for pier 33.5 will bring us in line with the overall market rate for retail when it is finally leased. overall the rate is 7.65% vacancy rate. to move to some more specifics. staff reported broke down most of the major spaces listed on the attached vacancy report for narrative notes. if i had it to do over i would retitle this vacancies that soon will change in character, i guess. not just that they are notable. in the first row you have 19, 23, 29, 31 and round house building apartment 318 under going capital work with various completion date in the firk to the third quarter of next year. we are very much sort of gearing

up four what we can do in those spaces. with the pier spaces we have more to say at the latter part of the presentation. those are opportunities to take those off the vacancy role into productive revenue generating leases. pier 33 there is space we are holding back to use for alcatraz ferry space. we are not able to advance until the national park service makes the selection. pier 38 was mentioned when this request was made. we have been evaluating different opportunities at pier 38 including potential special event and ballgame parking. that includes life safety upgrades that made it challenging in terms of the term we were willing to give. we have not yet leased that

space. i will talk more in the latter part of this presentation about our thoughts there. pier 54. most recent sub structure condition report reflects deterioration, some red tagged areas not in the leased property on the pier. we are taking a pause and meeting with tenants to make sure she are aware of the conditions of the pier and what is the best next step to see how thathat is unlike lie to be it proved in the near term. we are trying to keep tenants safe and women aware of further de -- well aware of further deterioration. broad step back to real estate trends. i think we are in an interesting time and i guess if i am doing round two i would move

construction costs escalation to one. that is top of mind with looking at high dollar opportunities or long-term opportunities. we are seeing that in a lot of sectors in development in san francisco that is challenges of the construction market are dampening what is a strong economic economy here in the bay area in terms of fundamentals. on the port side there is decreasing volume in the raw number of lease proposals under the parameter rent policy that is an interesting fact that we want to talk more about in the presentation how we will try to position our vacant facilities available in the coming months. a lot of chatter of these what people call pop up spaces.

very short-term rentals, leases, light touch of tenant improvements. brand recognition or short term retail opportunities. we have a lot of spaces attractive in terms of visibility. we have been talking with a number of these either promoters of spaces or people with ideas. tto see if they are a fit for te spaces on the embarcadero. i want to close the presentation with our leasing strategy for rfi facilities. request for interest encompasses 14 facility in the embarcadero national historic district including agriculture building and 13 piers. a number of the piers on the soon to be completelied capitalist are among the piers as well.

we are going to look at a situation where we will issue requests for proposals for long-term rehabs of the number of historic piers. i think the number and which ones depend on the responses to the rfi. in the waterfront the working group had a number of recommendations for managing the different portlises. coming into that process we had shorter lease >>lisa mcdonald:ss been the case. 79% of the leases are in this less than 10 year term.

half of the base rank comes from these leases. it is a critical part of asset management strategy. the 50 to 66 yearlong term rehabilitation leases are fully full-size mic upgrades, public up gradeses. exploratorium. those were the two pads you could go down. i think during the waterfront land use update we have brought forward intermediate term lease. these intermediate term leases the idea is to target where the improvements go to things that require public occupancy in the bulkhead, and then consistent with the port building code standards allow other parts of the building to not be improved to such a heidi agree so we can

-- such a high degree but we have other areas that are improved not costly. they would probably retain the character of the current industrial maritime or low limited capacity of that pier. ultimately, this is sort of giving us a new tool in the tool chest to generate revenues and prolong the lines of these historic assets. one thing we have seen with the commission and port staff management is the challenge of having current sort of short term leaps holders in a lease where you want a long term project. recent examples at pier 70 with a number of smaller tenant to clear out in you favor of the waterfronts side project with for west city. at times that createdsles legal

despute. we would rather not be in that position. we have the ongoing demandses of revenue for the port. we are trying to take as shot full approach as we can. we are able to generate revenue where we need to. on the other hand we are not comcomplicating a long term pier property. we settled on the four strategy in the staff report which i will walk through. number one was acknowledged in the land use plan update with the working group. parking is a real vital part of the port revenue generation to get to the water front. i think the goal of the working group and the waterfront land use was strike a balance so we are not parking everywhere. it appear was it is currently

thorped and managed in a way respectful of the other uses in the area. we want to continue to generate revenues until a longer term that the commission supports. second, find ways to do short term revenue genner rating occupancies. we have a number of sheds for special events. we have a nonexclusive license on pier 29 and 35 to give them a streamline process to get permits and give us our share of the revenues. ited is something that is a good way to generate revenues for a long period of time. short term but revenue generation activating the pier exciting people's imaginations what could be some. all of the things that come of

