San Francisco's Retail Scene

[Reminiscence]

Great news for Stonestown. I frequently go to this mall and Serramonte a little down the road, and the Trader Joe's sounds like a nice addition to the mall. The only thing I seem to be concerned with, as the article mentioned, is the traffic. There are some days where traffic is just unbearable on 19th, and thats right now. They shouldnt let that stop them though, it sounds like a nice proposal.

[San Frangelino]

Maybe the traffic along 19th will make for a good reason to look at a Bart line going along geary, heading south along 19th Ave, and connecting to Daly City Bart. May not ease traffic, but gives political incentive to add denser development to the area. I am not being "too" seriious. Just a little serious.

TJ's in that part of town makes West Portal look even more attractive I think. You can have mall chains, popular grocery chains, and a mom and pop main st all outside your door in a more suburban setting than anywhere else within city limits. Whole Foods would be the next logical step.

I also noticed that the SF Business Times mentions Neiman Marcus's is headed for Walnut Creek.

[rs913]

I'm not surprised Stonestown needed a shot in the arm. The expansion of the Westfield downtown probably hurt them. The opening of that inexplicably popular Daiso store at Serramonte probably drew away some people who might have gone to Stonestown too.

[mthd]

apologies if this was mentioned, but there is now a 'coming this summer' sign for CB2 next to the apple store at stockton and ellis! i was in their soho store a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised by some of the items. a west elm downtown would be nice also!

[MarkSFCA]

good news for residents in the Fillmore/Wester Addition area. the Safeway at Webster and Geary appears to be geting a full makeover to their "Lifestlye" concept. the parking lot and store are being remodeld. they already started work on the parking lot. Yippee! We bought a condo nearby so this is good news for us.

[BTinSF]

^^^I hope the parking lot makeover includes security guards with automatic weapons and large, nasty dogs. On the other hand, maybe I don't because it's impossible to know for sure whether they'd be on the side of the thugs or employed, middle class shoppers.

Frankly, although this is the closest store to my home, I avoid it after dark and other times when I can and go to the Market St. store instead (or Molly Stone's). I have had too many ugly confrontations here including one time some welfare queen's unruly child pushed past me (bumping into me in the process) in the checkout line and she started screaming I had hit him, bringing what security they do have to grill ME in a hugely embarrassing confrontation (especially since I was the only pale-complected person involved).

[BTinSF]

Gucci Eco Flagship Store Opening Soon on Union Square

If you haven't been in Union Square lately, you may not know there's a new store being built inside the first floor at 240 Stockton. The building, owned by Bently Holdings (Christopher and Amber Marie Bently), and the plaque adjacent to the elevator banks says it's an Energy Star awarded building. What this means to potential tenants is they have to build green. Next door neighbor, Gucci, was looking to expand their store, and although the deal took some time, they are now doing their "first green build-out of any of their stores," says Amber Marie Bently. And supposedly they're very excited about the project.

When I asked Amber Marie about how the space would differ from the existing store, her first thoughts, being a jewelry designer, were about the jewelry department where she said they would be expanding. She then went on to explain that most couture retailers sell costume jewelry, whereas Gucci makes theirs with only 18k gold and quality gems.

Construction has been going on now for a while, but hopefully we'll see Gucci moving into the new space in June. It will be their new West Coast flagship store. So Gucci fans, start saving up - two more months.

Source: http://sfbaystyle.typepad.com/blog/2...eco-flags.html

[Hal Incandenza]

Do you know what it means that they're "remodeling the parking lot?" Is the strip mall on Fillmore included in the remodel as well? I was kind of hoping they'd rebuild that Safeway along the lines of the Alber..er..Lucky's on Fulton, but I suppose if they were doing something like that, we'd have heard about it by now.

[BTinSF]

Friday, April 4, 2008
Feeding frenzy on Rincon Hill
Restaurateurs have no reservations
San Francisco Business Times - by Sarah Duxbury

Rincon Hill is rising as the city's next culinary hot spot.

