Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes Castro, acknowledged his constituents' ongoing concerns, telling The Standard, “The last two years have not been ideal, in my view.”

“Both years it went downhill to the point where it left a bad taste in the mouth of a lot of people in the neighborhood and a lot of businesses in the neighborhood,” he said.

However, Mandelman noted that the upcoming year-long renovation of the historic Castro Theater, which hosted the summit's speaker events, likely contributed to the decision to move the Lesbians Who Tech summit.

For local conference attendees like Tessa Brown, the San Francisco-based founder of encrypted messaging platform Germ Network, the exit from the conference is a real blow to the lesbian tech community, especially in an industry that remains so overwhelmingly male and is heterosexual.

Brown, who gave a workshop on communications and artificial intelligence at the Lesbians Who Tech summit, acknowledged that the event has actually probably outgrown Castro.

“There is an irony there because the Castro is there for anyone who needs it, regardless of gender identity,” she said. “The Castro is public space, and for a few days it really isn’t public space.”

Mandelman expressed hope that Lesbians Who Tech's move to the Big Apple would be temporary – and suggested finding a solution to bring one of San Francisco's premier lesbian professional conferences back to the city. This was also true for Brown, who appreciated only having to take a bus from her home in Twin Peaks to get to the summit.

But any return to Castro Street would likely have to come through an angry Castro community that feels burned by the summit.

“We do not welcome a complete takeover of our neighborhood to the exclusion of our entire community,” Bennett said.

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Jon Ryan says keeping his Twin Cities heating and cooling business on track this year has been like navigating an ocean liner through iceberg-strewn seas.

This spring there was more work than many companies could handle, but there was a shortage of labor and materials. Within months, interest rates doubled and housing collapsed.

Ryan is President and Owner of Genz-Ryan, a market leading HVAC company founded by his father more than 70 years ago. For years, the company’s bread and butter installed stoves and air conditioners in new homes.

No longer. He recently closed Genz-Ryan’s new construction department, destroying the work of 40 people. The company will focus on service and installations.

“It was like trying to turn the Titanic around,” he said, referring to the well-known ship that sank after hitting an iceberg. “Only about a third of what you can see is above water. What you can’t see worries me.”

After a pandemic-driven construction boom that left builders and their subcontractors overwhelmed and exhausted, a sudden contraction is transforming the industry.

“We are observing that many segments of the housing industry have exercised caution in response to the slowdown over the past several months,” said James Vagle, CEO of Housing First Minnesota.

The situation is particularly confusing for companies that were in business during the 2008 real estate crisis, which saw skilled workers flee to other industries. While they know the region still needs tens of thousands of new homes, they also know that demand can fluctuate quickly.

“Builders and trading partners are cautious as many have experienced construction cycle slowdowns before,” Vagle said. “The challenge is that demand for housing hasn’t gone away, it’s just on the sidelines. The builders know that at some point they will have to start up again in order to provide our region with much-needed living space.”

Of course, nobody expects the kind of real estate crash that triggered the Great Recession of 2008. This downturn was caused by bad debt and an oversupply of new homes, which is not the case today.

This recession happened before Ryan was in charge and about 90% of the company’s customers were homebuilders. Although they lost about two-thirds of their business, the company was less diversified than it is today, so exiting the newbuild business was not an option.

“Our business mix would not have allowed us to make that decision,” Ryan said. He added: “And I was a lot younger and had the energy to deal with a downturn.”

Today, Ryan says that because many people are spending so much more time in their homes, including teleworking, they are using their stove and air conditioner a lot more. These devices and their components require more maintenance and replacement.

And, he said, because people are staying longer, it makes a lot more sense to focus on servicing existing customers than it did during the last recession.

With fewer people moving, there were fewer sellers and even fewer buyers, but prices continue to rise. Last week, the S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index showed that home prices in the Twin Cities were up more than 6% in September from the same time last year. This increase was lower than earlier this year, but was in line with historical averages.

It’s been a record-breaking spring for builders and many are still building homes bought earlier this year. More recently, building permits have fallen. According to new data released by Housing First Minnesota last week, builders collected half as many permits in November as they did a year earlier.

This shift has left many builders, subcontractors and their suppliers cautiously optimistic about 2023.

It is a paradox that the country’s largest construction companies and suppliers are looking for ways to control costs. Executives at Builders FirstSource, the Dallas-based leader in building products, recently told investors they are implementing what they call a “downturn playbook,” which includes freezing or cutting jobs.

Several listed homebuilders, including Pulte Homes, which has a strong presence in the Twin Cities, are canceling land purchase options and reducing development plans.

Michael Ramme, vice president of land acquisitions at Centra, a Coon Rapids-based developer, said there are opportunities for companies not obligated to shareholders to acquire land more cheaply than last summer, when national developers “slam on the brakes “. He said it’s getting easier to hire subcontractors.

“There are subs who need the work now, two years ago they didn’t even look at you,” Ramme said. “The luck has turned.”

For Genz-Ryan, this change of fortune forced a reckoning. Ryan said he made the decision to close the construction department even as it became easier to hire workers and source supplies.

The final straw, Ryan said, was realizing that so many homeowners are locked into the lowest mortgage rates in a generation. That means they are unlikely to move because they would have to contend with sharply higher interest rates if they bought again. These frozen homeowners could weigh on housing construction for years to come.

“It was really about rising interest rates, that changed everything,” Ryan said. “But I felt like this was the right time for us to make the decision.”

Some of those 40 employees who lost their jobs stayed with the company and were transferred to the service department, Ryan said. Others could quickly find other jobs.

As much as Ryan worried about his ability to keep crews busy during the housing crisis, he saw the decision as an opportunity to aggressively grow the service and replacement business.

