Let them ride bikes---and shop somewhere else

SocketSite on this building planned for Market Street between Franklin and Van Ness: 109 condos, only 28 parking spaces, and three retail spaces on the ground floor:

The proposed development is composed of two distinct structures designed by Handel Architects and connected by a skybridge: one fronting Market Street with the project’s two main retail spaces, and the second fronting Oak Street with the building’s lobby, garage entrance and the third little retail space, likely a café.

What kind of cafe or retail businesses could survive in a high-end condo building? Maybe a Starbucks or other chains.

The comments are interesting, like these on the retail space issue:

Posted by Sierrajeff

A friend of mine recently moved to the northern end of Mission Bay/Mission Rock…there was actually a fair amount of sidewalk traffic (and this wasn’t even a game day), but I was startled to see that virtually every retail space was empty. And adding more buildings won’t necessarily help, because most of them will have ground-floor retail spaces too. I hope the city knows what it’s doing…

Posted by Dave

I’ve noticed this too. And Mission Bay is up and coming. A lot of mid-Market retail fronts are vacant. Despite Twitter, despite the condos that have been built in the area. Don’t see how more retail is all that viable here. Maybe some of the space will be taken by professional offices.

Posted by JWS

I continue to have hope that as these buildings actually fill up with residents, that the neighborhoods will grow. My one concern with the Mission Bay footprints vs Mid-Market is that they are the same that we see on King by the ballpark…extremely large and wide. Harder to get niche restaurants and cafes to pay those big rents, while the smaller Mid-Market lots being developed necessitate smaller retail.

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