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After Saving the 94-year-old San Remo Hotel from Condemnation, 
Owners Fight City of San Francisco Over Ordinance Necessitating 
Lifetime Leases to the Hotel�s Long-term Residential Tenants 
Appellate Court Reaffirms Challenge to S.F. Hotel Law

SAN FRANCISCO - Sept. 7, 2000 -- Sending a firm warning message to the City and County of San Francisco, the California State Court of Appeal late yesterday reaffirmed its August 8 decision to reinstate a lawsuit by the historic San Remo Hotel challenging the city�s controversial Residential Hotel Conversion Ordinance as unconstitutional.
In addition, the 1st District Court of Appeal increased the opportunity for other hotel owners to rely on its ruling. By authorizing official publication of its entire decision last month, including a key determination that the 62-room San Remo did not operate in violation of zoning laws, the court has opened the door for other property owners to cite the ruling as a precedent for similar cases at the trial court level.

�We believe the justices ordered publication of their entire opinion because the city announced it may simply disregard Appellate Court decisions that are not published,� said Utrecht. �The court is telling the city it�s treading on thin legal ice in the way it has treated owners of small hotels during the last two decades. This stern rebuff to the city�s position sets the stage for a final determination that the hotel law is unconstitutional.

�A sensible course of action for the city would be to accept that determination, putting an end to this 10-year litigation. Otherwise, property owners, public interest groups, cities and counties throughout the state will be compelled to join in a battle that may now reach the California Supreme Court or, possibly, the U.S. Supreme Court.�

�The proper solution to more low income housing would be to spend tax dollars received from a broad spectrum of our society�not to force certain hotel owners to provide rooms against their will,� he added. �Unfortunately the city�s position thus far has more to do with politics than logic, legality or fairness.�
 

During their decade-long legal struggle, San Remo owners Tom and Robert Field have charged the city with construing regulations since 1981 to systematically and unlawfully revoke zoning rights they acquired when they bought their North Beach hotel in 1971.

Filing lawsuits in both Federal and State courts, the Field brothers claimed the city relied on unconstitutional provisions in the city�s Residential Hotel Conversion and Demolition Ordinance, first enacted in 1981 as an extension of a temporary �moratorium� on conversions of residential housing, and retroactively applied sections of the city�s Planning Code, which were added in 1987, in classifying the hotel as residential �group housing.�

Provisions in the hotel ordinance require that certain smaller hotels set rooms for low-income residents rather than tourists � or arrange to replace any housing lost as a result of converting residential rooms to tourist use.

Not only did the city insist the Fields provide lifetime leases to the hotel�s long-term residential tenants, but it demanded the brothers pay $567,000 as a �replacement housing fee,� to continue operating the San Remo primarily as a tourist hotel.

The Fields paid under protest, but sued the city and demanded a refund. In its recent decision, the Court of Appeal referred to the fee as �ransom.� Zacks claims �the city is engaging in an unconstitutional regulatory scheme that amounts to organized extortion.�



The San Remo Hotel
2237 Mason Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
In December 1906 just after the earthquake and fire destroyed most of San Francisco, the San Remo Hotel was built. It was originally called the New California Hotel. Immigrant Italians found refuge at the hotel and restaurant. Free meals and rooms were given to anyone who could help out. Sailors, poets and pensioners also sheltered in the tiny rooms. Penniless artists paid with their paintings.

The hotel came of age in 1922 and was renamed San Remo Hotel. Full course dinners were served up for fifty cents in the Depression days. Booze was served in coffee cups and saucers during Prohibition.

Nello and John Torre partnered the hotel through the 50�s and 60�s, giving San Francisco one of its last family-style eateries and watering holes where the famous and anonymous mixed with easy informality.

The San Remo�s long and colorful history is being carried out in spirit by the Field brothers, owners since 1971. Today the bright clean hotel sports a refurbished decor with modern conveniences yet maintains the atmosphere of an earlier period with a collection of antique furniture. The downstairs bar which was shipped around Cape Horn over a century ago radiates a warmth of its own and offers a full service bar. 

The hotel enjoys a world wide reputation as safe, clean, and economic lodging. Many of its international guests are return customers. 

Saving the 94-year-old Victorian at 2237 Mason Street from condemnation, the Fields invested more than $500,000 during the first twenty years of ownership in authentically restoring the exterior and interior, including the bar and restaurant on the ground floor. By the beginning of 2000, their total restoration and improvement costs since first acquiring the property had exceeded one million dollars.

Built by Bank of America founder A.P. Gianinni after the great earthquake and fire in 1906, the San Remo freely operated for most of this century as a commercially licensed tourist hotel that also welcomed long-term residential tenants.

Offering rooms to tourists for as low as $50 a night, the hotel is popular with budget conscious travelers from around the world.

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Contact:
The San Remo Hotel
Paul von Beroldingen
415/751-1858

Also See Restaurant and Bar Owners in Princeton NJ Win Lawsuit Overturning Anti-smoking Ordinance / August 2000 
Hospitality Litigation News / Taylor & Tuttle / A Law Corporation Specializing in Hospitality / Winter, 2000 


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