The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 41, October 8, 2006, Article 7

OLD SAN FRANCISCO MINT GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE

The Granite Lady is on her way to becoming grand once again. It's
old news to some, but this was reported September 27 in the San
Francisco Bay City News: "The U.S. Mint in San Francisco, which
was commissioned in the Gold Rush era and withstood the 1906
earthquake, was leased Tuesday as part of a plan to create a
museum and adjoining commercial district.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously
agreed to the terms of a 66-year, rent-free lease to the San
Francisco Museum and Historical Society.

Plans for the building include extensive restoration to create
a 32,000-square-foot museum space, a new location for the San
Francisco Visitors Center, and a variety of shops and restaurants
facing Jesse Street."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

A more complete article published the same day by the Berkeley
Graduate School of Journalism provides more detail on the
challenges awaiting planners:

"The Granite Lady, as San Francisco's Old Mint is sometimes called,
sits on the corner of Fifth and Mission streets in apparent neglect,
many of its windows boarded or shuttered. If a visitor climbs the
21 stone steps to the portico and walks past the stately sandstone
columns, she will find a pair of heavy wooden doors with a coat of
faded gold paint. But she can't go inside-the doors don't even
have handles to pull.

In a few years, however, the Old Mint will have a new life and will
be open to the public like never before, according to a San Francisco
Museum and Historical Society plan.

Organizers moved closer to realizing that plan when the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors approved an agreement with the historical society
on Tuesday that acts as a legal roadmap describing how the city will
turn the Old Mint over to the group.

The biggest challenge the historical society now faces is raising
money to renovate the building. The historical society estimates it
will cost $86 million to remodel the massive granite structure,
make it accessible to the disabled, and strengthen it to withstand
a strong earthquake. The group currently needs to raise about $38
million to reach its goal.

The city will not provide any direct financial assistance to the
historical society, except to lease the Old Mint for free for 66
years. But the historical society must show it can completely fund
the project before the city will turn over the property. The society
has 18 months to do so."

"Good luck raising that 38 million," said Board of Supervisors
President Aaron Peskin after the resolution was adopted.

"The Old Mint building opened in 1874-it was called the New Mint
back then-and by the 1930s it housed one-third of the U.S. government's
gold reserves. It survived the 1906 earthquake and fire, and was the
only operating financial institution after the disaster. It operated
until 1937, when a new mint opened on Duboce Avenue. Until 1995, it
was used as office space by the Treasury Department and for about 20
years housed the Old Mint Museum."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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