SF Power Players Rally Behind Steph Curry’s HQ Plan

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and business leaders are scrambling to revive plans by Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry to build a hub for his Thirty Ink firm. It’s not a slam dunk.

The coalition is working to save a project Curry said was killed by a local carpenters union to build a five-story headquarters at 600 20th Street, in Dogpatch, the San Francisco Standard reported.

The group is fighting to bring back the 24,000-square-foot building approved for 20th and Illinois streets, five blocks south of Chase Center, home of the Warriors.

It includes Lurie; the Warriors; Theo Ellington, a former city commissioner who has served as the team’s public affairs director; and Enrique Landa of Associate Capital, now redeveloping the nearby Potrero Power Station.

In March, Curry, the four-time NBA champion, was set to redevelop a 10,000-square-foot commercial building he bought for $8.5 million, or $850 per square foot.

Plans for the new Curry project, designed by Oakland-based Workshop1, include a new headquarters for Thirty Ink, his off-court conglomerate, which includes media production, nonprofits, tech investment, real estate, fashion and a whiskey brand.

The one-stop shop was to include a rotating exhibit, a lab, plus a three-bedroom apartment for visitors and guests.

Then this month, Curry announced that the Nor Cal Carpenters Union led by Jacob Adiarte had killed the privately financed project. Its demand: union workers fill more positions during construction.

In an email, Thirty Ink said it had no obligation to use union labor, but was doing so out of generosity. It accused Local 22 of turning down a deal that would have employed a 40 percent union workforce, making it “untenable” to build the project in San Francisco.

Privately funded office projects in San Francisco typically don’t require union labor unless they are the beneficiary of public subsidies.

At the center of the union’s dispute with Thirty Ink is its selection of Achill Beg Construction as general contractor. The union has sparred with the local company over its alleged resistance to using a fully unionized workforce of subcontractors, according to the Standard.

When a developer forges ahead with nonunion labor, the carpenters union has been known to show up to hearings, file environmental lawsuits, or organize public demonstrations to make it politically difficult for construction to continue.

Thirty Ink executives worried about security at the proposed office, citing Curry’s popularity and its predominantly female staff.

The all-or-nothing approach by the carpenters union has crossed swords with other labor groups, including the Building and Construction Trades Council, which split with the carpenters in 2023 over disagreements about housing construction bills in Sacramento.

In the aftermath of Thirty Ink’s announcement, Lurie reportedly made personal calls to company executives and stakeholders.

Among the strategies being discussed are finding a new general contractor, donating labor, or starting a partnership to relaunch the project and alleviate Thirty Ink’s cost burden.

Landa, whose Potrero Power Station redevelopment has been one of the few major projects to push through the city’s recent construction slowdown, has been functioning as a go-between.

“Listen, I’m a big supporter of Dogpatch, and this is a neighborhood where things happen,” Landa said. “I hope it gets figured out.”

— Dana Bartholomew