2008 will see at least four high-profile restaurants from some of the city's best-loved restaurateurs open in that swath of eastern SoMa between Mission Street and the freeway. The restaurants join existing establishments like Boulevard and Town Hall and new entries like last year's Local Kitchen, opened by Ola Fendert of Oola in SoMa. Plenty more neighborhood joints and bars are likely to follow to capitalize on the growing density of diners -- and residents.

The first of two condo towers for One Rincon and the Infinity, where Nancy Oakes of Boulevard and her team will open a second restaurant in November, have begun to fill up. Millennium and others will follow, effectively creating a high-density neighborhood from scratch. In all, Rincon Hill is expected to house 2,000 new residents this year alone.

"It has finally appeared," said Pat Kuleto, whose WaterBar and Epic Roadhouse restaurants opened on the Embarcadero in late January. "Everyone's known about it forever, and it's finally coming into focus. It's not just a new dining area, it's a new great piece of San Francisco that never really existed -- or hasn't for the last 70 years."

Boulevard set the table when Oakes and Kuleto opened it in an out-of-the way spot 14 years ago, soon after the Embarcadero freeway came down. That transformed a stretch of Steuart Street, as the arrival of Town Hall in 2003 began to do for inner Rincon Hill.

"We love the neighborhood," Oakes said.

Back for more

Indeed, those who've experienced Rincon Hill seem to come back for seconds, like Oakes, or thirds, like Kuleto and the Town Hall fellows.

But Rincon's real rising began early this year when Kuleto's much anticipated -- and much delayed -- waterfront restos opened. (Epic's al fresco portion should open next week, Kuleto said. Less expensive kiosks will follow.)

Next up is Anchor and Hope, a 70-seat seafood "shack" and oyster bar that will open April 21 in an old mechanic's shop on the alley behind Salt House. Sara Schafer, late of Frisson, will be the chef. It will round out the Rincon hat trick by Threefold -- also known as Doug Washington, Mitch Rosenthal and Steven Rosenthal -- the trio behind Town Hall and Salt House.

After them, and embracing the new Rincon Hill by opening in ultra-sleek condo towers, are Oakes and Michael Mina, Both have chosen the neighborhood for their second San Francisco offerings. Millennium Tower will open in fall 2009.

Oakes' still unnamed restaurant, which she is opening with partners Kathy King and Pamela Mazzola from Boulevard, will seat about 100 with 60 more at the bar. It will be the same quality as Boulevard, she said, but with less of the pomp and priciness.

"This in my opinion is the reddest, hottest thing going on," Kuleto said of Rincon Hill, which may be why he has three restaurants there.

Critical mass is required to create a true gastro-hub like the Mission district, so Rincon restaurateurs say they welcome all comers since only quality, popular places will survive.

"Some could say we're crazy" for opening a third restaurant within a three-block radius, Anchor and Hope's Washington said. "We say, someone's going to open one, so it might as well be us." He simply hopes that each of the spaces and menus is distinctive enough not to cannibalize from the others.

Rincon 'an open canvas'

"It's not completely defined yet, from a restaurateur's point of view," Mitch Rosenthal said of Threefold's chosen neighborhood. "The Mission, the Marina, they all have their own character. (Rincon) was an open canvas."

Or maybe it is a gold mine.

Town Hall grosses $6 million; Salt House brings in $4.5 million, and the team expects Anchor and Hope, its smallest and most rustic venue yet, to do $4 million in business annually.

Nearby, Kuleto deemed the Rincon waterfront worth the $20 million it took to build two major new restaurants from scratch, and he said each is turning away over 500 diners daily. Once settled, he expects each to take in $1 million a month.

Kuleto added that Oakes worried that his new restaurants would hurt their joint venture at Boulevard, but Boulevard's business is up more than 5 percent since the waterfront spots opened.

To condo or not to condo

Space is the real issue in Rincon. The Threefold folks say the buildings have dictated each of their three concepts, and that they turned down both the Infinity and Millennium Tower in favor of Anchor and Hope's century-old, standalone structure.

Kuleto, by contrast, built his lavish spots from the ground up, while Mina and Oakes will occupy spaces in the new towers that one day will define the neighborhood.

Indeed, developers of these high-profile, pricey towers are pursuing brand-name chefs as people magnets and bragging rights, not unlike the current trend with hotel restaurants.

