LightHouse For The Blind Prepares Bigger, Better Mid-Market Headquarters

LightHouse For The Blind Prepares Bigger, Better Mid-Market HeadquartersThe LightHouse for the Blind's newly acquired building at 1155 Market St. (Photo: Google Maps)
David-Elijah Nahmod
Published on March 19, 2016

For 114 years, the LightHouse for the Blind has been a beacon of hope for the blind and the visually impaired. When the organization moves from its current location at 214 Van Ness into its new Mid-Market home in May, it hopes to expand its services and join forces with its many tech neighbors.

"For the last century it has been the LightHouse's mission to give blind people independence and confidence," said Will Butler, media and communications officer for the nonprofit. "Today there is an added layer to that: visibility and integration."

The blind and visually impaired are just like just like everyone else, Butler says. They just negotiate the world differently. And with 75 million blind or visually-impaired people in the world, they are a sizable demographic. "We are everywhere. We're a diverse group of people—vision loss cuts across all demographics."

LightHouse offers a wide range of programs, including sight evaluations, employment training, mobility classes and more—all aimed at enhancing the lives of people who are vision- and/or hearing-impaired.

In November 2015 the LightHouse received a bequest of $125 million, willed to the organization by a Seattle businessman they never met. The gift is more than 15 times the organization's annual budget, allowing the LightHouse to expand its services.

One month later, after years of searching for a larger space for its headquarters, the organization announced that it completed the purchase of the 11-story office building at 1155 Market St. Eight floors they won't use right away are being leased to the city, providing added income for the nonprofit and guaranteeing room to grow in the future.

LightHouse's longtime home at the corner of Van Ness and Dr. Tom Waddell Place. Photo: lighthouse-sf.org

"We've been planning this move for years," Butler said. "The neighborhood we're moving into is very coveted in terms of real estate. There aren't a lot of nonprofits who've been able to establish a presence among the movers and shakers of San Francisco."

Dubbed the LightHouse Center of Excellence, the new Mid-Market headquarters will offer a fitness center, industrial-sized kitchen, dorms for students in the intensive training program and a new and improved store where tools and high-tech gadgets that enable the blind to navigate a sighted world can be purchased.

A rendering of the industrial kitchen inside the future Mid-Market headquarters, via lighthouse-sf.org.

"We want the community to embrace us," Butler said. "We want people to stop by and take a tour of the LightHouse. We want the tech companies to call us and say: I don't know what I can do to help, but I want to help. We want people in our offices, and not just peering at the peculiar blind people."

But the LightHouse's relationship with the tech world has already begun. "We do accessibility focus groups with Google, Facebook and Dropbox. People are realizing that accessibility is important because if they're not accessible, then it means that millions of people are being told that their business isn't important," Butler noted.

With renovations of the new office nearing completion, the LightHouse will close its offices at 214 Van Ness on April 25th and reopen to the public on Monday, May 9th.

Once the organization has settled in, the community is invited to help warm the new home. The party commences on June 10th on the steps of City Hall, where a marching band will lead a "Blind and Proud" parade to 1155 Market St. An open house will follow, during which the new facility and a demonstration of some of The LightHouse's services will be on display.

To RSVP or learn more, contact LightHouse for the Blind at 415-694-7365.