Cothran

Leverage cuts both ways.
The neighbors won't be negotiating with an elderly heir living in retirement in Oregon. They will be dealing with a wily real estate broker named Preston Cook, who knows just as much about local politics as any of the members of the Glen Park Association, and maybe more.

Cook, a broker with Pacific Union who has represented the owner of 2815 Diamond for years, served on three city commissions under two mayors; he served as president of the Port Commission for two years during Mayor Frank Jordan's tenure.

Like any veteran real estate man, Cook can smell advantage.
If the neighbors are passionately opposed to a chain store occupying 2815 Diamond, then Cook is just as passionate about seeing how much they are willing to concede in return.

The neighbors have proposed that a two-story structure with eight residential units be built on the site.

Cook has told the neighbors he likes their concept, but, he says, their numbers don't add up. He's explained that the owner would need a building of at least three stories, with 24 units of housing, to pay down the construction loan and still make a reasonable profit.

There's a lot of room to negotiate between eight and 24. Willdorf says Bonacker has drawn rough plans for 11-, 12-, and 13-unit developments, and will show them to Cook. But he doubts if the neighbors will go much higher because of concerns over the increased density in the neighborhood. The Glen Park Association could forestall a chain and end up providing a beehive for yuppies, who will act to drive up residential rents.

Yes, there is a lot of room between eight and 24. A lot of room to strike a new political calibration, whereby neighbors and property owners hammer out a compromise based on mutual respect (and fear), but that leaves the meddling politicians and their fickle hearts out of the equation, or at least renders them to a satisfyingly subordinate role.

Indeed, there is a lot of room to run between eight and 24. A lot of room to screw up, to blink when facing down a real estate sharpie.

The risks seem as high as the potential benefits.
It almost makes you wish for the good old days, when chains got approved, and we all got to complain that no one ever asked us what we thought they should do.

George Cothran (gcothran@sfweekly.com) can be reached at SF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco,