Tesla “Illegally” Occupying SF Showroom

SAN FRANCISCO (03-13) – Elon Musk’s Tesla showroom in San Francisco, now the site of massive weekly protests for his work at DOGE that occupies the former Bently dealership along the Van Ness Avenue “Auto Row,” has been operating “illegally” without a certificate of occupancy for the past nine years. According to the Building Department, Tesla’s 2016 permit indicates that the $2.4 million showroom renovation/conversion project has been completed but lacks the required critical final safety inspection and certificate.

The Building Department acknowledged that it was an oversight on their part and that they were immediately reissuing a notice of violation on March 11 “for the building to renew the permit and pass the final inspection.” The department, however, is notorious for a series of scandals, corruption and inefficiencies and for being plagued by its antiquated permit data software system. This particular issue, at least superficially, is not of Tesla’s making other than whoever expedited or managed the project failed in not calling for a final inspection that, if passed, would have resulted in the issuance of a certificate of occupancy. The Building Department’s inability to red flag the missing final inspection is also a key factor in its overwhelming need to update and modernize its systems.

In San Francisco as in many cities, in order to move a building project along, a developer usually hires an “expediter” who can manage and navigate the construction project permitting process. From simple remodels to new construction, an expediter is essential for the successful timing of planning, permitting, inspections, approvals, code enforcement resolution and zoning issues at a pace conducive to the various phases of construction.

Musk, no stranger to controversy, who stands in defiance of normal constraints that effect everyone else, is not concerned with such mere details and has a history in the city of doing as he pleases.

The billionaire’s building code violations started in earnest with his $44 billion purchase of Twitter in October 2022 when he began violating the headquarters building occupancy use permit. At that time, Musk had several offices and conference rooms converted into sleeping areas “for tired employees,” as many workers toiled beyond their normal hours in an unwritten commitment to a new “work ethic” at the company. After Musk’s takeover of Twitter workers were “ordered to work 84-hour weeks” or risk being fired.

Once the alterations were discovered, city inspectors issued a correction notice for the unpermitted office conversions that required Musk’s contractor to label the rooms as bedrooms or convert them back into their original use. It was also noted that there is a difference between a “rest area” used for naps and a bedroom. At the time of inspection, it appeared that the rooms were in fact bedrooms as evidenced by the furnishings and the availability of a washing machine. The notion of sleeping at the then Twitter office gained the use of its own hashtag “#SleepWhereYouWork.” Once the room usage was resolved, Musk moved on to his next act of defiance.

By December of 2022 just before Christmas, Musk fired the contractor who performed janitorial serves for the company headquarters building leaving its workers without employment as the holiday season was about to begin.

This Musk fiasco involved a labor dispute with the janitors and their union, Local SEIU 87. The janitors, whose contract was to expire that week, walked out and began picketing in front of the building. They, like generations before them, were asking for better pay, benefits and job security under the Musk regime.

Musk, who despises organized labor, terminated the contract with the janitors’ employer, Flagship, in reaction to their action. He followed that by locking the janitors out where they remained defiantly picketing.

These hard-working employees who were classified as “essential” during the COVID pandemic were now being treated as merely expendable pawns in the Musk-Twitter game of dictating terms and conditions imposed at the expense of others to exert his personal style.

In January of 2023, the company was sued for not paying its rent by the headquarters building owner to which Musk, in a sophomoric antic had the letter “W” painted over on the sign making it read “t itter.”

By July that year, Musk attempted to remove the large outdoor iconic blue bird Twitter sign without a permit. The contractor was ordered by building inspectors to cease the work immediately for not having the required permit and in not “taping the sidewalk as part of pedestrian safety measures.” The sign removal was only stopped when police arrived and halted the work.

Five days later, Musk had a giant unpermitted Flashing X sign installed at the top of the headquarters building. The sign instantly became a safety concern and a nighttime illumination annoyance to both nearby neighbors and the city. When a building inspector arrived at the site, management explained that the sign had been installed for “a temporary exhibition.” They then denied the inspector access to the roof to inspect the sign.

On two follow up inspection attempts, inspectors were again denied access to the building’s roof. They explained to management that the sign was installed illegally without a permit and X was required now to obtain a removal permit. The city, however, quickly waived that requirement to abate looming safety issues and the sign was removed.

Not being allowed on the roof of the building, the inspector had to observe the sign’s removal from a building across the street. In the wake of its removal, the case was closed.

The following month Musk announced that he would be quitting San Francisco and moving both X and Space X to Texas. Few tears were shed in a city that had enough of Musk, and many were happy to see him leave.

In a new development on March 13, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie signed off on his first executive directive in creating a reformed permit process, “PermitSF, (that) will make the city’s permitting system customer-focused, faster, and more transparent.”

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

© 2025 nuzeink all rights reserved worldwide