Another day, another store closing in the heart of downtown San Francisco.
But before we despair over the imminent shutdown of Pearl Paint - as reported above - there are glimmers of hope for the notoriously depressed area known as Mid-Market.
First, a different art supplies store, Blick Art Materials, is scheduled to open on Market Street, between Fifth and Sixth streets, just two doors west of Pearl, this summer. "We’ve always been confident about Market Street," said Bart Veghts, retail director for the Illinois-based national chain.
Veghts wouldn’t say which month the store opens - "we still have to go through construction" - but confirmed the new site, the company’s fourth in the Bay Area, is very much on track. More details to come, including the disposition of Blick’s existing San Francisco store on Van Ness Avenue, in the next few days.
Promise and peril: The news was especially welcome to David Rhoades, principal at Urban Realty Co. Inc., who is heading a proposed 250,000-square-feet retail project on the same side of Market Street as Blick. "They’re a great operator," said Rhoades.
As to his project, called CityPlace, which we have written about before, Rhoades said there has been "tremendous support" from surrounding businesses and neighborhood groups. It also has the attention of Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is pushing hard to make that stretch of Market Street part of what he has called "San Francisco’s Champs-Élysées." The CityPlace development is "top of the list," said Newsom, during an interview with The Chronicle on Monday.
It does have a ways to go, however, including a going-over by the city’s Planning Commission, which has yet to schedule a substantive hearing on the project. And there’s one potential project-killer that recently reared its unlovely head: the so-called "shadow" ballot initiative introduced by Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. The proposed measure would stop all new developments that would cast various city parks and sites in some shadow, including Hallidie Plaza, whose sunlight would be partially blocked by the CityPlace project.
"This isn’t good," said Rhoades. "We’re hopeful further discussions to address the unintended consequences (of the initiative), and we hope there’ll be steps taken to correct them."
One indication of how strongly that hope stays alive may come at a scheduled Board of Supervisors committee hearing on the matter on Thursday.
Helping hands: If you’re a trifle peckish, in the Daly City area and looking to do your bit for Haiti relief, you might to stop by Moonstar Buffet today.
All proceeds from lunch and dinner (seafood the specialty; $20 minimum) are going to Catholic Relief Services and its efforts in the quake-ravaged country. "I’m asking all my friends to join me," said owner Daisy Li, in what she calls "$20 for Haiti: Get Fed, Save Lives." CRS and the Archdiocese of San Francisco are co-hosting the event at the 500-seat restaurant, and a number of local officials from Daly City, Colma and San Francisco will be on hand.
Lunch, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner, 5-9 p.m. 383 Gellert Blvd., Daly City.
And AT&T Inc. is waiving cell phone charges for relief workers in Haiti using the company’s services. The waiver is retroactive to Jan. 12, when the earthquake hit, and will be in effect until Feb. 28.
Meanwhile, AT&T customers have so far contributed more than $12.3 million via $10 text donations, according to the company. That’s on top of $160,000 in employee donations and $150,000 in company grants to Télécoms Sans Frontières in Haiti.
