San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie knows it won’t be easy to convince the real estate community that the notoriously progressive city is, as he told The Real Deal, “open for business,” a phrase he said he repeats daily in an effort to rehab the city’s reputation.
After all, thanks to an extra-long Covid shutdown that emptied out downtown and filled its sidewalks with homeless encampments, a city that stood for innovation instead became the emblem of dysfunction. Even five years later, it lags behind the rest of the nation in return-to-office numbers.
Since his January swearing in, Lurie’s comeback goals have packed his schedule with meetings and events. He had to sandwich this interview in at Salesforce Park. There, he told TRD that public safety and what he called the “behavioral health crisis on our streets” are his top priorities, followed by a desire to make sure businesses of all sizes can succeed.
Lurie is also planning an overhaul of the city’s much maligned permitting system, which he renamed PermitSF, and endorsing an upzoning plan he calls “family zoning” that he believes will allow for increased density without sacrificing neighborhood character or beckoning state oversight.
In a city where the political circles are so small that an election cycle is often described as a knife fight in a phone booth and the shades of the political spectrum run from blue to bluer, Lurie ran as a pragmatic outsider with no previous political experience. As the founder of anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point, he was the only candidate who had actually created housing in the city, a fact he enlisted in the campaign.
The outsider tag is only somewhat true: Lurie was born and raised in San Francisco and aside from a few years at the Robin Hood Foundation in New York — which Lurie called “the second-best city” in the country — he has spent his entire life by the Bay.
His family’s connections to the city go even deeper. If you know one thing about Lurie, it’s probably that he is an heir to the billions denim built: His stepfather Peter Haas was the great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss and was the company’s former CEO and chairman. After Peter died in 2005, Lurie’s mother Mimi Haas became the company’s biggest individual shareholder.
The Haas family is known for its philanthropy — UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and Stanford’s Haas Center for Public Service are examples of beneficiaries — and Lurie told TRD he was brought up to understand he had opportunities that not many get, “so take them, run with them, and make sure you’re bringing as many people along with you as possible.”
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Born: February 4, 1977
Hometown: San Francisco
Lives: San Francisco
Family: Married, two kids
“There were excuses made over the last few years that Union Square and what was then the Westfield were failing because retail was dead. I don’t buy it. Retail is not dead. You just have to adapt.”
What are your top real estate priorities for your first year in office and what are the challenges in overcoming them?
I think the narrative about our city over the last number of years has been our challenge, and also one that I welcome, because we are a safe American city. We’ve been knocked, but property crime is down 35 percent, violent crime is down 15 percent and car break-ins are at a 22-year low. We have work to do and that’s what we’re focused on, day in and day out.
What are some of the challenges specific to downtown?
Public safety and the perception of public safety, which we are getting a handle on. We have a lot of empty retail spaces and our office space needs to come back. I was just at [workplace productivity company] Notion, which took over a building on Market Street that was closed for five years. Six hundred employees, many of whom are under the age of 35, started recently right in the heart of an area that has really been struggling. They were going to the boba tea place that just opened and the Bun Mee across the street. They were packed. So, really, we’ve got to get people back to work.
We’re doing that at City Hall. Starting in August, everybody is going back at least four days a week. Actually 70 percent of our city employees are already back five days a week.
We have thousands of units of housing, both apartments and condos, that have been approved but are not moving forward. How much can the city do to get that pipeline moving again?
We can create certainty in our zoning. We have a new family zoning plan where we are controlling our own destiny. We’re not going to let Sacramento dictate what gets built in San Francisco. We hope to have a vote on that this fall. Step two is making sure that we create permitting that is easy, that gives those buildings certainty. Right now, you can go in for a permit and you don’t know if it’s going to be three months, nine months or 24 months.
Historically, the western and northern areas of the city have been adamantly opposed to increased density. How are you making your case?
Those neighborhoods haven’t seen a change in their zoning for over 50 years. It’s time. I also believe that we have to make sure that we look out for our neighborhoods. It’s what makes San Francisco unique. We’ve had over 50 meetings over the last two months and this zoning map has been going through the process for the last few years, so we have heard a lot.
On almost 90 percent of this new family zoning plan, there’s no going up in terms of heights; they don’t get to go above 40 feet. Density decontrol is the big change, turning a single-family home into a twoplex or a fourplex, but they have to stay in the confines of the current envelope.
Will that be enough of a change to get us to our state-mandated housing goals?
We’ve run it through different simulations and we are where we need to be.
One of your brothers [Alexander Fromm Lurie] is a real estate agent in the city. Has that given you any special insight into how policy changes can impact the residential market?
We haven’t had many detailed conversations over policy, but I do know that there’s an increase in interest from people moving back to San Francisco, because this is the home of AI, the home of technology. It’s the home of arts and culture. So what we discuss are the vibes of San Francisco and we’re both feeling good about that.
What are the vibes?
Look where we’re sitting — in the heart of downtown at Salesforce Park. I was actually just at [AI firm] Anthropic, which overlooks this park, and their CEO and founder Dario Amodei says he’s not leaving. He’s all in. Notion — I just talked about. Databricks is doubling down. Blackstone and DivcoWest just bought a building a block from here that they want to update.
