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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A popular arts school that is one of San Francisco's largest property owners has illegally removed hundreds of residential units from the city's tight housing market by converting buildings to dorms, according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
City Attorney Dennis Herrera said in the legal action that the Academy of Art University acquired buildings that are zoned for use as apartments and other residences and converted them without permission from San Francisco officials.
The conversions were intended to accommodate the school's swelling student rolls, which have boosted its profits, the lawsuit states, but also cost the city roughly 300 residential dwellings.
"Academy of Art quite simply is an egregious land use scofflaw, and its defiance persists at the worst possible time for our residents," Herrera said at a news conference.
James Brosnahan, an attorney for the university, said the lawsuit was premature. He said the university has been working with planning officials to resolve the city's concerns, and has offered the city two properties for low-income housing and $10 million. It has also agreed to increase its housing stock in the future through new construction.
"A point that is missed is the students," Brosnahan said. "You have a lot of low income art students, painters, sculptors, that are affected by this lawsuit today."
The lawsuit came after a decade-long fight between city officials and the university over the issue.
Herrera said in the suit that the university "cavalierly" changed the use of over 22 buildings in San Francisco, including turning office space into classrooms. He also accused the university of violating building code and signage requirements, and said it has stalled and negotiated in bad faith over the years.
The lawsuit seeks fines and asks a judge to declare a number of university properties a nuisance and order the school to stop using them.
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