SF Daily Brief for October 25, 2026
Today on the SF Daily Brief: “Rent concessions nearly vanish from San Francisco's apartment market,” plus “Car drives into Muni tunnel, shutting down Market St. subway for night.”
- Rent concessions nearly vanish from San Francisco's apartment market
- Car drives into Muni tunnel, shutting down Market St. subway for night
- Gift Card ‘Draining’: How to Apply for Compensation After San Francisco’s Lawsuit
- New York investment firm selected to buy San Francisco Centre
- ‘The best mother’: Children of slain SFPD leader speak out at emotional funeral
- Chinatown residents and merchants air illegal dumping complaints at city hearing
- Meet the S.F. congressional candidates: Expand work visas and green card access?
- What was behind the OpenAI firings? Safety groups, Signal chats, and a leak investigation
- Valkyries Win Game 4 in Atlanta to Tie WNBA Finals Series 2-2
- They bet on real estate when SF was at its bottom. Here’s how it turned out
- Sacramento painter Ho Chiu-hung opens first solo show in San Francisco
- In a home opener to forget, the Warriors’ meltdown is one to remember
- San Jose's Gateway Tower, with 218 affordable units, closes financing
Transcript
Click any sentence to play from there.
Welcome to SF Daily Brief. It's Sunday, October 25, 2026. Here's what happened in and around San Francisco today. In the rental market, the free-rent deals that were common three years ago have largely disappeared in San Francisco.
World Journal reports that Bay Area landlords once offered weeks or even months of free rent to fill vacant apartments. In San Francisco, those concessions are now mostly gone. Transit service ran into trouble this weekend. A car drove into the Muni tunnel at the Embarcadero on Saturday afternoon, according to Mission Local.
The incident disrupted service and confused dozens of commuters, and the Market Street subway was shut down for the night. If you were affected by a gift card scam, there may be compensation available. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Friday that more than $1.5 million will be available to Californians affected by a gift card scam. The money comes from a settlement of the city's 2023 lawsuit, which alleged that the packaging of Vanilla gift cards made them easy to tamper with.
Downtown, New York-based Seven Equity Group has been selected to buy most of the shuttered San Francisco Centre at 865 Market Street, Sing Tao reports, citing the San Francisco Chronicle. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027. The roughly 1.15 million-square-foot sale excludes the former Bloomingdale's building at 845 Market Street. A team that proposed turning the mall into a sports and entertainment complex dropped out this week.
Mourners gathered for the funeral of Ann Mannix, a retired San Francisco police deputy chief, and her daughter Katie. They were killed in their Marin home. The Standard reports that Kevin Mannix, Ann's husband and Katie's father and a retired officer, is accused in the killings. In Chinatown, residents and merchants brought complaints about illegal dumping to a city working group.
At the group's first community hearing Friday at the Woh Hei Yuen playground, merchants said fines are too small to deter dumping and that some restaurants get trash pickup only once a week, Sing Tao reports. Residents and merchants can submit comments through an online survey until November 2. Mission Local asked the candidates for Nancy Pelosi's House seat whether they would expand work visas and pathways to green cards. Their answers are part of the outlet's candidate questionnaire series.
At OpenAI, two fired safety researchers say in media appearances that a leak investigation and disappearing texts led to their dismissals, the Standard reports. Their account centers on safety teams and Signal chats. In sports, the Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 67-62 in Game 4 on Saturday in Atlanta, tying the WNBA Finals at two games apiece, KQED reports. The series returns to San Francisco for Game 5 on Monday.
Guard Tiffany Hayes told reporters fans there need to 'get loud, get ready. In real estate, some investors bet on San Francisco when the market was at its bottom. In 2023, companies were abandoning office space, and some investors saw an opportunity in the crisis. The Standard checks how those bets have played out.
Sacramento painter Ho Chiu-hung, a 76-year-old who spent nearly 30 years working in restaurant kitchens, has opened his first solo show in San Francisco. Sing Tao reports that he opened the exhibition of ink paintings at the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Chinatown. The show runs October 24 and 25 and includes more than 30 works, many of them San Francisco landmarks. Turning to basketball, the Warriors had a home opener to forget.
The Memphis Grizzlies went on a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter to stun Golden State in its home opener, the Standard reports. The Warriors had led by 12 points with 3:47 remaining. In San Jose, a 15-story apartment building planned for downtown's SoFA district has closed its financing and will start initial construction soon. Sing Tao reports, citing the Bay Area News Group, that Gateway Tower would have 220 units, 218 of them affordable, and completion is targeted for 2029.
The estimated cost is about $198 million. That's the brief for Sunday, October 25, 2026. Thank you for listening. For the full written brief, go to sfdailybrief.com.