So the vibes are good. We have that renewed hope and optimism. It was shaken but you should never bet against San Francisco.
Downtown, the San Francisco Centre, formerly the Westfield mall, is now mostly empty and is set to be sold in a foreclosure auction this month. What would you like to see happen with that building?
I’m not dictating what goes into what retail space. I do think it’s important that we look to have a university or two downtown, that’s something I want to see.
There were excuses made over the last few years that Union Square and what was then the Westfield were failing because retail was dead. I don’t buy it. Retail is not dead. You just have to adapt. Maybe instead of a seven-story Macy’s, it’s two or three stories. But Stonestown [Galleria in southwestern San Francisco] is packed. The Marin Country Mart in Marin is packed. Santana Row down in San Jose is packed. So if you make it safe and clean, you welcome them in, and you have great food, people are going to come back.
You were born and raised in San Francisco and your family is tied to the history of the city. Was that part of the motivating factor to spend a few years in New York in your early 20s?
I loved my time in New York. It’s a place that I have a deep fondness for. My fourth day at work at the Robin Hood Foundation was Sept. 11, 2001. I was down there that morning and instantly felt like a New Yorker. It was a really difficult time to be there and there’s no place I’d rather have been. I felt like I was able to be part of the lifting up of New York and Robin Hood was an incredible place to essentially start my career. But no, I wasn’t trying to get away. I was just trying to go live in a great American city, but I was always coming home.
New York is also where you met your wife. How did you meet?
We met at Robin Hood in August of 2001 and we started dating in September or October of 2001. I moved back in 2003 and she moved here in 2004. We’ll be married 19 years in September and we have a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. They’re my home base.
You grew up in philanthropy. How are you trying to impart lessons about charity to the kids?
My wife and I always talk about this, and this is what I also learned from my parents: You better be part of the community and part of the solution.
Were there any galas or events you remember from growing up that taught you about in-person fundraising?
The events get the buzz but, no, it’s always about making sure you look somebody in the eye, you check in to see how they’re doing. I don’t remember going to any events as a kid. I remember volunteering or working at City Hall for a supervisor as an intern. It was about putting in the work. My wife [Becca Prowda, director of protocol for California Governor Gavin Newsom] works tirelessly. My daughter does six days a week of ballet. My son hustles on the sports field. He might not be the biggest kid or the strongest, but nobody’s going to outwork him.
What is the secret to a successful marriage when you both have all-encompassing jobs?
Now you’re really trying to get me in trouble. [Laughs] You have got to work at it, just like anything. You have got to communicate and my wife will probably say that I’m not always the best communicator, so I’m going to tell you that you should ask her. She’s done more to make sure our marriage has stayed strong.
“I go 511 because I like the fit. I don’t get to wear them as much these days.”
Do you guys cook? Do you have family dinners together?
We don’t cook much. We do a lot of ordering in. Our daughter gets home at 7:30 or 8 o’clock most nights. Our son sometimes gets home at 8:30 p.m. Sometimes we get home at the same time and we’ll have a quick dinner together. That’s been nice. I take the two kids to school every morning so that’s a grounding spot to at least get 20 minutes in the car with them.
Your father is a rabbi. Do you consider yourself religious?
My dad is a rabbi, but when I was young he was at the Jewish Community Federation so I always saw him focused on his work in Israel and the Jewish community. So less about religion and more about faith and community.
One of your first big moments in the public eye was leading the city’s bid for Super Bowl 50, and now Super Bowl 60 will be held at Levi’s Stadium. What are your goals for the city before the game next February?
It’s a great opportunity for us, just like the NBA All-Star Game in February where we even got Charles Barkley saying good things about our city. The Bay Area always rises to the occasion. We also have six World Cup matches next summer.
Is there a pressure that goes along with that?
Yes, but we do well under pressure. My goal is not to shine just for big events, but to shine 365 days a year, because the people of San Francisco deserve nothing less.
What is your wind-down routine at the end of the day?
I’m usually falling asleep with a podcast in my ear, whether it’s Bill Simmons to zone out or some news update. It’s probably not the chillest way to end the day. I also have a bad movie and TV show habit. Right now I’m binging “MobLand” on Paramount.
I’m usually in bed by 10:30 or 11 p.m. I’m not a three- or four-hour-a-night person. I don’t function well. I need the six to seven [hours].
You aren’t wearing Levi’s today, but how many do you own and what’s your favorite style?
I go 511 because I like the fit [“not-so-skinny skinny jeans,” according to the Levi’s website]. I probably have eight pairs, nothing too crazy, really two or three that I wear. I don’t get to wear them as much these days.
When doubting New Yorkers come to visit, where do you take them for bagels and pizza?
You can’t go wrong with Boichik Bagels. Schlok’s is pretty good, too. For pizza, I had Tony’s delivered last night. Then you’ve got Flour and Water — there’s a lot of good pizza joints in San Francisco. Tony’s is old school in North Beach.
What’s your go-to burrito order and where do you get it from?
La Taqueria, or if I’m going old school, it’s Gordo’s. It’s a grilled chicken burrito every time. Super, no crema.