While it was the landmark brick building that first attracted Oakes and Kuleto to what would become Boulevard, Oakes said she is equally captivated by the contemporary promise of the Infinity.

"I had my eye on those buildings going up," she said, calling them the "future" of the neighborhood, which should grow again when the Transbay terminal project rolls in.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ml?t=printable

[MarkSFCA]

Originally Posted by Hal Incandenza

Do you know what it means that they're "remodeling the parking lot?" Is the strip mall on Fillmore included in the remodel as well? I was kind of hoping they'd rebuild that Safeway along the lines of the Alber..er..Lucky's on Fulton, but I suppose if they were doing something like that, we'd have heard about it by now.

I don't know the details in terms how it affects the rest of the shopping center. Hopefully, after they remodel Safeway and re-do the parking lot, the rest of the shopping center will be upgraded. but, it looks like just a Safeway thing right now.

[BTinSF]

Coming ever so soon, fashionistas:



and


Source both images: http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2008/0...dition.php?o=0

[San Frangelino]

It looks like FAO Schwartz is returning to San Francisco. I heard they were expanding then I found a job ad for them.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/job-J0RTY47...3lLUaQdX36Q6IX

[peanut gallery]

^^^^BT's post: And those fashionistas will only have to cross the street to hit up those two shops.

[BTinSF]

Friday, April 18, 2008
Spanish clothing chain Mango brings fast-fashion boutique to SFO
San Francisco Business Times - by Sarah Duxbury

Mango has landed.

The Spanish fast-fashion retailer has opened an 1,100-square-foot MNG by Mango boutique at SFO, its first foray into airport retail in the United States. Through its partnership with HMSHOST, Mango plans to open several more airport boutiques around the country.

As the hassles of air travel and security compel travelers to arrive at the airport ever earlier, SFO is responding by offering them more than a book and a barstool on the far side of the metal detector. SFO is finalizing a new retail master plan that calls for adding new, high street retail as leases become available. The Mango site, for example, was once a far larger newsstand that was divided into three distinct shops to make room for Mango, a Sunglass Hut and a smaller gift store. A Pacific Outfitters recently opened nearby.

"A few years ago, we completely revamped our food and beverage program, and now we would like to do the same with retail," said Cheryl Nashir, associate deputy airport director for revenue development and management. "We want as much as possible to get national and international brands that customers know and love out here, along with quite a bit of local flavor."

Admittedly, fashion could be a tough sell at an airport where travelers with carry-ons and computers aren't as keen to try on clothes as a typical mall shopper. That's the beauty of Mango, Nashir said. The fast-fashion company is affordable and has seemingly constant new offerings. Too, with airport boutiques open on other continents, Mango understands the different assortment mix required to succeed gateside, namely: go heavy on the accessories and tops and scale back on bottoms, said Joan Ryzner, senior vice president of retail at HMSHost, which will operate the airport store.

"As the travel retail sector evolves, and the airport environment changes, fashion is increasingly finding and consolidating its space among airport retailers," said Nina Lundgren, vice president for international travel retail at Mango.

Mango opened its first Bay Area store at Westfield San Francisco Centre in September 2006, and it opened a second Union Square location shortly thereafter.

In addition to Mango, which opened in Terminal 3, home to United's domestic service which sees 50,000 arriving and departing passengers daily, a Burberry's will open in the international terminal in May or June. That terminal already hosts a Coach and a Gucci in addition to more traditional duty-free offerings. In the domestic terminals, Airport Wireless will open a few new stores, and SFO has issued a request for proposals for a 2,400-square-foot pharmacy, health and beauty store that could open by the end of the year.

Adding fashion and other retail to the mix at SFO does not mean that traditional newsstands, bookstores and souvenir shops are going away. Rather, the airport hopes to improve its already strong retail performance. SFO's retail operations average about $4.90 per passenger. While that figure sounds low, it makes SFO's 99,000 square feet of retail among the top five performing airports for retail in the country, Nashir said. She said that an airport that makes $3.50 to $4 at retail per passenger is considered to be doing very well.

