Supervisors forward Alioto Fish Company lease termination after Port and BLA outline terms and costs

The San Francisco Budget & Finance Committee on June 8 voted unanimously to forward to the full Board a Port of San Francisco proposal to execute a mutual lease termination with Alioto Fish Company Limited, the family-owned restaurant long identified with Fisherman’s Wharf.

Port staff described negotiations that followed Alioto’s pandemic suspension of operations and said the agreement would surrender the tenant’s security deposits, require a $250,000 termination fee and the return of a $5,000,000 SPA COVID relief loan. Nick Menard of the Budget & Legislative Analyst’s office told the committee the agreement would forgive about $861,000 in rent and late fees through June, with a roughly $25,000 security deposit forfeited by the tenant and a net cost to the Port of about $585,000; BLA also noted the deal is about $338,000 more generous than a prior agreement approved in 2021.

Chair Supervisor Hilary Ronan, who moved to forward the item with a positive recommendation, described Alioto’s as an iconic, decades-old restaurant and praised Port staff for relief efforts during the pandemic. Multiple supervisors echoed sympathy for the restaurant and urged broader attention to revitalizing Fisherman’s Wharf as the Port re-enters the market for that site.

Clerk-read item language identified the two affected Port leases as L7491 (restaurant premises at 2829 Taylor Street) and L9171 (Associated warehouse premises at 360 Jefferson Street). Port staff said inspections showed the facilities were serviceable, and the agreement includes mutual releases of known claims and authority for the Port director to execute non-material amendments needed to effect the termination.

The committee opened public comment for the item and recorded no callers. The clerk conducted a roll-call vote: Vice Chair Asha Safai, Member Gordon Mar and Chair Hilary Ronan each voted "aye" and the motion passed unanimously.

The committee’s vote forwards the resolution and the Port’s mutual termination agreement to the full Board of Supervisors for final action at a future meeting.