He wants the company, known for advertising with the slogan “I love these guys,” to remain a local standout at a time when private equity firms are buying up heating and cooling companies and consolidating them under national brands .

Ryan said he is in the process of converting the former new construction showroom and selection center into the Jack Ryan Academy, named after his father. He will use this room to train workers.

The decision to eliminate his company’s new construction division was like a “stomach punch,” he said. But he added that given the ongoing challenges the industry is facing, it’s the right decision.

“The study of economics is the science of meeting unlimited needs with limited resources,” Ryan said. “It really boiled down to a handful of decisions.”

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MILWAUKEE — Garrett Mitchell hit an RBI double and the Milwaukee Brewers withstood Freddy Peralta’s early exit to beat the San Francisco Giants 4-2 and complete a doubleheader sweep Thursday night.

In the opening game, Corbin Burnes struck out 14 and allowed three hits in eight shutout innings in a 2-1 victory.

Peralta left the second game due to fatigue in his right shoulder after walking Tommy La Stella to lead off the third inning. The Brewers led 3-0 at the time.

The Brewers are at home for 20 of their last 26 games, a stretch that started with this double header. They’re hoping that schedule helps them go on a late surge as they attempt to chase down the Philadelphia Phillies and San Diego Padres for the NL’s final wild-card spots.

“Having all these home games at the end is definitely going to help us with this playoff push, but it takes some good baseball for us to get in there,” Burnes said.

Burnes entered this doubleheader having allowed 17 earned runs in 21 innings over his last four starts. But he dominated the Giants and showcased the form that enabled him to win the NL Cy Young Award last season.

He struck out 10 or more batters for the ninth time this season to tie the Brewers’ single-season record set by Ben Sheets in 2004. Burnes (10-6) also holds the franchise record for double-digit strikeout games with 21.

The 14 strikeouts were one off Burnes’ career high. He had 15 in a 10-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Aug. 11, 2021.

“Nothing new,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “That’s Corbin Burnes. That was as good as we’ve seen him. His stuff was carrying through the zone. He was hitting the top of the zone. His cutter was working well. The ball was moving all over the place. It’s tough to name five better starters in baseball.”

Burnes needed to be at his best to outduel San Francisco’s Jakob Junis (4-5), who struck out four and allowed three hits, two runs and two walks in six innings. Junis entered in the second inning, relieving opener Scott Alexander.

The Giants opened the scoring in the third inning as LaMonte Ward hit a two-out single and came home on Mike Yastrzemski’s double. Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich and Hunter Renfroe hit consecutive RBI doubles in the fourth.

Milwaukee took the lead for good in the second game by scoring three runs in the first inning off Alex Young (0-1). Only one of the runs was earned.

Joc Pederson homered for the Giants in the second game.

Milwaukee’s Peter Strzelecki (2-1) pitched two innings of scoreless relief to get the win in the second game.

Devin Williams got his 11th save in 12 opportunities in the first game. Taylor Rogers finished the second game for his 31st save in 39 opportunities.

The two teams combined for just 16 hits in the double header. The Brewers had nine and the Giants had seven.

SIBLING RIVALRIES

This doubleheader had two sets of brothers facing off.

Taylor Rogers and Giants reliever Tyler Rogers are identical twins. San Francisco’s Scott Alexander is the older brother of Brewers right-hander Jason Alexander.

Jason Alexander is the Brewers’ scheduled starter Friday, so he was unlikely to pitch in Thursday’s doubleheader.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, the last time two sets of brothers played against each other in the same game was Aug. 6, 1977, when St. Louis’ Hector Cruz and Bob Forsch and Houston’s Jose Cruz and Ken Forsch all played in a game the Cardinals won 3-1. Elias’ records only accounted for instances in which all four siblings saw action in the game.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers IF Luis Urías was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Sean Hjelle in the sixth inning of the second game. Urías remained in the game after a brief delay.

RHP Justin Topa was designated as the Brewers’ 29th man for the doubleheader. Topa hadn’t pitched in the majors since Sept. 3, 2021, as he recovered from a third elbow surgery. … The Brewers also reinstated INF Mike Brosseau (right oblique) from the injured list and optioned OF Esteury Ruiz to Triple-A Nashville.

UP NEXT

Giants: Stay on the road to begin a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs. Scheduled starters Friday are LHP Carlos Rodón (12-7, 2.92 ERA) for the Giants and LHP Drew Smyly (5-8, 3.84) for the Cubs.

Brewers: Stay home to start a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds. Jason Alexander (2-2, 5.03) starts for the Brewers on Friday with LHP Nick Lodolo (3-5, 3.95) pitching for the Reds.

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Landing, a rental company, is moving its headquarters from SF to Birmingham. (Shutterstock)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. Landing, a home rental company founded by Shipt’s founder, is moving its headquarters from San Francisco to Birmingham.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey announced the move Thursday morning. She said it would create 816 full-time positions.

“Landing is a fast growing company with an innovative business model and we are very excited to have its headquarters in Alabama,” said Ivey in a statement.

Landing uses a membership model to rent furnished and unfurnished apartments across the country. The company offers tenants flexibility by offering “flexible leases, concierge services, first-class furniture, basic equipment in stock and 24/7 support”. Members pay an annual membership of $ 199 and can rent at 81 locations, according to the company’s website.

“As a native of Birmingham, relocating our headquarters and expanding our team in Alabama was a natural transition,” said Bill Smith, Founder and CEO of Landing, in a statement.

Smith previously started Shipt, the app-based delivery service that was later developed by Target Corp.

Car RentalSan Francisco

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