Eric Young contributed to this report. [email protected]/(415) 288-4963

Source: nhttp://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/04/21/story13.html?t=printable

[peanut gallery]

An article from today's Chronicle on chain stores in the city:

S.F. grows ever more hostile to chain stores
Robert Selna, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

A paint company and a landlord in San Francisco's Mission District thought they had a good deal when they signed the lease for a paint store to move into a former video rental shop earlier this year.

But the plan had a problem: The paint company, which owns the Glidden brand, is considered a chain store and therefore was not a popular choice. The Planning Commission stopped the move, even though the company wanted to occupy a vacant spot abandoned by bankrupt Hollywood Video, another chain.

The fight illustrates how San Francisco - a city that values homegrown companies and neighborhood character - is increasingly hostile to chain stores and restaurants, even if the businesses want to move into empty stores.

And although the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to reconsider the paint store's request at its meeting today, the push to stop chain stores from opening in the city is unlikely to ease soon.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano is working on legislation to ban all chain stores from some stretches of Mission, Valencia and 24th streets in the Mission District and Cortland Avenue in Bernal Heights. Two smaller areas - in Hayes Valley and North Beach - already have outright bans on chain stores.

The city's restrictions on new chain stores have become increasingly tough over the past few years. In 2003, the Board of Supervisors approved a law requiring proposed coffeehouses and pharmacies to provide notice of their intent to open. That made it easier for opponents to request Planning Commission hearings and to argue against the stores.

In 2006, voters passed Proposition G, obligating the Planning Commission to hold public hearings on any proposed chain store and to decide whether it is appropriate based on the stores already in the area, architectural compatibility and other considerations.

Businesses fall under that law if they are retail sales establishments with 11 or more U.S. stores that maintain two or more standardized features, including decor, facade, color scheme, uniforms, signage or trademark.

Since 2006, seven of 12 chain store applications have been approved in San Francisco. The others were rejected or the applications were withdrawn.

In recent months, however, chain store owners with applications before the Planning Commission have encountered renewed hostility and skepticism. Some commissioners have stated flatly that they don't like chain stores under any circumstances.

Last month, the commission indicated it would stop a Ralph Lauren store from replacing a closed Smith and Hawken store on Fillmore Street. Both businesses are upscale retail stores. The commission approved the permit only after Ralph Lauren agreed to provide many community programs and services.

Kathrin Moore, a commissioner who has been outspoken against chain stores, said they hurt local merchants and often are more harmful to the environment because their goods must be transported from outside the city.

"San Francisco is in the unique position of being able to encourage entrepreneurial retail to stand up to (chain stores), putting us ahead of the game in terms of sustainability," Moore said.

ICI Paints operated a store on Market Street for 65 years but needed to relocate after its lease expired last year. The company wanted to move into the shuttered Hollywood Video, whose parent company had gone bankrupt and left longtime landlord Ken Allen without a tenant.

Allen worried that the vacant property would attract graffiti, garbage and other blight. He said he surveyed most neighbors within 300 feet of the site and found that most favored the paint store, in part because the nearest existing one is more than half a mile away.

But as part of their review, planning commissioners concluded that the property could be used for something more beneficial to the community - possibly new housing and some non-chain stores, although no developer had proposed such an alternative.

Public comments related to the project seemed to indicate a split of opinion in the neighborhood about the store, according to the city Planning Department. City planners, disagreeing with the elected commissioners, supported the paint store.

Allen said the commission's decision to deny the application was unfortunate. "An empty lot doesn't do anyone any good. It's much better to have someone in there, keeping it clean and taking care of it," he said.

At a hearing before the commission in February, ICI Paints attorney Paul Johnson implored commissioners to focus on the existing property and not what might be there someday.

"We're not adding (chain) retail - one is replacing another," Johnson said. "We're concerned about getting open as soon as possible ... we want to get workers back to work at that location."

With one commissioner absent, the body voted 3-3, which meant that the project was denied. ICI Paints has appealed to the Board of Supervisors, the appellate body on city land-use issues.

Supervisors are expected to overturn the decision today. But that isn't likely to end the debate.