that without tieing the port without a long term relationship that complicating what we are looking for in the historic structures. number three, for those locations without parking or special event opportunities, target short term leasing activities. shorter than 10 year term. if we are able to find piers for that target tenants. we have a number of city agency tenants that pay the rents. there is a limited risk of the legal battle with them down did line. small storage tenants, contractors where they are working on a project with a specific time limit. really being strategic about those leases so we don't complicate efforts going forward. to circumstance coal back around to the -- circle back around to

intermediate leasing. for those facilities not in the r.f.p.s for the full 50 to 66 year seismic rehab of the pier, evaluate what the leasing opportunities are if they are not in the first couple years of that effort. the idea would be some of those piers probably don't have more than interim leasing opportunities. some have the potential for intern immediate leasing to see the leases under the rfi activate the bulkhead with those and think about revenue generation in the rest of the pier so we don't spend the money on rehab but some comes to the port in revenues. ultimately it is going to be a challenges but an exciting challenge how we structure the r.f.p.s to understand the right amount of seismic upgrade

so we don't wind up choking off all revenue that has to go to seismic upgrades. that is extreme. it is a balance between how much rehabilitation and how much revenue we can generate as we move to the r.f.p.s. that is the overview of the strategy on the pier locations. we are happy to field questions on those or the rest of the vacancy report. >> any public comment on this item? seeing none, commissioner gilman. >.thanks for the presentation. i have a small presentation. i am sure commissioner makras has comments. i look forward to hearing them. two things. i can relate to the struggle between the short term and

interim leasing how to balance the leases with short term and more sustainable to bring more investment to our piers. thanks for acknowledgeing there trouble wand how much the land use plan has shaped. i know you have heard from the commission when we have ideas that come in, the financial analysis and business plans is important. thank you for your thoughtfulness. >> thank you for bringing this together. i think it is something we have been interested to understand how we look at our real estate as portfolio and asset management rather than transactional and lease by lease. i have been preaching that for a while. i am glad we are not executing

in how we think and the strategy which reflects that. i think these are good ideas. i think the waterfront land use plan is giving us more clarity to think about this in terms of the leases going forward. i want to understand about the short term rentals and pop ups. how short term do we consider that? to remember it was a short term pop up lease that lasted what 12 years? we want to know the dangers, too, of that as well. >> it is a good point. ultimately the pop ups we consider them more special events and so in our port companied there is sorts of a short term six-month period interim use that governs things that are sort of unique and

otherwise for things like high occupancy items you would have special things in place if the pier is nomcode compliance. to knew what is happening in the market which has the demise of brick and mortar continue they like that physical location where people are. they are not interested in long leases or burning themselves for tharp. >> i-- for that.i think our proe get a lot of interest for these types of things. it doesn't always work out. >> in germany they are fun too good to and short term in nature. i think the other think to consider here in terms of parking.

this is transportation parking on the embarcadero. we may have to give up more street parking to widen and give access to not just cars but pedestrians and other mobile vehicles and the pedi caps and scooters. i think that using perhaps the sheds in a different way to not necessarily 100% because we want to be more transit first but on the other hand we cannot be totally transit first. not everybody is able to use transportation. you have to have cars. how do we replace street parking to change the way the embarcadero is managed in the long run? where can we put the street parking? some of is necessary.

>> if that redesign of the embarcadero happens, how do you get cars from the travel lanes on to the water side of the embarcadero without dealing with that? i think we have a lot of thinking to do if these pier projects displace what is now parking. that is more cars looking for somewhere to go in a congested epironment. >> i think we will let the guru to my left now opine. >> i will start out on page three bullet point 6. department of elections wanted to lease our space. would youen lighten us on that. >> pier 31 the defendant of elections, -- the department of

elections, mike? >> they are a tenants at pier 48, shed b. it is primarily storage in between elections. that activities picks up around election as they bring ascelleds where they need to be. under the m. ou. when the pier 31 work is done we will use pier 48 for parking and special events as the rest of the pier is used. >> whenever i see the vacancy list. let me say i was able to understand it and get my arms around where we ar we are at. tell me what the public sees in us marketing this? can i go online to find these? what is the way we advocate

filling them? >> we do not post the vacancy report online. it is an interesting idea. in terms of the rfi piers we have an out reach plan. also as you know the commission policy is no brokers. we would use communication consultants to advertise to brokers. i don't believe the website is where the opportunity is. >> on loop net? >> i am not familiar with that. >> a tombstone add listing the industrial spaces. it asked for interested parties to call the leasing manager. there is one ad available.

