Committee forwards port request to negotiate with Teatro Zinzani after debate over sole-source waiver

The Land Use & Transportation Committee on May 5 voted to forward to the full Board a Port of San Francisco request to enter exclusive negotiations with Teatro Zinzani and TZK Broadway LLC for development of Seawall Lots 324 and 323, including a boutique hotel and a dinner theater. The committee’s vote to send the matter on with a positive recommendation passed 2–1 (Weiner and Cohen yes; Kim no).

Ricky Tidani, a Port development project manager, described the 1.4‑acre site at Broadway and the Embarcadero and recounted that Teatro Zinzani, a longstanding waterfront tenant, was displaced from Pier 27 in February 2011 to accommodate America's Cup and cruise-terminal work. Tidani said the port seeks a waiver of the city’s competitive bidding policy (Administrative Code §2.6.1) to enter an exclusive negotiation agreement with Teatro and its partner, TZK Broadway LLC; he emphasized that authorization to negotiate would not be an approval of a final lease or project and that CEQA and design review would follow.

Norm Landholm, identified as president and artistic director of Teatro Zinzani, and Annie Jamieson, identified as chief operating officer, outlined a multiuse plan that includes a permanent theater, a boutique hotel, artists’ housing (10 artist‑reserved units noted in committee discussion), public park space, and retail. Port staff and Teatro representatives said those uses grew from community outreach and that a mixed-use approach was necessary to make the theater financially viable.

Supervisor Jane Kim said she supported bringing Teatro back but pressed the port for a stronger justification for a sole‑source waiver rather than an RFQ or RFP. "I have a hard time with a sole source waiver… I just believe as a board where we act as the safeguard for our public properties that we want to be able to tell our constituents that we were able to get the best deal," she said. Port staff including Brad Benson, director of special projects, said the port could analyze fair‑market value through appraisals and comparable leases but acknowledged they "cannot guarantee" that exclusive negotiations would produce a better deal than a competitive process: "I can't I cannot guarantee to you that this path will yield a better deal than a bid deal, because we haven't done the bid." Benson also said typical new‑development ground leases use a 66‑year term where allowed, noting that such a term would amortize the developer's investment and is permitted under the Burton Act.

Supervisor Scott Weiner argued the situation is unusual because Teatro is an identified tenant and the partnership with a developer may be necessary to relocate the theater; he said he was prepared to support forwarding the measure with a positive recommendation. The committee heard more than two dozen public commenters, including labor representatives, neighborhood associations, former Teatro performers and staff, nonprofit arts groups, and small‑business advocates, who uniformly urged the committee to move the proposal forward and praised Teatro's cultural and economic contributions.

After debate and a procedural exchange about motions, the committee took a roll call vote: Supervisor Kim voted no; Supervisor Weiner and Chair Malia Cohen voted yes. The matter will be considered by the full Board of Supervisors next.