Budget and Finance Committee backs $1-a-year lease for Chinatown Community Children’s Center at City Hall

The Budget and Finance Committee on April 9 recommended that the full Board of Supervisors approve a lease that would allow the Chinatown Community Children’s Center to operate a childcare facility in roughly 6,000 square feet of basement space at San Francisco City Hall.

The committee voted unanimously to accept technical amendments proposed by the Department of Real Estate and to forward the amended resolution to the full board with a positive recommendation. Vice Chair Supervisor Matt Dorsey, Supervisor Joe Engardio and Chair Supervisor Connie Chan recorded aye votes for both motions.

By way of background, the Department of Real Estate told the committee the prior operator, Marin Daycare, closed during the pandemic and the City Hall space has been vacant since 2021. The Real Estate Division said it ran a competitive request for proposals in 2023 and selected Chinatown Community Children’s Center (often referred to as “4 C’s”) as the top scoring nonprofit respondent. Under the proposed lease, the nonprofit would pay a base rent of $1 per year, a common nominal rent for city–nonprofit agreements, and would be responsible for all tenant improvements after obtaining design approvals and permits.

The lease would provide the selected operator with an initial 10‑year term and two 10‑year renewal options. The city will ensure mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure serving the building is in working order and will provide standard custodial and utilities; janitorial costs were estimated in the department’s budget analysis at about $30,000 a year. The Budget and Legislative Analyst noted the city would forgo what it estimated as roughly $200,000 a year in market rent and that the primary ongoing fiscal impact may be tuition subsidies provided by the Department of Early Childhood, estimated as a maximum of about $1.2 million annually if every enrolled family received a full, income‑based subsidy beginning when the program starts operations in 2027.

Public comment included Tiffany Reyes of the Low Income Investment Fund, who urged the committee to approve the lease and said the center would focus on infants and toddlers and serve both City Hall employees and the broader community. Committee members praised the return of childcare to City Hall and noted the operator’s plans for income‑based fees and partnerships with local education and early‑learning programs.

The department said construction of tenant improvements will occur only after design documents and permits are approved and that the tenant will fund those improvements. The resolution was amended on the record to conform to Administrative Code requirements for below‑market leases and to clarify the public benefit findings.

The amended resolution (agenda item 1) will go to the full Board of Supervisors for consideration on April 15 unless otherwise scheduled.