>> i think that is something to look at. at the end of the day the market places demand putting out what you have for rent. >> it is a fair paint especially to -- fair point. the applications are declining. >> we have a policy of no hiring no brokers. do we have a policy of not paying a real estate commission. a broker will be work with nemand pay them? >> the policy is not to pay broker commissions. i am not eventirely certain. >> to the microphone, please. >> i am the rising manager. we communicate a lot with brokers.

10 years ago the city attorney determined that the broker commission was a sole source contract. we had to abandon that policy. >> the department of real estate hires brokekers. >> they have a pool. there is a pool. >> they have a competitive solicitation process to establish a pool similar to what we did in the consenter items where we set up the as needed pool. >> one thing i remember is the interested lessee can use a broker. if they are willing to pay the broker fee. >> i have two or three i am working now. >> we couldn't prohibit them at the end of the day. >> we respect the broker

relationship. >> is the idea of a pool something to explore? >> we can use the real estate pool. we have a policy that says we are not using brokers affirmatively. we have spoken about this internally. i have asked staff about this a couple times. we think we have sufficient staff resource to do that is we have a model for interim uses to pay the parameter rent and first come first serve has worked in the old model. as they come off the rfi we may need to revisit this concept. >> it would be marketing on property and how we market as a whole. i have been working hard on

trying to find one company that really does it themselves without advertising. i can't think much one company everyone marks on their door and says i would like to be your tenant. you are playing russian roulette on what is add empty. i believe we should have a proactive rental program to fill the rentals up, and with a proactive you will do it faster. therefore you increase revenue to make the flow a little bit better. >> word spreads quickly. i had talked to a brokerage firm about pier 70. it is a small community. i am getting calls and calls. >> on the internal component of

leasing. do we have any parameters on turnaround time with perspective tenants? do we call back the same day? is there a policy on that -- policy on that? >> 24 hour poss. you can fill it out online and send it to me. we like to turn around the leases in two to three weeks. we have a pipeline process to vet it through the engineering and environmental and legal. we have a system. we are doing 75 to 100 >>lisa mcdonald: eac100100 -- leasesea. >> it is about 600 leases with tenants having multiple leases. >> i was intrigued with the

presentation on the building codes and dividing the building for occupancy and risk. is that something we decide internally? >> pier 9 is a good example. we put auto desk in. there is a trigger for the seismic code. by adding square footage they put iput in a mess samean. we had to come up to it without a seismic grade. we think about the occupancy. the s-2:00 you pan see was a way to get them in without seismic upgrade. it is storage use. >> are we proactive with people of interest when it comes to

things like that? >> absolutely. we want to disclose as much as possible. we don't want an unfor seen occurrence happen ebb. >> i assume there is a port code and city code. >> there is the california building code which we follow essentially. >> we do have a port building code. if we could have the engineer describe that. the port does have its own building code based on the california building code. there are specific port amendments incorporated to deal mainly with structures over the

water and such. >> readings into that because the state code did not go far enough? >> right. they don't typically deal with structures over piers and waters. >> i am asking a true and false observation. i am told our earthquake code is more strict than the san francisco code. do you believe thaw is true our false? >> i do not believe that is true. we also have an existing building code that allows the reduction of the seismic load by 25% for uses that are proposed if they meet certain requirements. >> you have a formula to come down? >> that's correct, yes. >> up to 25%? >> yes.

>> excellent. i guess that is it. i am sure it is not public, but is it available to the commission to look at our aged role and lie lease explorationsw long leases take. >> we do send you the report. we need to make sure you receive that. that is a public document. we send the aging report monthly. >> past due and all of that? >> i will limit my questions to that. i will dive into some of those reports and share my thoughts. thank you. >> thank you, commissioner. >> good job, commissioner makras like a dog with a bone.

i like the part about the advertising. mike, i have to tell you, i know we stole you from the office of workforce document. that is like kevin durant from oklahoma. anyway, very well-done. i like your style, you don't waste words. it seems like you want this in a different direction. i like that. i think commissioner makras has good thoughts. are you happy right now with you the vacancy rate? what would you like to see? >> i am not happy. i think there are a number of piers on the embarcadero that are inviting places that are not occupied. the reason i laid out the

strategy, how do we make those things match where we are able to succeed on the rfi and what the community wants to see to make them productive to the port to do what we need to do. this is centered in the north. we havecismlar opportunities with the indiscuss industrial land in the city we are an opportunity. to bring the investment dollars to see that happen and the makers to see that happen in san francisco, those are opportunities for us and will require work. those are the two centers of gravity to keep me thinking they are high. >> if i can add. the best of the best go out and find their continuenants. they do not sit back and wait.

