On Sunday, people in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood celebrated the opening of a public restroom that made headlines with its estimated cost of $1.7 million before it was eventually built for a much lower price.

About 100 people filled Noe Valley Town Square to celebrate a brand new bathroom that drew international ridicule in 2022 for the astronomical pricePublic outcry forced the city to flush the idea down the toilet.

“Noe Valley, let’s hear our ‘not $1.7 million bathroom,’” event organizer Leslie Crawford shouted to the cheering crowd.

The organizers wanted to have some fun at the celebration and incorporate everything related to the toilet – there was even a live jazz band that renamed itself “American Standard” for the day.

“We couldn't bring Toto here, so…” laughed Crawford. “When everyone's laughing at you, you have to take the power back and laugh at yourself.”

Crawford admitted that San Francisco deserved all the crap it got when the city first announced the estimated $1.7 million cost of building the toilet. People thought it was the perfect example of government waste.

“This is absurd because the pipes were already in the ground when they built it. [town square] out,” said Noe Valley resident Todd Siemers.

“I found it a little ridiculous myself, everyone thought that,” added local resident Linda Maes.

A private company finally donated a prefabricated bathroom. But the cost still came to $200,000. The city said union workers would have to connect water lines and build other infrastructure to prepare everything.

We asked the people who used it: “How did it go?”

“I'm excited that they have a bathroom now,” said resident Zach D'Angelo. “And I give it a 10 out of 10.”

“It's great, it's a relief,” laughed Maes. “And we can relieve ourselves when we need to. We don't have to go into a [nearby] Restaurant.”

“It was spacious and clean and wonderful,” Siemers said.

And Crawford is glad that, at least for a while, there will be no more toilet jokes about San Francisco.

“This is a great ending to our story,” Crawford said.

The city said the bathroom is about 50 square feet. It has a metal toilet and a changing table.

More from CBS News

And Lin

Da Lin is an award-winning journalist with KPIX 5 News. He joined KPIX 5 in 2012 but has been covering news in the Bay Area since 2007. Da grew up in Oakland and spent five years as a news reporter for three other television stations in Texas, Southern and Central California before returning to the Bay Area. He also spent five years as a reporter for KRON 4.

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A new affordable housing complex with on-site support services for families transitioning from homelessness opened Wednesday in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood.

The City Gardens complex at 333 12th St. adds 200 units to the city's inventory of permanent supportive housing. This is housing that includes long-term rental assistance and supportive services ranging from education and job training to health care. The new complex will increase the number of such residential units for families in the city by more than 20 percent.

The building and its services will be funded with $100 million from the city's Our City, Our Home Fund, a tax on businesses that generate gross receipts of more than $50 million. It was approved by voters as Proposition C in 2018.

City Gardens apartment complex at 333 12th St. in San Francisco.

City of San Francisco

The project was supported by an additional $56.7 million from the state's Homekey program, which funds a variety of permanent housing options as part of addressing a housing crisis declared in 2019. The city funded with Homekey funds.

“The City's investments in shelter, housing and prevention across our system make a difference for people and our neighborhoods every day, and we will continue to work to bring stability and hope to those most in need,” said San Francisco Mayor, London Breed, in a statement statement.

San Francisco Administrator Matt Dorsey said the project will provide families exiting homelessness a place to call home.

“The opening of City Gardens provides safe housing for San Francisco families at a time when it is desperately needed. It’s more than just a building, it’s a sign of our commitment to helping our most vulnerable neighbors,” Dorsey said.

On-site social services, including case management and mental health counseling, are provided by the nonprofit organization Abode Services. Other building amenities include common areas, resident lounges on each floor, a rooftop terrace, offices and a bicycle repair shop.

“City Gardens is a wonderful family project that we are happy to be a part of,” said Louis Chicoine, CEO of Abode Services. “We are grateful to have been commissioned by the City and County of San Francisco to operate such a beautiful and meaningful building where many San Franciscans live today.”

Under Proposition C, the city imposed a tax on annual gross receipts of businesses over $50 million to fund supportive housing and other solutions to the city's homelessness crisis. Legal challenges delayed the implementation of funds for city projects until the 2020-21 fiscal year.

More from CBS News

Read more

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As a New Yorker, do you need to get a pipe repaired? If you are a fictional character, you can ask the brothers Mario and Luigi for help! The family business is family owned The Super Mario Bros. plumbing service has officially launched its websitecomplete with testimonials, service area and even job offers.