Ammiano said he proposed broader legislation to ban chain stores because he was seeing a trend toward "homogenization," noting the high number of Walgreens stores in the Mission as well as a handful of pending applications from other chains.

Ammiano, who was traveling and could not be reached by phone, said in an e-mail statement: "I think it's prudent to address the issue now so we have a comprehensive plan and process to follow that makes sense for the community instead of an inconsistent and piecemeal approach."

Some have questioned the wisdom of Ammiano's suggested ban and the large area it would cover.

"The Planning Department believes that the permit process works and that you don't need a total ban," said Tara Sullivan-Lenane, a city planner. "The permit applications allow for neighborhood concerns to be heard and the neighborhoods aren't all the same, so they have unique concerns and interests."

The Planning Commission is scheduled to review Ammiano's proposal again in June. Any legislation would need to be approved by the Board of Supervisors.

To get involved:

Hearing: The Board of Supervisors will hear an appeal by ICI Paints, which wants to move into a Mission District store. The hearing begins at 2 p.m. today at City Hall in the supervisors' chambers.

Contact: To contact Supervisor Tom Ammiano about his proposed ban on chain stores in parts of the Mission District and Bernal Heights, call (415) 554-5144 or e-mail [email protected].

[San Frangelino]

Via: http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/...ml?jst=b_ln_hl

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 - 4:59 PM PDT
N.Y.'s famed Tavern On The Green to open S.F.'s biggest restaurant
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

Storied New York restaurant Tavern On The Green will take over the top floor of San Francisco's Metreon, a deal that will immediately make it the city's largest restaurant and help reinvigorate the flagging Yerba Buena entertainment and retail complex.

The world-famous Tavern On The Green, which has never expanded beyond its home overlooking Central Park, has leased 30,000 square feet plus a 13,000-square-foot terrace overlooking Yerba Buena Park. That's bigger than its New York flagship, which is the second-highest grossing independent restaurant in the United States, with 750,000 annual visitors and annual revenue just under $40 million.

"We have been anxiously waiting for the perfect opportunity to expand the Tavern On The Green brand, and we are pleased to say that we have finally found it in San Francisco," said Jennifer LeRoy, CEO of Tavern On The Green. "The City of San Francisco, with its vibrancy, diversity and passionate dining culture, combined with the perfect setting on a park in the heart of the city, is simply too good to be true."

The deal for the large space overlooking Yerba Buena Park comes at a time when the property's owners, the Westfield Group and Forest City Commercial Group, are in talks with Redevelopment Agency officials about repositioning the four-story, 350,000-square-foot Metreon. The complex -- envisioned as a high-tech urban mix of dining, gaming, music, exhibitions, shopping, and movies when Sony opened it in 1999 -- has never lived up to its promise. While the movie theater there is one of the highest grossing theaters in the country, other retail and entertainment ventures have struggled or failed, with a Microsoft store, a Discovery Channel Store, and the high-end restaurant Montage all going belly up.

Westfield and Forest City bought the property in February 2006. Natalie Berg, senior vice president for Forest City Development, called Tavern On The Green "an extraordinary addition to the area's distinctive landscape."

"Tavern On The Green is a name with character, charisma and celebrity that will serve as yet another catalyst in the growth of one of San Francisco's most dynamic neighborhoods," she said.

While the Metreon owners declined to discuss overall plans for the property, Tavern On The Green COO Michael Desiderio said Tavern officials were won over by plans to reposition the property. "When we first sat down with Westfield and Forest City, we were very impressed with their commitment to taking this property to the next level," he said.

In an interview with the Business Times, LeRoy said Tavern On The Green has been exploring an expansion for years and looked at Las Vegas and Miami before settling on San Francisco. LeRoy, who took over the business when her father died seven years ago, said she has had countless offers to open other Taverns On The Green but "didn't want to dilute the brand." She said she would continue to look for expansion opportunities.

"We are very particular about what we put our name on," said LeRoy. "We want it to be as special and magical as Tavern On The Green."

The San Francisco Tavern On The Green is expected to open in summer 2009. It will share the floral decor and lavish crystal Tiffany chandeliers that characterize the original Tavern On The Green, but will "have some surprises," LeRoy said.

