Centro del Pueblo

Overview

Insight Center attorneys assisted a group of community-based organizations in the San Francisco Mission District to plan for and carry out the acquisition of a building that would house their programs and provide quality, affordable space for other community nonprofits. The building was named Centro del Pueblo, center of the people.

The project presented three major issues: identifying and acquiring a suitable building, securing financing, and developing a legal structure that would implement the group's concept of shared ownership and occupancy. 

Outcome

Insight Center attorneys worked with the group to establish a nonprofit organization that would own and operate the property, receive grants, and obtain a property-tax exemption. The new nonprofit, also called Centro del Pueblo, was structured as a membership organization, with board representation from each of the founding organizations. The Insight Center also assisted Centro del Pueblo in developing lease documents, entering into agreements with a variety of financing sources, acquiring a site, and subdividing the site to sell excess land to a nonprofit housing-development organization.

The Centro del Pueblo organizations completed rehabilitation and moved into the building in April 1993, and smaller nonprofit tenants followed. Almost 15 years later, the building remains an important resource for the Mission community and Mission-based nonprofit organizations.