Florists say temporary move of SF Flower Mart could jeopardize business

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The florists at Church Street Flowers pride themselves on creating arrangements that stand out.

"I have to know where that I have a reliable source to go and buy my product from and that's kind of what we built our reputation on," said Brianna Foehr, Co-Owner at Church Street Flowers.

Now florists are worried that changes to their source's location could jeopardize their business.

Kilroy Realty Corporation purchased the San Francisco Flower Market in a multi-million dollar deal years ago with plans to develop a mixed-use project with a new state of the art wholesale flower market.

Construction could take several years, meaning vendors will have to move for the time being.

The Flower Mart, Vendors Board of Directors and Killroy previously signed a tri-party agreement stipulating the temporary location would be big enough to accommodate all the vendors and located in San Francisco. The agreement did not stipulate the market's exact relocation.

Piers 19, 19.5 and 23 have now been tentatively chosen for the relocation.

"It would just be kind of a nightmare," said Foehr.

A view florists voiced at a public meeting today.

"We have no faith this is feasible," said one florist during a public comment period.

"Our staff has visited it we think there's going to be a lot of in and out egress, egress issues with major trucks coming up and down the pier that already has a lot of congestion with tourists, workers and residents," said Supervisor Jane Kim who represents District 6 where the flower market is currently located.

"We've done a traffic analysis that the traffic at piers 19, 19.5 and 23 is lower than the traffic at the current site," said Mike Grisso who is Senior Vice President of Development and Land Planning with Kilroy Realty Corporation.

Supervisor Kim says she supports another site at Cesar Chavez.

"Our understanding is that that site is not available, if that's changed we would like to know about it," said Grisso.

Construction could begin within 2 years and last up to 3 years.

"Nobody likes change but in the future, once it's built I think it will be a wonderful location," said Gina Gomez, a vendor in support of the

re-development.

Florist like Foehr hopes the market's temporary relocation will pan out.

"Having that kind of uncertainty for my business is terrifying," said Foehr.