Mid-Market's Renoir Hotel caught fire today at 12:03 p.m., in a blaze that the Fire Department says is "the width and height of the building,” the Chronicle reports. No injuries have been reported so far.
The 130-room hotel at 45 McAllister Street was vacant and under construction in a $40 million renovation.
According to the Examiner, Market Street is closed in both directions and Jones Street is blocked at McAllister.
There are conflicting reports as to whether this is a three-alarm or four-alarm fire, but we know firefighters are still working to put it out.
KTVU tweeted a picture of the blaze:
Fire in SF@KTVUdesk @AmberKTVU pic.twitter.com/tWMW5LNeIo
— martin.holeton@ktvu. (@MHoleton) August 4, 2014
Fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge tells the Chronicle that firefighters are saturating the building with water from the roof to reach the first and second floors, where the majority of the blaze is spreading upward.
People reported hearing explosions from inside the building, which Talmadge says were likely propane tanks. There's no word yet on how the fire started.
As SFist previously reported, the Kor Group purchased the hotel in 2012 and planned to revamp the flatiron building into swanky hotel with a 4,500-square foot rooftop bar, plus restaurants and bars on the ground floor.