best office operators have the tenant before they build the building. they go to the bank and say this is my tent. we should be looking at the world and seeing the best operators we think would be a good fit. i promise you, we are a great city and if we lay out the right business plan to the right people, there is venture money out through to fund everybody. so we don't have to rely on the individual company to have the money. they will get in investors to come. our piers are expensive operations to do. they are not going to drive by and make a deal. they like the idea because someone puts the time and energy into the deal to motivate the company to want to expand to another region. they will go to bankkers our

investors to put it together. these large piers are one, two, three years in the making to put it together. i promise you as much as i look optimistically to the rfi being responsive they are not going to put a lot of money to the rfi. if we get 70 of them, i would be very surprised if you any one of those had more than $50,000 worth of money power to putting them together. yet, you have have a contractor at the puc that spends $1 million to put the contract together to win. these are big projects. i believe we should door knock or figure out how to reach to the rest of the world.

i don't want to use the example of las vegas or disneyland. how the best restaurants in las vegas? every owner of the hotels went out and found those people. the owners and operators of the hotels that went and bargained with that best chef to woo them to their operations. if we want to best, i believe we have to start to think out you have the box and go down that road. >> thank you, mr. mccrass for your passion. >> one more question for you. do you think a marketing strategy is this successful in advertising. i hear this from time to time. do the people think it is easy to do business with the port.

i am redirecting it in another way. how do you think the public sees the port? how we do business? i hear from a lot of people that they find it hard to do business with the port. you coming in, mike, you are like an analytical thinker. how do you see it? >> it is not easy to do business with the port. i would say most of that is because of the condition of the facilities because of our status as government agency caught between the city and the state. three different regulators to get to say yes to every project. challenging seismic codes and filled lands with geotech any cal conditions. i would say from time to time

there are times when we are not staffed to really deal with the sophisticated counter party, sometimes that forces staff to slow down. i have seen this from the outside. working at the mayor's office i heard thar that in one year ande board in the other ear. i think there are professionals here and the things people have done with the complex deals that move i would put up against any public agency i have ever seen. i am not saying those people are right. commissioner makras i agree we have to do extra legwork to get the top line tenant here. today wasn't a lightbulb how are we going to get the word out

snow our goal is to get the leases going and get the revenues. we could always be better, but, you know, it is the port that has people that love the port and ar are good at what they do. >> mike, thank you so much for this report. this is very good. i think it is very insightful. i don't think there is anything lift to ask. (laughter). >> thank you very much. >> request approval for the document. work fours development. -- work force development. [ inaudible ] two approval of open space covenant regarding the india

basin lands proposed to be exchanged into the public trust under a consequent trust agreement, and, three, delegation of authority to port's executive director to enter into one or more memoranda of understandings with various city agencies, including recpark, the san francisco public utilities commission and the san francisco public works department. >> good afternoon mike martin again. i want to say despite the positioning at the end of the agenda, there is good news. we are talking about the india basin project. we were here in september with an information item. i am joined by the representatives of the work force development and recreation and parks department here to answer questions. i want to summarize the changes

then we will talk about the project's progress through a number of other hearings. the action items are the same discussed last time. there is a consent to the development agreement, approval of the trust exchange and i will talk about the trust exchange which has changed. approval of open space covneglect and delegation of the director to you enter into mous. to step back this is a project where the port is the trustee for the trust exchange and facilitate a beneficial parks project. we want t want to be supportivet over extended financially. we have had a great deal of support from the other agencies

to make that work. these mous will put into place what we need to achieve that goal. the trust exchange agreement changes. the agreement is still under review by state lands. the form and terms are pretty locked in place at this point. we are having you approve the form for final execution. there does an additional .8-acre in the middle of the big green space to bring the total of 10.3 nonsubmerged acre in the trust and there is also added to the agreement 17-acres of submerged lands and 10,000 square foot area of shoreline to be added to the trust following cleanup and

remediation -- remediation activities. these yellow areas are the areas that previously were not part of the trust exchange. you can see submerged lands to the top and right of the diagram. also, the small narrow shapes in the middle of the land side. the yellow shapes were added more recently. here is the new picture how did you trust exchange will lose post trust exchange. largely similar but sort of addressing the uncertain trust status of moreland in the area and serving the benefits of the trust in that way. we did refine the description of how the mou will work respect to issuing permits for parklands and accepting those lands at the direction of the chief harbor year.