A heavy emphasis will be placed on local, fresh California ingredients and wines. "San Francisco is famous for its food and fresh ingredients -- we have every intention of embracing the local spirit," Desiderio said. An executive chef has not been named.

About 75 percent of the space will be dedicated to private events, and the Tavern owners hope to capture brisk business from the nearby Moscone Convention Center. The restaurant will be bigger than the New York Tavern On The Green, which is 26,000 square feet.

"We want to take full advantage of the San Francisco diner, as well as the 8 million people that go through the convention center each year," Desiderio said.

For the LeRoy family, the deal in San Francisco is something of a homecoming. Jennifer LeRoy's grandfather, film producer and director Mervyn LeRoy, was born and raised in San Francisco before going south to Hollywood, where he was the head of production for MGM and credited with making the Wizard of Oz and launching the careers of Clark Gable, Robert Mitchum and Lana Turner. Her father, Warner LeRoy, took over Tavern On The Green in 1974 and also operated the flamboyant swinging singles hang-out Maxwell's Plum, which had a bars in New York and at Ghirardelli Square. One artifact that adorned the Ghirardelli Square Maxwell Plum's, a particularly exquisite Tiffany stained glass window, will likely end up in the new Tavern On The Green, LeRoy said.

"A lot of people have been trying to buy that from us," she said. "We've been hanging on to it for a long time to put it somewhere special."



All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

[peanut gallery]

That's really great news. Maybe this is what will finally turn the Metreon around (he says for the hundredth time). I'm intrigued by that stained glass. It sounds very special.

[rs913]

I'll believe it when I see it (that it'll be successful, I mean, not just that it's happening). TotG is special in its current setting in the country's grandest urban park. I'm not sure how special it'll be on the top floor of a building dominated by a movie theater and rowdy teenage crowds, where two shootings have happened recently.

That's not to say TotG can't lead the turnaround, but there had better be some serious plan for revamping the property that only they know about. And if the movie theatres remain, Westfield had better invest in some security.

[BTinSF]

The Chronicle sez so too:

Tavern on the Green coming to the Metreon
James Temple, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

(05-06) 17:26 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Tavern on the Green, the iconic New York restaurant better known for its sales volume than stellar cuisine, will open a huge establishment at San Francisco's Metreon, the first step in a long-discussed repositioning of the troubled shopping center.

The 40,000-square-foot restaurant, about four times larger than Pat Kuleto's new Epic Roasthouse, will be located on the top floor, with an outdoor terrace overlooking Yerba Buena Gardens. The business will focus heavily on private events, catering to groups through nearby hotels and Moscone convention center. It will share the opulent (some say over-the-top) feel of the original Tavern on the Green, with chandeliers, murals and art, and may include a bar space serving lighter fare during the afternoon.

"We're very excited about moving to another area and spreading what we have here," said Jennifer LeRoy, chief executive officer of Tavern on the Green and daughter of the man who made the restaurant famous. "We've gotten a lot of (expansion) opportunities, but it just seemed like the right time, right space and great partners."

Those would include developers Westfield Group and Forest City Enterprises, which together bought the Metreon from a joint venture between Sony Corp. of America and Millennium Partners in 2006, saying at the time that it would be "repositioned and re-tenanted."

Westfield declined to elaborate then and didn't add much on Tuesday.

"Westfield and Forest City acquired Metreon with an eye towards revitalizing it to add to the dynamic nature of the Yerba Buena neighborhood," Westfield spokeswoman Catharine Dickey said in a statement. "Tavern on the Green is an iconic name with local, regional and international appeal that is the first of several exciting new concepts and ideas under consideration."

Industry sources say that the owners, which also own the nearby Westfield San Francisco Centre, have been interviewing architects to reconfigure the Metreon space.

The problem is that the funky layout and tenant mix, originally trumpeted as a newfangled fusion of entertainment and retail, simply didn't work well for shops or shoppers. A stream of exhibits, stores and restaurants have come and gone since its opening in 1999, including the Way Things Work, Where the Wild Things Are, Microsoft, Discovery Channel and Montage. The most successful part of the shopping center is the 15-screen Loews Theatres.

