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Board Approves Sixth Street SFPD Substation Lease Amendment After Commitments to Outcome Reporting
Summary
Supervisors approved an amended lease and construction plan for a Sixth Street police substation, committing roughly $775,000 in tenant improvements (including ballistic hardening) while adding a requirement that the Police Department report measurable public-safety outcomes to the Public Safety Committee about six months after opening.
The Budget & Finance Subcommittee approved an amendment to a lease and the construction plan for a new San Francisco Police Department substation at 72 Sixth Street, after extensive public comment from merchants and community groups and a supervisor-led amendment requiring follow-up reporting.
City staff told supervisors the amended lease reduces the citys short-term rent obligation (a negotiated $14.49 monthly base for the first three years) while the city would fund interior tenant improvements estimated at $775,000. John Updike of the Real Estate Division explained nearly half of the construction budget is for ballistic protection and hardened HVAC/ducting to meet safety standards, and that value engineering had reduced earlier estimates.
Police fiscal staff said the substation is intended primarily as a footprint for beat officers to conduct reports, interviews and follow-up investigations without returning to the Hall of Justice—improving on-street presence and response time. "The idea was to create a place where officers could go and do those follow-up investigations...and in doing so, creating that presence along the Mid Market corridor," said John Goldberg (SFPD fiscal).
Merchants and neighborhood groups, including South of Market Business Association and Urban Solutions, urged approval as a tool to deter street-level crime and encourage businesses to remain or open in the corridor. Several merchants said the substation had been a promised community investment under previous redevelopment plans and that a storefront police presence could attract more private investment.
Supervisors pressed staff on alternatives (mobile command vans and technology solutions), staffing plans and equity concerns (whether other neighborhoods with similar needs would receive comparable attention). The Police Department said the van model is not ideal as a long-term substitute and that technical platforms to allow officers to complete reports remotely are still being pursued.
As a condition of forwarding the lease amendment, the committee accepted an amendment to require the Police Department to return with a report—recommended to the Public Safety Committee—approximately six months after the substation opens documenting baseline crime statistics, station use, staffing patterns and measurable outcomes so the Board can assess whether the investment improves public safety.
Action: The committee forwarded the lease amendment with the reporting requirement and reductions in rent negotiated by Real Estate; the motion passed without objection.
What happens next: The city will proceed with construction and occupancy (staff projected summer occupancy), fund tenant improvements from the city's general fund sources noted in the packet, and the Police Department will compile outcome metrics and present a post-opening report to the Public Safety Committee.
