Danny Haber and Alon Gutman: Housing Disruptors
Haber and Gutman's latest "disruptive" business is oWow.com, a developer of tiny shared housing spaces in Oakland, marketed only through Facebook log-in. Their takeover of the Travellers single room occupancy hotel in Oakland resulted in displacement of all of the long-term senior and disabled tenants. Precarious Housing Map here
THE WINDS OF THE NEGEV BLOW HOT
The Negev followed failed sublettors such as Campus.com in their scalping approach to "communal" living. First using AirBnb, and later developing their own website, they took living spaces from some of the poorest residents of SRO hotels, as well as artists in Live/Work spaces. The legality of the business model has not been determined, with Haber and Gutman willing to "disrupt" until caught and stopped. The winds of the Negev are hot, and fires have been involved in displacing tenants at at least four of their managed or acquired properties.
After being involved in multiple lawsuits in San Francisco, Haber et al moved into Oakland, which has fewer protections for SRO tenants.
After a large fire displaced the well known AK Press at 674 23rd Street in West Oakland, Haber acquired the building. Soon afterward, real estate agent/owner Kim Marienthal sold him the building at 669 24th Street where the fire started. Haber received funding for the purchase from Seth Jacobson, the owner of 1919 Market Street where long term live/work tenants were abruptly displaced due to the neglected conditions of the building.
The San Francisco Dept. of Building Inspection allows Danny Haber to register as an architect and/or engineer when pulling building permits.
Paul Chinn, SF Chronicle photographed Haber and Partner Lushinsky at 1919 Market
Companies and LLCs
oWow.com
The Negev LLC
Negev 2, LLC
674 23rd Street LLC
Ndo Group, LLC
1919 Bayside Holdings LLC
1919 Bayside LLC
1919 Crew LLC
671 24th Street LLC
674 23rd Street LLC
2400 Filbert LLC
Svg Hadash LLC
YPP LLC
Noqoudi Enterprises
Google employee
PIER 54 STE 202 San Francisco, CA
In 2015, Housing activists awarded them as Eviction Profiteers Of The Year
Michael Yancy provided behind the scenes financing at the Travellers SRO Hotel and 1919 Market.
Properties that the pair own or have managed, causing havoc to existing tenants:
The Park Hotel at 1040 Folsom Street was cleared of long term tenants after a fire. While the tenants were waiting for repairs to be able to move back in, the owner Nasir Patel leased the building to Haber and Gutman, dba The Negev. Instead of the displaced tenants being contacted to move back into their rooms, The Negev opened as a digerati dorm. From a Craigslist ad: $1250 Negev Folsom!: Family dinners on Sundays, parties every 3 weeks, yoga on Fridays, and weekly talks from well known people mostly in the technology world.“
671 24th Street and 674 23rd Street
AK Press and many other tenants were displaced in the fire that started in the building next door., where two people died in the blaze. Haber and his financiers - among them, Seth Jacobson - acquired both buildings and have plans to develop "Live Work" spaces at the site.sThe City of Oakland was said to have put up roadblocks as the previous owner attempted to repair the fire damage. Seth Jacobson was the owner of 1919 Market when the City forced tenants out due to the condition of the building.
619 6th Street - a former mission that housed and fed the homeless prior to its conversion to a Negev tech dorm under Haber and Gutman
Residents moving out of Violation Plagued Tech Commune
1040 Folsom
The Negev Folsom at 1040 Folsom St. was the subject of a lawsuit filed by tenants displaced by a fire there who were not offered their units back at their former rent rate, as required by the San Francisco rent-control ordinance.
200 12th Street - The original “Negev” was a live/work space that Haber and Gutman turned into a crowded hostel, offering bunk beds in a shared room for $1250 or more per month. The beds were offered through AirBnb. The building is owned by the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corp. who originally had no knowledge of the subrental. The Planning Dept. closed down the illegal short term rental.
First Negev Commune also faced legal problems
The Negev subleases 5 properties in San Francisco on Hayes, Tehama, 9th Street as well as 6th and Folsom Streets. They also list properties in Austin, TX and have moved into Oakland.
The Graywood, 3308 Mission Street After Dipak Patel turned over management to the Negev Boys, the hotel burnt in a fire, along with the other buildings around it.
1919 Market, Oakland
Live/work tenants were displaced in two days with help from Oakland City Building Department just after Haber’s 1919 Bayside LLC took over as property manager. Haber demolished the building without a demolition permit.
Dozens of Renters Lose Homes as City Closes 1919 Market Street Warehouse in Oakland
Dozens of Oakland residents given 72 hours to vacate red-tagged live-work space
Oakland Residents Displaced From Building Under Renovation File Lawsuit
The Travellers Hotel, 392 11th St, Oakland - Tenants were offered buy-outs and some moved out when hotel was turned into a construction zone as rooms were remade into apartments. Elevator was taken out of commission in 6 story hotel that houses disabled residents.
Haber has reportedly been buying out existing tenants and has announced plans to build a beer garden on the hotel's roof and rent refurbished hotel rooms out to tourists at more than double existing prices, according to current residents.
555 10th Street, Oakland “The Bench” is run out of a residential condominium in central Oakland.
