Tech company offers ousted Mission nonprofit a new home

Despite weeks of uncertainty, cancer support organization Círculo de Vida won’t have to look for a new address after all.

Thanks to adeal inked with the help of Supervisor David Campos, the non-profit will be able to stay in the BayView/US Bank building and rent from its tech neighbor DoubleDutch. The building’s landlord decided not to renew Círculo’s lease to give more room to DoubleDutch. The mobile event app company has since decided to offer space it rents on another floor to the nonprofit.

Carmen Ortiz, the organization’s executive director, said Círculo will move to the fifth floor of 2601 Mission St. and that DoubleDutch has agreed to pay for construction to modify the space to meet the organization’s needs.

“We are very grateful to the outpouring of support from the community,” Ortiz wrote in an email to Capp Street Crap. “All those who wrote letters, emails, tweeted
and posted our story on Facebook.”

Ortiz said DoubleDutch initially offered space on the fourth floor but it was too small. Campos mediated a meeting between Círculo and the company on Feb. 19 during which DoubleDutch CEO Lawrence Cohen offered the fifth floor space, which will give the group four rooms, a waiting room and a storage room. Círculo will be subleasing from the company and paying $2,486 a month. Landlord Vera Cort has been charging them $4,000 for their current space.

“A great big thanks to David Campos for helping us reach an agreement with [DoubleDutch]. His input and support was crucial in reaching a suitable agreement,”
Ortiz wrote. “Also thanks to Lawrence Cohen for his willingness to help us stay in the building.”

Círculo, which has been at 2601 Mission for 11 years, would have had to leave the building by March 31. The nonprofit serves mostly low-income immigrants who lack
health insurance, providing support groups to people with cancer and their children, among other services.

[Photo courtesy of Círculo de Vida]