EDWARD LITKE / JERED KENNA

Conversion of an SRO to a Live/Work Tech Hub

The 50-unit Sierra Hotel above T-Mobile was vacant for years, prompting Homes Not Jails squatters to invade in a 2011 protest. Two years ago, it became home to 20Mission, a tech and artist live-work space. Still an SRO on the city’s books, the very symbol of downtrodden San Francisco has become a different kind of symbol: a techie dorm.

An article was written about it in Mission Local here.

A Bloomberg article describes how Bitcoin millionaire Jered Kenna charges $1800/month for a small room with shared bathroom.

An owner of many large properties in San Francisco, Litke is known for his dilapidated apartments and has been convicted of wrongfully evicting tenants.  Living in an expansive mansion  in Hillsborough with a fortune estimated in 2011 at $40 million, he operates Litke Properties.

Longtime owner of the Sierra Hotel, an SRO at 20th and Mission, he allowed it to fall into complete disrepair, and after it closed, kept the large building empty for  many years.  The empty blighted building was occupied twice - in 2010 and 2011 - by community activists:

• https://missionlocal.org/2011/07/takeover-of-abandoned-sro-at-20th-and-mission-leads-to-scuffle-one-arrest/

• http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/07/19/18654293.php

Now in it’s make-over as a tech dorm and Hacker Space, while remaining on the books an SRO,  Litke flaunts City regulations.  After being cited by Planning last year for leasing the retail space as formula retail, he applied for and got the okay to keep TMobile on the corner.  Even TMobile was forced to look for another place however, when he raised the rent at the the end of the lease.  

While Court records are full of Litke’s unlawful detainers, the eviction of the Chacon family, 40 year tenants  at 264 Dolores resulted in a  $1.2 million award.  After the eviction,  the home remained vacant.

“The 50-unit Sierra Hotel above T-Mobile was vacant for years, prompting Homes Not Jails squatters to invade in a 2011 protest. Two years ago, it became home to 20Mission, a tech and artist live-work space. Still an SRO on the city’s books, the very symbol of downtrodden San Francisco has become a different kind of symbol: a techie dorm.”