SF hires “commercial vacancies” tsar to help fill empty stores

San Francisco has named a “commercial vacancies” tsar while shelling out $4 million in grants to help businesses fill empty storefronts.

The city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development has appointed Iris Lee as the first “commercial vacancies manager” to help link landlords with would-be tenants, the San Francisco Business Times reported. She quietly assumed the role in January.

Lee, a former Oakland-based real estate broker for Compass who moved on to work in San Francisco’s Office of Small Business, earns between $126,000 and $153,000 a year in her job.

The job of the commercial vacancies manager includes running a commercial vacancy database and schmoozing at merchants association and commercial corridor meetings.

It also means hooking up small businesses on the hunt for storefronts with property owners or real estate brokers who can provide them. 

She aims to help underserved neighborhoods in San Francisco, with a focus on the Tenderloin and Central Market, according to her LinkedIn page.

Despite her executive title, Lee isn’t expected to fix the city’s vacant storefront problem alone, city officials say. Rather, she’s within a group that provides broad resources to local businesses.

“Along with our case managers and permit specialists, they all together form this ecosystem to help small businesses establish a strong foundation to succeed,” Katy Tang, executive director of the OEWD’s Office of Small Business, told the Business Times.

The city’s new grant program aims to help fill vacant storefronts in low- to moderate-income neighborhoods, or where sales taxes have not bounced back. 

A “Storefront Opportunity Grant” will provide $25,000 for a small business to set up its first store, and up to $50,000 to expand in another location.

A “Business Training Grant” fund has been replenished to award between $5,000 and $50,000 to qualified applicants in financial management, marketing, licensing and permitting, human resources and business development.

San Francisco has proposed more than 100 changes to its planning code to cut red tape on businesses and help fill the city’s empty storefronts.

— Dana Bartholomew

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