we negotiated further with oewd and public works because we saw the port engineering staff probably has more experience and expertise respect to shore line improve thements. it would leave the remainder of the land side improvements to public works to accept db i would still be involved ho as-needed basis. largely this was something we thought was coming. all sides agree this sort of division of responsibility made sense. the blue area on the shoreline is what we consider to be the shoreline improvement that would still be the responsibility of the harbor engineer. we will refine this for the mou. the wetland areas to the edge of

the shoreline. >> the conditions prior to closing the trust exchange each party must approve condition of title and profit property. those cleanup activities are important. we will have had to enter the mou with mull till departments. we need to have those responsibilities taken care of. to address a question or comment that commissioner gilman had, we did basically reinforce and make sure that the trust exchange can't happen until the developer spent the money received the entitlements for the first development phase so we wouldn't have the trust exchange in advance of development of the park. i will hand it over to ann to move on here. >> thanks, kevin. good afternoon, commissioners,

project manager with the office of economic and work force development. we are happy to be here seeking approval action for the india basin project. since september it is adopted by the reck park and board of supervisors. it seeks to build 1775 residents, 394 of which below market rate units, 25% affordable housing obligation. minimum of 319 of those units will be built o on the 700 site. the buildout. the project will provide 14-acres of public parks, plazas, by success trails, 12 of those will be improvements to the existing six acre waterfront

pope space and the private -- acre land. this will be dedicated at no cost to be part of waterfronts network of public parts. these will convict the 1.5 -- will convict the 1.5 waterfront park beginning at north and terminating southeast -- sorry shipyards north side park. committed to providing cf cfd1.$5 million foreign chanced maintenance and operations for public parks. $43 million for the city use to mitt gays future sea -- mitigate the sea level rise. the city reserved up to $750,0 0 to use toward job training in the areas of landscaping and

open space management at the project site. additional benefits include construction of open air community market, future grocery store, job opportunities for construction and permanent on site jobs, local hire requirement ostestreets and parks and 18% business target established by the office of contract monitor had gone. approximately $10 million contribution to off site transportation improvements as well as network improvements including class one bike lane. 3,000 square feet warm shell to certified child care provider and endowment fundtor tenant improvements or discounted rates for the first eight years on the

project site. the city reserves 5,000 square feet of commercial space for possible facility such as reading room library or other community serving space. this concludes my presentation. courtney and stacy are here for questions. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> may i have a motion? >> so moved. >> second. >> any public comment? come on up. >> good evening. i am jill fox. i have lived here for 26 years on inness avenue, not inness

street. i am the chair of the india basin neighborhood association. this project has long been our dream, and our vision for our community. we support this project and encourage you to approve this transaction. in addition to thousand us of new neighbors joining us in a range of housing sizes and affordability levels, you heard about the great amenities we have been working on with the developer so that we have a more livable neighborhood so we are like the rest of san francisco with food, entertainment. most importantly and where you guys come in, is the new and improved park space. this project will provide loops

in the bay trail and if the blue greenway. we know the poitis very involved in. it will provide a class one bike path which gives us safe and scenic transportation alternatives for all of the people living, working and playing in our neighborhood. india basin has a reach part. it is a rich part of the san francisco maritime history. in the big picture, this project will allow people to come down, see and learn about the makers place to learn how to build boats. we really encourage you to approval this so we can get going on this beautiful project which we think will be a wonderful addition to the maritime history of san

francisco. thanks. >> thank you. any other public comment? >> grab afternoon. i am a long term resident ofin -- good afternoon. i am a member of the neighborhood association to to support this project. we support it because we helped craft it. the developer worked with the neighbors and incorporated many of our ideas and wishes into this project as it is finally shown. through several years of collaboration with the neighbors this plan evolved in a way to preserve the wild essence of the space as it is now and accommodated 3500 new resident into our community. not only are there over five acres of wild open space. by concentrating buildings into