… Okay, this is actually just an elaborate, if charming, marketing plan for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie, which recreates Mario and Luigi as Brooklyn plumbers before whisking them away to the Mushroom Kingdom. It's full of fun touches like a “Book Now” button that takes you to Fandango or a live chat feature with a surprising range of options. The aesthetic is a strange mix of retro simplicity and modern minimalism that seems odd, but the actual text and layout are pretty fun.

A small excerpt of the website It also details where the plumber's van will be seen in real life in the US. Over the next month, the van will visit New York, Austin, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Visit the van in person if you feel like it!

The Super Mario Bros. movie will be released on April 5th.

Written by Amelia Fruzzetti

An author and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When she's not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering when Mother 3 will finally get an official localization.

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SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bespoke Partners, a leading provider of retained executive search and leadership advisory services for private equity backed software companies, announced today that it has opened a San Francisco office to enhance its West Coast presence in the United States.

The new regional office will enable the company to further boost the quality of its uniquely tailored executive recruiting and leadership advisory services for private equity backed software and SaaS companies.

“The new office will position us to expand our signature white-glove service for our clients based in the Bay Area,” said Eric Walczykowski, Bespoke’s Chief Executive Officer. “Responsiveness and tailored engagement are our hallmarks and we are raising our services to a new level of efficiency for an unmatched client experience.”

Bespoke Partners is headquartered in San Diego and operates other regional offices in Austin, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The opening of the new location takes place as Bespoke released the industry’s first talent market trend analysis: the inaugural edition of the Private Equity Talent Benchmark Report. The report provides insights into the talent market for private equity portfolio companies, including compensation trends, executive turnover and upleveling trends, and much more. Complimentary copies can be requested at: www.bespokepartners.com/private-equity-talent-report/.

Central to the growth driving Bespoke’s expansion is its Search 2.0 process, which significantly cuts search time and results in higher executive placement success rates. It features:

• Advanced Scorecarding – tailoring a search to specific company needs and its value creation plan for achieving the investment thesis.

• Deep Validation – the industry’s most in-depth backchannel reference checking to yield unparalleled insight into a candidate’s background and skills.

• FIT Profile – a holistic view of a candidate’s potential for success in the company, team and role.

Bespoke also recently announced a Two-Year Guarantee on executive placements that utilizes its FIT Profile assessment service. Learn more here: http://www.bespokepartners.com/2YG/

About Bespoke Partners

Bespoke Partners is a leading firm focused exclusively on executive recruiting and leadership advisory services for private equity backed software companies.

More than 90% of the most active private equity software investors in the US have relied on Bespoke for leadership recruiting and advisory. Bespoke transformed leadership at portfolio companies achieving buyout transactions totaling more than $25 billion in 2021 alone.

Bespoke’s unique, data-driven services complete searches in typically half the industry average time with a 99% placement success rate.

The firm partners with more than 70 top tier private equity firms, providing human capital services that accelerate execution of value creation plans, cut the risk of mis-hiring, and empower leadership to achieve the investment thesis.

Visit www.bespokepartners.com to learn more.

FIT Profile and Search 2.0 are trademarks of Bespoke Partners.

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Rooter Hero Plumbing & Air Opens New Location | ACHR News

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Welcome to Curtain Call, our mostly queer take on the latest openings on Broadway and beyond.

The Rundown:

With a multigenerational cast of 21, some particularly labyrinthine Sondheim lyrics, and one of the more unorthodox narrative structures in Broadway musical history, it’s taken follies over a half-century to hit the boards in San Francisco. The Bay Area’s first-ever professional production of the 1971 backstage psychodrama about a late middle-age reunion of Ziegfield-style showgirls decades after their days in the kickline marks a major achievement for The San Francisco Playhouse and its artistic director, Bill English, who so helmed the show.

There are plenty of goosebumps in store for audiences, not least of which are those raised by the grand ambition and determination required to mount this near-mythical colossus in the midst of a pandemic: The production not only had to recast multiple roles as its run was repeatedly rescheduled from a planned 2020 debut, but even this week’s official opening came after two postponements due to COVID in the company.

