Wealthy, private group wants to help fund revitalization of San Francisco's downtown

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Could a wealthy, private group of people help fund efforts to revitalize San Francisco's central business district?

With office vacancies reaching near a historic level in downtown, San Francisco is trying everything, including live music and designated areas for outdoor entertainment to keep people there after work.

Now, a group of CEOs and presidents is joining forces to help downtown recover. The effort, announced Tuesday, is backed by Mayor Daniel Lurie with a goal to help finance and execute the city's vision for downtown San Francisco.

"It's exciting what is happening here. Actually, New York City has a similar kind of model. It's called a partnership for New York City. Where they brought in private sectors, both philanthropic and investment to a downtown area," said Rodney Fong, president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

The group is called SF Downtown Development Corporation, or SF DDC.

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On its website, it says its mission is to mobilize "private capital and civic expertise to fund and implement high-impact initiatives that jumpstart long-term economic development in downtown San Francisco."

The ones behind it include the founder of global investment firm Sixth Street, CEO of the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund and top leaders from labor and private sectors. Yet, there's not much clarity on how the group will work.

However, Rodney Fong, CEO of the SF Chamber of Commerce, believes this group will tackle safety as a key priority.

"I understand these partnerships. Top priority is public safety, street conditions. When we have clean streets, we have improved tourism, we have improved transit ridership, return to office, because better and easier and that is really paramount that we do that," Fong said.

San Francisco Supervisor Danny Sauter represents downtown and says this group is already meeting.

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"I'm happy about that. I think this group is going to look a lot at the public realm in San Francisco, putting new plazas downtown, new parks downtown," Sauter said.

As part of its strategy, the SF DDC says it will deploy private capital for "Priority Near-Term Projects." San Francisco needs that boost as it faces an $876 million budget deficit over the next two years.

"The city will certainly look at any partnership opportunities. I think, at this moment, given our budget challenges, there is going to be a need for more of these public, private partnerships, and I think this gives us a way to do that," Sauter said.

The manager at Heartwood bar in downtown viewed the news as a sign of hope.

"It feels good to get support from folks who have the cash to back that up to influence into the city, instead of them packing up and leaving like many companies have done over the past five years, not in fault of their own," said Luis Ramos, manager at Treasury and Heartwood Bar.