Urban Game Changer: Having attracted Twitter, upscale retail, and a food emporium as key tenants, a renovated Art Deco building is kick-starting the transformation of a once-seedy part of San Francisco.
With a prime location near San Francisco's Civic Center and downtown shopping corridor, one of the city's few subway stops, and wide brick sidewalks fit for throngs of pedestrians, Mid-Market has had all the makings of a sought-after neighborhood. Though it was a thriving theater district in the early 20th century, this mile-long stretch of Market Street never recovered from a spiral of disinvestment and blight that began in the postwar years, even as the tech booms of the late 1990s and beyond sent real-estate values soaring nearly everywhere else. With a storefront vacancy rate around 30 percent in 2011, the neighborhood was caught in a catch-22 that plagues both redevelopment efforts and dull parties: no people means no action, and no action means no people.
You have 0 complimentary articles remaining.
Unlimited access + premium benefits for as low as $1.99/month.