Omni and EB PREC/CALLI - sudo-discuss

24 Aug 2024

Hello, I wanted to give a recap on what's happening with Omni Commons
building sale and operations.

Earlier this month, Omni Commons had three options to prevent foreclosure.
The most promising option was to sell the building to CALLI (an affiliate
nonprofit of EB PREC https://ebprec.org/). Once EB PREC confirmed they were
able to fund the purchase, there's been a big push to work as fast as
possible to finalize, given we are on a tight deadline to prevent
foreclosure.

*Acronyms: CALLI stands for Collective Action and Land Liberation
Institute, and EB PREC stands for East Bay Permanent Real Estate
Cooperation. CALLI does not have any projects under its belt yet, but its
board are all current staff at EB PREC.

Everyone currently renting spaces in Omni Commons are getting offered
leases to stay. These leases are still in negotiation, and that's the main
work that's left for us to do right now. Sudo Room is being offered a 34
year lease to stay in the bocce ball court space. We will have to pay more,
but we are also going to have some well-needed commons upgrades (roof
renovation is planned, bathroom renovations, rat proofing, etc all to
come!). Also there will be some new much needed help in managing the
building day-to-day and in conflict resolution. How the building is
operated will ultimately be decided by CALLI, but there's lots of back and
forth and they really want to work with us on this. Some plans include
creating separate entrances and exits for SR and CCL, and restricting
access hours + full building access. The entrance hall will continue to
host the Free Store for now, with plans to add a cafe again up front later.
That is not the focus right now though as there is this big hurry just to
meet foreclosure legal work deadlines and finalize collective + tenant
leases.

This is really exciting, because just a month ago we were at a super severe
risk of foreclosing. We still are cutting it really close, with us
currently having received a notice of default from the foreclosure agency,
and for us being in property tax default. The consensus among the building
was that foreclosing would not be worth the uncertainty, difficulty, and
harm to the community that the building being bulldozed would likely cause.
So that EB PREC was able to step in at this short notice with the funds at
hand, and a willingness to dedicate all this time into making something
work out is really unbelievable.

All of the meeting notes are public on the wikis if you want more info, but
also I'm happy to share more info as requested.
Omni Commons meeting notes: https://omnicommons.org/wiki/Meetings
Sudo Room meeting notes: https://sudoroom.org/wiki/Meetings

Thanks,
Paige