Say you want to build a 13-story, 186-unit residential building on Market Street. You find the perfect location — in this case an old billiards hall that's been turned into a food-stall market — and get to work securing financing and permits. However, this is San Francisco, and so the next step likely involves some sort of push back. In the case of 1028 Market Street, Curbed reports that push back came in the form of the draft Environmental Impact Report which deemed the building to be a "historic resource."
Yup. That old billiards hall that sells expensive beer and tacos is a "historic resource."
The 33,000-square-foot building was built back in 1907, and, according to the report, contributes to the vibe of the Market Street Theatre and Loft (MSTL) District. Well, sorta kinda. "While the building does not exhibit a distinguishable architectural style in its present state, the building once had ‘restrained Renaissance/Baroque ornamentation,’ " the report reads.
And anyway, according to the report the proposed new building definitely wouldn't fit in with the MSTL vibe.
So instead of the 13-story building, SocketSite reports that developers may be stuck with adding a two-story addition to the current building. And while that won't bring nearly as many units (20 versus the aforementioned 186), we'll still have the historic billiards hall turned food market. Lucky us.
The Planning Commission is set to make a final decision on the development sometime following an October 27 public hearing to consider the draft report.