Related: In Broadway’s ‘The Kite Runner,’ redemption drifts in the wind

No tea, no shade:

The anginal heart of Follies is the relationship of two struggling married couples — former chorines Sally (Natascia Diaz) and Phyllis (Maureen McVerry) and their husbands, Buddy (Anthony Rollins-Mullens) and Ben (Chris Vettel) — who effectively provide a musical theater counterpart to the quarrelsome quartet of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? All four characters are brilliantly played with palpable neuroses, each unpredictably swinging between comic and creepy extremes. McVerry, a stalwart of stages on both coasts, provides a running subtext to her lines with perfect wrist flips and eyebrow arches. And Rollins-Mullins undergirds unfaithful Buddy with empathic humanity that shines through even his nastiest outbursts.

A younger actor shadows each of the central foursome, playing earlier more idealistic versions of the same characters, frequently on stage alongside their elder selves. It’s a tricky concept, but director English not only keeps things clear but along with choreographer Nicole Helfer, leverages these duos to create some of the evening’s most moving moments. When Buddy and his younger self (Chachi Delgado) dance with imaginary partners while singing “The Right Girl,” the self-realizing romance between man and boy across time feels more honest and rewarding than either’s fantasy of coupledom.

“Who’s That Woman?” from Follies. Photo by Jessica Palopoli

Sally, Phyllis, and three other former showgirls perform a Busby Berkeley-esque stopper with time-warped mirror images of their own in “Who’s That Woman,” the younger actresses in costume designer Abra Berman’s spectacular white-feathered headdresses and sparkling bodysuits.

Each of the secondary characters — among them those three other women, the impresario behind their long-ago spectacle, and the emcee who warmed up their audiences in the 1930s and 1940s — seems eager to share their own story but, for the most part, offers just the slightest summary. In combination with some redundant (though terrifically executed) late-in-the-evening novelty numbers about the main foursome this makes the show feel somewhat lopsided, a problem long noted by critics — and a lesson that seems well-learned by the show’s original co-director and choreographer Michael Bennett, who four years later would stage the more tidily democratic A Chorus Line.

Let’s have a moment:

Two phenomenal Sondheim soliloquy songs that many audience members will likely be familiar with but may not realize come from “Follies” earned admiring gasps and clenched fists of emotion from the crowd: “I’m Still Here,” delivered with jaded panache by Cindy Goldfield in the role of movie star Carlotta; and Diaz’ ​​spookily unhinged rendition of Sally’s “Losing My Mind.”

The Last Word:

To see Follies is like spotting the Bigfoot of Broadway history. It’s the stuff of legend, even when it lumbers a bit. The San Francisco Playhouse produces more than does justice to this elusive classic of the Sondheim canon.

Follies plays at the San Francisco Playhouse through September 10, 2022.

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SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today American Express (NYSE:AXP) reopened the newly expanded Centurion Lounge at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). At 16,000 square feet the lounge is now nearly double in size and features more seating, an additional bar with specialty wine flights curated by sommelier and Centurion Lounge Wine Director Anthony Giglio, and a new menu from San Francisco’s Liholiho Yacht Club Executive Chef Ravi Kapur.

“We’re excited to head into the new year with the opening of our Centurion Lounge at San Francisco International Airport,” stated Pablo Rivero, Vice President & General Manager, Global Lounge Experiences. “With exceptional food, wine and art inspired by Northern California, this well-appointed lounge is designed to leave Card Members feeling refreshed and ready for their travels.”

The Centurion Lounge at SFO will now have more space for eligible Card Members to enjoy, including two wine bars and café areas, additional restrooms, private phone rooms, several private workspaces, and more. The lounge is located in Terminal 3 on the mezzanine level.

LOCALLY SOURCED WINE1

The lounge will feature a new bar where guests can enjoy specialty wine flights highlighting four regional wines curated by renowned wine authority Anthony Giglio. The new bar complements the existing wine wall where guests can sample wines from across California. The wine flights will rotate seasonally, starting today with a Sonoma Chardonnay flight and a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon flight:

Sonoma Chardonnay Flight

• Gundlach Bundschu Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2020

• Head High Sonoma County Chardonnay 2021

• Sonoma Cutrer Les Pierres Sonoma Valley Chardonnay 2019

• Walt Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2019

Napa Cabernet Sauvignon Flight

• Emblem Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

• Miner Emily’s Cuvee Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2018

• The Critic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019

• Twenty Rows Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020

“As San Francisco is globally known for its world-class wine, the wine menu in the Centurion Lounge at San Francisco International Airport is fully dedicated to highlighting local California grapes,” said Anthony Giglio, sommelier and Centurion Lounge Wine Director. “For our first-ever wine flight experience, I’m thrilled to feature two of America’s most famous and established wine regions – Sonoma and Napa Valley.”

