally. I agree on the fact that we name more housing. The conversation is how w