potrero view
Photograph by Lisa Tehrani

Photograph by Lisa Tehrani

Lingba Lounge closed its doors in the middle of December, much to the dismay of its local patrons.

February 2010

18th Street Commercial Corridor Rocked by Changes

By Anthony Myers

Three fifteen Connecticut Street, which has been owned since 1999 by Irving Zaretsky, a Pacific Heights resident, has been home to numerous cherished Potrero Hill businesses, including Eliza’s, Just for You, and The Good Life Grocery.  Just for You and The Good Life Grocery vacated the building years ago as a result of rent increases.  Both relocated nearby:  Just for You to 22nd and Third Streets, The Good Life Grocery to 20th Street between Connecticut and Missouri streets.  Eliza’s closed late last year in part due to increased operating costs associated with Healthy San Francisco, which requires business with twenty or more workers to pay for their employees’ health insurance.

Today, Chez Maman, Post & Parcel and the recently opened Pera, occupy the half-block-long building. The stores are located on the building’s 18th Street side; the property’s Connecticut Street side was most recently occupied by Delirious Shoes, which closed in 2009.

The building’s latest casualty, Lingba Lounge, closed in December. Former Lingba bartender Sarah Duncan found out that the restaurant – which had been operating for nearly a decade – was being shuttered just four days before the final martini was mixed. She thought that Lingba owner Cody Robertson might keep the bar open for a few more weeks.  “This place is probably going to stay vacant for a while,” Duncan said. “Irving wants $11,000 per month.”  According to Duncan, Zaretsky – who declined to be interviewed by the View – only wants tenants who have restaurant or bar experience.  “He doesn’t give a $%!# about this neighborhood,” Duncan said. “He seems to be ruining the block.”  Lingba’s rent increased three years ago, according to Duncan. With the rent set to rise again, Robertson decided to close shop.

Robertson was going to open a burrito store in the old Delirious storefront on Connecticut Street.  That concept has been picked up by Chez Maman’s Jocelyn Bulow.  “It will be called Papito,” Bulow said, “and will be a traditional taqueria with some other items. We’ll have eighteen to twenty seats, outdoor seating and beer and wine." Papito is slated to open this month.

Citywide, 15.4 percent of commercial spaces were vacant in 2009, up one-third from 2008. Over the last decade rents had shot up across San Francisco because of a booming economy.  Now, during the Great Recession, rates are steadily drifting downward.  Last year, the average price for commercial space in San Francisco was $31.53 per square foot, a third less than 2008.  Despite lower prices, many commercial landlords maintain long-term empty spaces in the City, according to Lisa Pagan, a project manager in the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development.  “It’s very common,” Pagan said. Pagan noted that owners are free to use their vacant properties as they wished.  “Sometimes the landlord will use the space for their own storage,” she said.  Should the Lingba storefront remain vacant for long, Pagan suggested that Potrero Hill residents lobby Zaretsky to rent out the space.  According to one local merchant, who wished to remain anonymous, Zaretsky may be open to such appeals as long as it isn’t antagonistic.

Under the Neighborhood Marketplace Initiative the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development provides economic assistance to businesses located in commercial corridors in low-to-moderate income communities.  Ocean Avenue, Excelsior, Bayview, Visitacion Valley and Portola, among other neighborhoods, have access to the initiative. The program helps locate prospective companies to commercial corridors that are in need of revitalization, enlisting the help of nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which can provide market research and micro-loans to small businesses. 

        
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