I know this isn't actually about development, but it is about the health of downtown San Francisco since the empty space has been a serious blight on the Union Square area for a while now:
Quote:
Los Angeles-based teen retailer Forever 21 is taking over all of the former Virgin megastore off Union Square, one of the shopping district’s largest and most prominent retail spaces.
It has also been one of the emptiest since British record retailer Virgin pulled up stakes in April 2009 . . . .
The former music store is not the only vacant Union Square retail space to win some love: 101 Powell St. also has signed a new tenant, and at least four other leases have been signed since the start of the year as Union Square emerges from recessionary doldrums . . . .
Never set foot in a Forever 21 store, but I'll take another one of those over empty space any day.
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"You need both a public and a private position." --Hillary Clinton, speaking behind closed doors to the National Multi-Family Housing Council, 2013
BT - so glad to hear the good news. The corner of Stockton & Market is a gateway to the Union Square area and has been a blight for much too long. Forever 21 is not a store I will ever step into, but glad to have an anchor on that corner.
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(Essex) Fox Plaza resident 55th year in 2026 - (the building everyone loves to hate :------>))
Glad to see that giant vacancy filled but what happened to UNIQLO? I thought I read that they were taking that space. It was probably just internet rumors and speculation. Oh well, hopefully, that means they'll grab another one of the many vacancies along Market...especially somewhere west of Fifth.
That's a lot of cheap spaghetti-string tank tops in a small area.
The 1 Powell store has got to be 20,000 square feet or so too, right? Damn.
Seriously. I hate what is happening to America/ California/ San Francisco. A bunch of empty headed uneducated bimbo Bratz dolls getting obnoxiously drunk and terrorizing neighborhoods with their stupidity. This and the former Stock Exchange turned fitness center are perfect metaphors for the decline of civilization.
It is "Idiocracy" in warp speed.
Last edited by dr_strangelove; Jun 21, 2010 at 10:07 PM.
The new Institute on Aging Building is coming along in the Inner Richmond at Arguello and Geary. Coming down the hill from Masonic, it looks like a monster, perhaps a sign of things to come in the neighborhood? Anyway, we'll have a better idea of how this is going to turn out once they take the cover off, but for now, we can get an idea.
You can get a better idea of how the front of the building will probably look from peaking at the sides:
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Everytime you drive to the grocery store, you are killing a polar bear.
San Francisco's rundown Mid-Market area will get a long-promised boost with Thursday's approval of the huge CityPlace retail center, which supporters say could transform one of the downtown's dodgiest areas.
In a 5-2 Planning Commission vote to approve the project, concerns about parking at the center were outweighed by the prospect of renovating a long-neglected section of Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.
"While it's more parking than we like, it's not a lot of parking for this type of development," said Commissioner Gwyneth Borden.
Goodbye Christmas tree lot?
(I actually don't think trees have been sold there the last few years)
Quote:
A matter of a few yards along Market Street has community groups around the Castro wrangling with city planners over what rules should govern development in their neighborhood.
The center of the dispute is a 16-unit condominium/commercial development due to be built on a long-vacant lot at 16th and Market streets. Neighborhood activists were set to go before the Planning Commission this afternoon to challenge that approval, arguing that the building should meet the stricter development rules in effect just steps away on the other side of 16th Street.
A compromise late Wednesday afternoon means the groups will be bringing an agreement, not a battle plan, to the commission, but that doesn't solve the larger problem of the very different building rules for very similar pieces of San Francisco real estate.
Citykid - thanks for the nice pics. The back of the building overlooks the Columbarium (repository for cremated remains) which is well worth a visit for the beautiful architecture. It is my understading that a hedge will be planted to screen the Columbarium from the Institure on Aging - to not remind the old folks as to how close they are to the Columbarium?
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(Essex) Fox Plaza resident 55th year in 2026 - (the building everyone loves to hate :------>))
J - thanks for the picture of the hole in the ground. That hole is like a stake in the heart of the neighborhood. I may yet live long enough to see it filled! Several years ago I bought my holiday tree there. At one time there was a proposal to put a Walgreens there but that was shot down.
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(Essex) Fox Plaza resident 55th year in 2026 - (the building everyone loves to hate :------>))
I know this isn't actually about development, but it is about the health of downtown San Francisco since the empty space has been a serious blight on the Union Square area for a while now:
Apparently they are keeping the 1 Powell store as well.
I have serious concerns about the future of this company.
After Mervyns and Gotschalks closed, they swooped in and bought like half o the locations. Theyre expanding way too fast in this economy, and I dont think they have the customer base to support it. What kind of store goes from a gap-type model (malls, smallish store fronts) and then expands into 3 story department store spaces????
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