ELEVATED DINING AND DESIGN

The lounge will offer a new seasonal menu that celebrates Bay Area purveyors from Liholiho Yacht Club Executive Chef Ravi Kapur. The Hawaiian-born, James Beard Award-nominated chef will continue to bring his unique flair to the Centurion Lounge at SFO with dishes inspired by his lineage and family memories including, Kochujang marinated chicken thighs, wild rice and coconut soup, and black vinegar and Honey glazed baby carrots.

Consumers appreciate premium dining options when traveling through airport lounges. A recent Amex Trendex* survey found that a majority of respondents (64%) said that premium food and beverage offerings are their favorite parts of airport lounges.

The lounge will showcase two custom floor-to-ceiling wallcoverings by abstract artist Tracie Cheng, and new interior design that takes cues from the local vineyards, landscape, and the iconic San Francisco fog to give guests a sense of relaxation.

UNPARALLELED ACCESS

With more lounge options than any other credit card issuer on the market and the only credit card issuer with a proprietary lounge at SFO, the American Express Global Lounge Collection is just one of the many ways American Express supports Card Members through their travels. American Express continues to enhance the Centurion Lounge network through new locations and expanding existing lounges. American Express has announced plans to open new lounge locations at the Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, DC and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport (ATL) in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

*AMEX TRENDEX METHODOLOGY

This Amex Trendex online poll was conducted between November 4th – November 7th, 2022, among a sample of 2000 Adults with an HHI> 70k+ who travel by plane at least once a year. The interviews were conducted online. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points

ABOUT AMERICAN EXPRESS

American Express is a globally integrated payments company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress.

Key links to products, services and corporate sustainability information: personal cards, business cards and services, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, Kabbage, Resy, corporate card, business travel, diversity and inclusion, corporate sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance reports.

ABOUT THE CENTURION LOUNGE

The Centurion Lounge is the signature lounge program within the broader American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes access to American Express Centurion Lounges, international American Express lounges, Delta Sky Club® for Card Members flying on Delta, Priority Pass Select Lounges upon enrollment, Airspace Lounges, MAG US Escape Lounges and Plaza Premium Lounges–a total of more than 1,400 lounges across 140 countries and counting.

Eligible Card Members can find a lounge at the Global Lounge Collection website or by using the American Express® App. They can also check into select Centurion Lounges through the mobile check-in tool within the American Express® App.

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SFO is excited to welcome travelers back to the skies with an airport experience featuring seamless access, thoughtful amenities, sustainable design and inspiring artwork and exhibits.

For up-to-the-minute departure and arrival information, airport maps and details on shopping, dining, cultural exhibitions, ground transportation and more, visit www.flysfo.com. Follow us on twitter.com/flysfo and facebook.com/flysfo.

Source: American Express Company

Location: U.S

1 Must be of legal age to consume alcoholic beverages. Please drink responsibly.

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South San Francisco’s biotech corridor continues to grow, with biopharmaceutical company Amgen opening its long-anticipated 245,000-square-foot building that will bring 650 workers to its new Gateway Boulevard location.

“This commitment and this building build on our nearly 20 years of history in this part of the city,” Amgen CEO Bob Bradway said at an Oct. 6 grand opening ceremony.

State Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, praised the company for its investment in the industry and South San Francisco, noting the company plays a large role in developing the therapeutic research and solutions needed to save lives and improve quality of life. Becker said the company had a history of philanthropic donations and being active in community programs. He presented Amgen with a certificate of recognition from the California Senate for the grand opening.

“Along with the city of South San Francisco and the region, we are glad to have this new facility,” Becker said.

