All the while, Brownstone has rented beds to a rotating cast of tech startup founders, immigrants and other new-to-the-city characters willing to stay in barely private, 4-foot-tall boxes for $700 a month. And now, CEO James Stallworth is ramping up Brownstone's ambitions. He told SFGATE on Wednesday that the startup is close to leasing a new space not far from Mint Plaza, big enough for 100 pods.
But Mission Local had a bombshell revelation in April 2024, when they found that a rogue property manager at those buildings was simply collecting tenants' rent in cash and pocketing it for himself. But the city was not sympathetic to those tenants' plight, and started sending them eviction notices last August. Still, the tenants are making legal cases that they did pay rent, and their eviction cases might drag on in court for months, if not years.