New mall aimed at revitalizing central Market
By: Katie Worth
Examiner Staff Writer
October 19, 2008
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| Chance for change: A proposal for a new mall would be located in the area of Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — A new five-story mall slated for The City’s mid-Market corridor is slowly advancing through the planning process, and with it spreading some promise of change that has long eluded the gritty neighborhood.
The 250,000-square-foot mall, called CityPlace, would replace three buildings between Fifth and Sixth streets that have been largely vacant and boarded up for years.
David Rhoades of developer Urban Realty Co. said the project will be filled with several large “value-based” retailers, along the lines of Ross and Marshalls.
Carolyn Diamond, executive director of the Market Street Association, said the mall is exactly the type of anchor retail the neighborhood needs.
“In the next 10 years, Market Street is going to have a lot of new residents, and I think it’s going to be a great asset to those residents,” she said.
According to Diamond, the bedraggled section of San Francisco's main corridor has been at the heart of a decades long tug of war between business groups and residents who want to redevelop the downtrodden neighborhood and others who worry redevelopment would push more poor people out of The City.
In 2005, after years of hearings and community meetings, the Planning Commission passed a redevelopment plan for the mid-Market area, which stretched along the corridor between Fifth and 10th streets. The plan intended to create thousands of new housing units, preserve historic buildings and revitalize the neighborhood's theater district.
That plan was sent to the Board of Supervisors, where it has sat awaiting approval ever since, Planner Jim Miller said.
“It's ostensibly dead,” Miller said.
In the meantime, developments like CityPlace have come forward, offering to make some piecemeal improvements to mid-Market that the failed redevelopment effort has not been able to do.
“We're large enough to make big changes ourselves,” developer Rhoades said. “It will have an instant impact on the neighborhood.”
The Planning Department issued an initial environmental study recently about the $75 million project, which proposes five stories of retail — all large stores — and two stories of underground parking.
Diamond said the increased activity could also inspire more neighborhood restaurants and cafes.
By the numbers
1.06 acres: Size of plot to be developed
5: Floors of retail
2: Floors of parking
262,000: Square feet of retail
$75 million: Cost of development
210: Parking spaces
21: Bike parking spaces
Source: Planning Department