The research and development site at 750 Gateway Blvd., in the Gateway of Pacific campus, is nine stories and near several other large biotech companies: including Abbvie and Thermo Fisher Scientific. In 2019, Amgen announced it had signed a lease with BioMed Realty for the property as it looked to expand and grow. The building will focus on research for cardiometabolic, inflammation and oncology, with several modular labs and open workspaces available. The new site is the company’s second-largest research and development facility, behind the Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks. Sustainability remains a focus, and the building has been designated a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, an environmental certification recognizing good sustainable buildings. The company said it designed the building to meet its environmental sustainability goals of becoming carbon neutral by 2027 and be an open workspace to foster collaboration.

Amgen has had a smaller presence at its Veterans Boulevard location that has been around since 2004. According to an Amgen spokesperson, the site will be decommissioned and returned to the landlord. Amgen was founded in 1980 and is one of the world’s largest biotech companies.

South San Francisco Mayor Mark Nagales issued a city proclamation that Oct. 6 would be “Amgen Day” in South San Francisco for its essential community work and its involvement at Oyster Point since 2004. The company donated to the Community Civic Campus Program opening in 2023. The campus will house the city’s future library, community theater, Law Enforcement Dispatch Center and City Council Chambers.

“On behalf of the entire City Council, thank you for giving back, and we are proud to have you be part of the city of South San Francisco,” the mayor said.

Nagales noted the city housed more than 200 biotech companies and more than 12 million square feet of research and development facilities, with an additional 9 million square feet of facilities in the development pipeline.

“We are the largest biotech center in the world, and we are the birthplace of biotech,” Nagales said. “Those two things are proving to be a magnet for biotech companies to establish or relocate here. You are right where you belong.”

Bradway noted that more than 700 million people living over the age of 65 are facing challenges of diseases around cancer and heart disease. He said the innovation in the new building would try addressing those diseases, with the move years in the making and marking an excellent time for the company and industry.

“We are excited about the opportunities that we see here,” Bradway said.

David Reese, executive vice president of Research and Development with Amgen, said the company had made several significant discoveries in South San Francisco over the decades and was hopeful of making more. Reese said the industry was in a hinge moment in understanding human biology and disease and developing the tools to address them.

curtis@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102

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SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Noe Animal Hospital officially opened its doors to the public on Wednesday, November 2, 2022and now offers the full spectrum of veterinary services to san francisco and the surrounding neighborhoods.

dr Nicole Goodrich with her patient.

Complete with state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment areas and a highly experienced, compassionate team, the new Noe Valley neighborhood veterinary hospital is set to become one of the best veterinary practices in san francisco. Crucially, it also increases access to veterinary care for Bay Area residents struggling to find appointments amid unprecedented post-pandemic demand for pet services.

New San Francisco Veterinarian Practice Ready To Welcome Pet Parents

Services offered at the new Noe Animal Hospital include wellness check-ups, vaccinations, microchipping, dental care, soft tissue surgeries, including spaying and neutering, urgent medical care, and chronic disease management. Appointments can be booked via the hospital’s website.

the new san francisco Veterinary clinic is the endeavor of two dedicated Bay Area veterinarians, Drs. Viru Gopisetty other Nicole Goodrich. Between them, they bring particular professional interests in geriatric pet care, soft tissue surgery, and preventative medicine, as well as a lifetime of experience as compassionate pet parents themselves.

“Whether you want to discuss ongoing management of a chronic condition, or you come to us needing urgent care for your furry companion, we hope you will find our style of knowledgeable, compassionate care perfect for your pet.”

“And with such a squeeze on veterinary services in the san francisco area, we’re delighted to offer more pet parents the opportunity to access timely care when their animals need it.” Says Noe Animal Hospital Co-Medical Director, Dr. Viru Gopisetty.

Improving Access to Veterinary Care in san francisco

The opening of a new Bay Area animal hospital is welcome news to san francisco residents struggling to access veterinary care for their animals.

A post-pandemic national shortage of veterinarians is acutely felt in the Bay Area, where many pet parents have been taking to social media to document nightmare journeys to distant cities to find emergency veterinary care or long waits for treatment at their local clinic. Wait times for standard wellness appointments may be weeks to months.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, a national shortage of veterinary staff has been compounded by an unprecedented demand for services, with booked vet appointments in 2021 up 6.5%. The association attributes the increase to more owners working from home. Spending more time with their animals is enabling pet parents to notice more health issues as they arise.

Noe Animal Hospital offers anxious pet parents’ greater access to services when research estimates that 75 million pets could lose access to veterinary care by 2030.

