Academy of Art’s Expansion Raises ConcernsPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Dec. 06‚ 2006The Academy of Art University in San Francisco was founded in 1929, and has over 9000 enrolled students. Many of these students are solely registered for its online courses, but the school also owns 14 office buildings throughout the City where students take classes. In addition, the school has acquired 13 different apartment buildings and dormitories (mostly in lower Nob Hill) that provide housing to over 1200 students. What concerns many residents, however, is the rate that the Academy has acquired these buildings, and that many of these buildings used to provide rent-controlled housing for low-income tenants. The Academy has acquired nine of them in the past ten years alone (according to online records at the San Francisco Assessor’s Office), and three are single-room-occupancy hotels that are subject to the City’s Residential Hotel Conversion Ordinance. On the 600 block of Sutter Street alone (between Taylor and Mason), the Academy owns two office buildings and three apartment buildings. |