more dense taller believes up near the hill and keeping the lower buildings at the water's edge and having fewer buildings in total and more space between the buildings, this development creates a spacious open feeling unlike any other project in the bay area. this is a good plan that avoids most of the negative impacts and adjusts and mitigates those that are unavoidable. this project will be an outstanding addition to our city. it is supported by most of the neighbors who live here. the planning commission approved this project unanimously, and when doing so, it characterized it as excellent, outstanding. i see urge you to achprove the necessary land swaps with the public trust, so this unique

project can move forward to become a great san francisco neighborhood. >> thank you. any other public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. >> thank you for all of the presentations. i want to say i think it is a marvelous project. i think -- i vicinity had a chance to go down there. we are going to try to look at the property. it is really not our project per se top get a sense how it fits in and the fact we have pier 70 nearby to get a sense how it is coming together. i support the project. i don't have specific questions. our role is different that the other projects. it is strong and we are happy to collaborate with the parties in

the city family. it is nice to hear from the neighborhood association that you are supportive. we always have the neighborhood associations involved. it is good to see that is followed here. congratulations to everybody. thank you. >> commissioner makras. >> it is a very nice project. i support it. one technical question. i am not sure who this would be directed to. on the conditions prior to closing all of the parties will approve conditions of title of the property? ask there a survey? do we risk the title issues that is associated with swaps? >> as i understand it, the watch require there is is a survey and title insurance. >> thank you. >> commissioner gilman.

>> i am supportive of the project and happy to see the neighborhood association coming up. thank you for changing the timing. i appreciate that. i know there were questions around the affordable housing components. kudos forgetting the planning. that is not our jurisdiction it seems all of that was resolved in good shape. i support the project. thanks. >> commissioner adams. >> great presentation to everybody. i am very supportive this. is good to play a small role in this. this will enhance all of the neighborhoods in the southern waterfront and especially the housing component for me. i wish from was a -- it was a community i could afford to live

in. i support it. >> a couple questions. what is the total amount of acreage? >> at the end of all cleanup 10.3-acres on the land and 17 submerged acres. >> originally it was 9? >> it was 9.5. >> what is the reason for the addition? >> i think the simple thing was state lands was looking to clarify what is in and out of the trust including submerged lands. they wanted to make sure they were part of the trust and there wouldn't be future development proposals there. as i understand it came out of those discussions. >> future development proposals on the submerged land? >> in the pre-era that was to

confirm the obligation to clean them up and that all wrapped together to create despite the colors a better diagram that is clear with what is where. >> what type of mou examples that we are delegating authority? >> i mean it is my understanding since you can't have contracts with one entity of the city. it is between us and the entities for the responsibilities associated with owning land. rec park would do the programming and maintenance, infrastructure would do this. pec would be responsible. otherwise you would assume the landowner had those responsibilities. we wanted as a condition of title if there is a title or something that needs to happen

we know it is rec park to pay the bill for that and not us. >> all in favor. >> aye. >> resolution 1860 is approved. >> item 14. new business. any new business? >> okay. >> motion to adjourn. >> second? >> second. >> all in favor. a. >> meeting is adjourned at 5:25 p.m. >> that is a record.

>> i have been living in san francisco since 1957. i live in this area for 42 years. my name is shirley jackson, and i am a retirement teacher for san francisco unified school

district, and i work with early childhood education and after school programs. i have light upstairs and down stairs. it's been remodelled and i like it. some of my floors upstairs was there from the time i built the place, so they were very horrible and dark. but we've got lighting. the room seems lighter. they painted the place, they cemented my back yard, so i won't be worried about landscaping too much. we have central heating, and i like the new countertops they put in. up to date -- oh, and we have venetian blinds. we never had venetian blinds before, and it's just cozy for me. it meant a lot to me because i didn't drive, and i wanted to be in the area where i can do my shopping, go to work, take

the kids to school. i like the way they introduced the move-in. i went to quite a bit of the meetings. they showed us blueprints of the materials that they were going to use in here, and they gave us the opportunity to choose where we would like to stay while they was renovating. it means a lot. it's just that i've been here so long. most people that enjoyed their life would love to always retain that life and keep that lifestyle, so it was a peaceful neighborhood. the park was always peaceful, and -- i don't know. i just loved it. i wanted to be here, and i

stayed. >> we have a great program today. i know many of you are here to celebrate the opening of a building. so many more of us are here because it's an exciting day to celebrate the life of one of our good friends and colleagues, natalie gub, and a lot of us are gathered here for both, so -- [applause] >> i'm doug shoemaker, and we're lucky enough to be here with you to celebrate this fantastic day. i'm wandering over here, wondering what to say, but i think i have it pretty much intact. in addition to the opening of a