About the Noe Animal Hospital

Noe Animal Hospital is a brand new san francisco veterinary facility in the Noe Valley neighborhood. Opened in the Fall of 2022 to pet parents across the Bay Area, the Noe Animal Hospital provides a full spectrum of veterinary services. It prides itself on its compassionate, caring approach and highly experienced veterinary team. To learn more, please visit www.noeanimalhospital.com.

Contact:
Susan Chiari
MarketingDirector
[email protected]

SOURCE Noe Animal Hospital

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One week ago, Ryan Bauer was living in a tent on the hard pavement on Gough Street south of Market. Now he’s living on the same pavement with a dramatic upgrade: He’s moved into his own tiny home, with a mattress, desk, chair and — most luxurious of all — a heater that quickly warms his 64-square-foot abode. That’s almost as crucial as a front door that locks from the inside and by a combination lock on the outside.

“It’s definitely a lot warmer, and I don’t have to worry about my stuff being taken,” said Bauer, 45, who is known on the street as “Nobody.” “I haven’t had a locked area where I could leave my stuff and not have it stolen for who knows how long.”

Bauer has been homeless for 30 years, since he left Illinois at age 17. He’s one of 30 men and women to be promoted from a tent city on the city-leased lot into the tiny structures where they can live for at least a year. Eventually the site will hold 70 units in modular duplexes.

The lot at 33 Gough St., between Market and Mission streets, has been used since December 2020 as a city-sanctioned “safe sleeping village,” holding 44 tents for homeless people.

Elizabeth Funk, 52, is founder and executive chairman of DignityMoves, a nonprofit that emerged during the pandemic to address the crisis on the streets. In less than a year, she has raised $2 million to construct a total of 70 rooms in duplexes of prefabricated panels assembled on steel frame foundations with insulation and electrical outlets. The site will have improved bathrooms, storage spaces and a dining area.

The cabins, along with the dining and other facilities, will be paid for by DignityMoves and the nonprofit Tipping Point Community as part of a pilot program. The cost is around $15,000 to build each unit, but adding in amenities like the two dining halls, restrooms, a computer and landscaping, it totals $30,000 per unit. The city will pay for the meal service, security and supportive services.

The city has been spending about $60,000 per tent for safe sleeping villages, including food, security and supportive services.

Known as the DignityMoves Village, the site is San Francisco’s first experiment with tiny homes, an approach to homelessness that’s been used in Oakland, San Jose and other Bay Area cities.

Ryan “Nobody” Bauer has been homeless for 30 years.

Sam Whiting/The Chronicle

The first 12 residents have moved into the rooms decorated by volunteers with homey touches like fleece blankets, artwork, throw pillows, toiletry baskets and welcome notes.

“A lot of the residents have been incarcerated where everything is exactly the same, so they really appreciate the individual touch,” Funk said.

By the time the village is completed this spring, it will have the 70 rooms and two dining halls with three meals a day provided by nonprofit Mother Brown. The nonprofit Urban Alchemy will provide on-site security and supportive services.

The land belongs to a private developer awaiting construction permits for permanent housing. The city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is leasing it until at least March 2023, with possible extensions.

Shireen McSpadden, director of DHSH, told The Chronicle in September that if the pilot project is a success, the department “might want to replicate it into other parts of the city.”

Everyone who has been living in a tent on the site for a year has been offered a room. Nobody turned it down.

“They said, ‘Are you kidding me?'” said Everett Butler, co-director of Urban Alchemy. “They were beyond appreciative to be able to go inside their own space and lock the door behind them, turn the heaters on and kick back.”

A sister village is being built in Santa Barbara with a separate budget of $1.8 million, and more are being contemplated around the state.

“It’s not a place you would stay forever, but is a stopover while people figure out a way out of homelessness,” said Funk, a Stanford graduate who runs an impact investing fund. Her donor base comes from her own contact list, along with foundations. Dignity Health is a major donor, although the name is coincidental.

“This is not an alternative to permanent housing,” Funk said, “but it is an attractive alternative for people who are willing to go to group shelters.”

Still it will take getting used to. Ryan “Nobody” Bauer has been sleeping upright in a chair for so long, he has been having trouble sleeping while reclining.

“I have to get used to sleeping on a mattress,” he said, “but it’s a lot better than average. I was cold last night and turned on the heater and wow.”

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @samwhitingsf

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