The orientation "fed the belly of the project and the food court and the theaters, but it really made the retail an afterthought," said Matt Holmes, principal with San Francisco brokerage firm Retail West.

New tenants like Tavern on the Green and planned design changes, which include moving the entrance and adding signs and glass storefronts to advertise the shops, should draw more traffic, he said.

Tavern on the Green has a storied history. Originally a Central Park sheepfold, it was converted to a restaurant in 1934. Warner LeRoy, the famed New York restaurateur who founded Maxwell's Plum Bar and later the Russian Tea Room, oversaw a $10 million renovation and reopened the restaurant in 1976.

A rare example of fine dining on a massive scale, the more than 25,000-square-foot restaurant became a popular spot for Broadway openings, charity auctions and movie premieres.

It's made guest appearances in a handful of films, including "Ghostbusters" and "Wall Street." To this day, it remains one of the largest-grossing independently owned restaurants in the country, with nearly $40 million in annual revenue and 600,000 visitors.

In 1995, then-New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl famously deflated Tavern on the Green in a review that, while complimentary of the food, thrashed the service, citing long delays and an aloof waitstaff.

"To thousands of visitors, Tavern on the Green is New York," she wrote. "Does it really have to be such a blatant example of our famous rudeness?"

Reichl gave the restaurant one star, meaning "good," the ranking it retains today. Its current entry in the dining and wine section of the New York Times Web site includes the notes: "very expensive" and "strictly for tourists."

Asked how Tavern on the Green would address such alleged shortcomings as it rolls into a competitive restaurant town, Chief Operating Officer Michael Desiderio said it has already made improvements, including the hiring of Brian Young as executive chef.

He is the former chef de cuisine of the three-star Michelin restaurant Le Bernardin and executive chef at Citarella the Restaurant, an outgrowth of New York's esteemed food shop. He will oversee the San Francisco kitchen.

The restaurant is expected to open during summer 2009. The menu will be contemporary American, featuring local ingredients and wine selections.

"We understand we need to step up certain things," Desiderio said. "We're expecting to get into this market and show how serious we are about food and service."

E-mail James Temple at [email protected].

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...BU8F10HO0F.DTL

[BTinSF]

More:

Friday, May 9, 2008
Big new restaurant lease heralds remake of Metreon
San Francisco Business Times - by J.K. Dineen

New York-based Tavern on the Green's decision to open a sprawling, 43,000-square-foot restaurant and event space in the Metreon will give the project a significant boost as owners Forest City and Westfield seek approvals for a comprehensive renovation, according to brokers and city officials.

Tavern on the Green said May 6 that it would lease the top floor of the Metreon, which includes a 13,000-square-foot terrace overlooking Yerba Buena Park. Along with the existing Sony movie theater, the tourist-friendly restaurant is likely to draw hundreds of thousands of customers into the Metreon, particularly conventioneers from nearby Moscone Convention Center.

Westfield and Forest City declined to comment on proposals for renovating the property, which will require approvals from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. But sources who have met with the owners say the plans involve opening up the struggling property to the street and to Yerba Buena Park with a more translucent, pedestrian-friendly glass skin. The entrance would be moved down to the center of the Fourth Street block between Mission and Howard streets.

Michael Cohen, the mayor's director of workforce and economic development, said his staff held an informational meeting on the proposed changes last month.

"We are encouraged that Westfield and Forest City want to make an investment in that strategic corner, which should be one of the important cornerstones of the Yerba Buena planning area," said Cohen.

Gabriel Metcalf, executive director of the think tank San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, said opening the edges of the Metreon to the public "could have a really nice effect on the neighborhood."

"Given the location, the Metreon should be one of the most successful retail locations in the city," said Metcalf.

The Metreon owners have reportedly been in negotiations with bookseller Barnes & Noble and looking for apparel stores for the ground floor.

Matt Holmes, a principal for RetailWest, said finding an anchor tenant for the second floor will be important.

"The design moves they are contemplating are very strong," he said. "It's much more glass, more theatrical, more energy. More of a Times-Square-oriented feel."

[email protected] / (415) 288-4971

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ml?t=printable