SocketSite followed up on its original report, and found that the building owners are indeed pretty far along into the process of replacing Elbo Room with this big ‘ol condo complex:
A detailed set of architectural plans has been drafted for the project and the building’s owners have authorized the architects to act as their agents in submitting applications for environmental reviews, a historic resource evaluation, variances and Conditional Use. That’s every step required to get the project formally approved.
In fact, a month after the Planning Department provided their feedback on the preliminary plans, the application fee for which was nearly $5,000 alone, a follow-up meeting was scheduled between the Planning Department and architects to discuss next steps and plans for submitting the Environmental Evaluation and Historic Resource report for the project to move forward.
Starting since Mission Bay and ATT condos, the shit design of these projects is just insult to injury.
Yup. Very true.
But some guy at Home Depot spent 15 minutes with Google Sketchup to create this design, how dare you insult it!
jesus, it’s as fucking ugly as the other ones going up. Gross.
Bad design is just part of the “process” here. All resources are used to gain approval
Saturday Night SocketSite? fuuuuuuuck.
this place got me through my last breakup. doesn’t anybody care?
seriously fuck this fucking shit. fuck all these condo buying shitheads. fuck your architects.
Hear, hear, sir, hear, hear.
Sooo, after all the Google bus protests, people were saying the root cause of the problem is that San Francisco has a lack of housing.
Now plans for more housing in an impacted neighborhood surface and people hate it!
Huh?
The complaints that I’m reading above you are that they look like shit, not that they add housing.
Because it’s not an attempt to help the housing crisis at all. It’s a cash grab to build 9 multi-million dollar units and purposefully skirting the requirement for low-income housing.
yup. that’s how it works. and buyers pay more to not have those pesky affordable units on the premises.
Every little bit helps. 9 units is 1 or more buildings worth of tenants not ellised. Although it would be sad to loose the Elbo Room. I guess this is a case of not having your cake and eating it too.
Nope, they’ll get Ellised anyway because more luxury (“market rate”) condos makes the neighborhood more desireable to the right kind of people.
Wrong.
There isn’t a housing shortage.
There’s a lack of affordable housing.
Building expensive condos doesn’t alleviate the problem, because it raises the average and median price in a neighborhood, putting even more pressure on low-income tenants.
You are a troll.
THANK YOU. motherfucker is acting brand new as shit.
BTW, hating on the big G word and buses is so 2013.
2014 we all date our way into the tech world.
Formally of Cisco and Facebook, now happily at Apple, long time contributer to the tech renaissance seeks sympathetic punk rock girl for dates on Saturday night. If you look like Minnie Pearl, baby, its me and you punk rock girl.
PS Used to see Mojo Nixon all the time way back when and I know who Debbie Gibson is.
PPS If you break my mood ring we’ll know its destiny
Isn’t just about all the housing stock in San Francisco the result of someone’s money grab?
“Now plans for more housing in an impacted neighborhood surface and people hate it!”
9 housing units isn’t a meaningful difference.
And yet, if it were bigger, everyone would complain it’s too big, or too tall, or too whatever, and – of course – how it doesn’t fit with “the character of the neighborhood.”
Let’s quickly build a few thousand two-flat Victorians. Where? I don’t know, I’m a big-picture guy, YOU take care of it!
Annex Colma.
It really does look exactly like the one about 100 feet away (where Good Vibrations is— or was? I haven’t been in SF in years although I lived on Sycamore Alley from 2001-06). Which, in turn, looks almost exactly like the one on 17th Str not far way. Which is to say… fuck off and die, tawdry developers.
$5000 for the application fee? the property owners are more serious about this than the elbo room acknowledges/realizes. how much time do they have left on their lease? better start planning ahead…
When I moved up here, I took a good look at the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle. It’s a little further down the path that the Valencia corridor is walking, so here’s your preview of what you can look forward to:
http://seattle.findwell.com/seattle-neighborhoods/belltown/
IT won’t get built. The bubble is going to pop any day now. And unfortunately
probably put us into a real depression. The casino economy was wanked up by Obama and the clinton bush same olds. Hot money chasing speculative shit.
BTW jerks, this housing does NOT relieve the pressure. AT least half of it is not being bought by mr and mrs rich couple. But by outside cash, equity, hedge funds…. go to nakedcapitalism for rationale and serious economic facts.
pathetic (non) design
U.G.L.Y. you ain’t got no alibi you ugly, you, you, you ugly!
Damn that’s atrocious, looks like an upscale prison.
+1
The problem isn’t the architect. Blame the city – they’re the ones that approve that garbage design 2349082340987 times. Between the crowd-sourced approval process, and the cost to develop anything in the city, that’s what you end up with. The ugly-as-fuck-but-will-get-approved design.
We should accept that the change is happening, make approvals easier and then demand better design
Also why anyone young hangs on to the idea that Valencia is still the place to be makes me wonder. I like the changes there because I can take my daughter down to Mission Playground on her tricycle. My suburban parents go to restaurants on Valencia now.
Change in and of itself is not an unadulterated good. Enjoy whatever shit restaurant they put on the ground floor. Or bank. Or cell phone store.
That playground should have been condos, amiright?
And do you think any input in design is going to get anywhere. Ugh, girlfriend, please.
You seem very unhappy with the changes.
It is cliche but things in SF always change. I have seen Valencia St since the 1980′s. I think demanding better design is sensible. The Elbo room really does not need to be there.
I think you really do not need to be here. Have you ever considered a move to Walnut Creek or Palo Alto?
Who are you to decide where I should be?
Who are you to tell anyone that the club they frequent doesn’t need to be there? Speak for your own old ass, fine, but why do you get to arbitrate the services for everyone else?
Two beers
My view is the club has a property owner and the zoning allows the change. Nothing more or less than that. I don’t mind if the Elbo Room persists or changes again to a new venue
You seem unhappy with people who don’t agree that tearing down the Elbo room is a fabulous idea. Let’s “love” the Mission to death with all these highrises.
Which are maybe 50 years late, but are part of the master plan for the Mission anyway. I’m not paranoid – you should look at what “urban developers” had / have in store for us. Just like the Fillmore – tear down all the old houses and commercial spaces and replace them with highrises. We see how well that worked out. And of course, all this shit will be approved if we let developers steamroller over us.
I think the Elbo Room *does* need to be there. You don’t have any suggestions about how to keep some shred of music and performance venues open. Frankly I think you are a troll.
And as far as cred, I’ve been here since the 70s so suck it. I won’t bother to tell you what schools I attended; you wouldn’t know them.
Unfortunately, the banker/developer/realtor/landlord gang run this town, and they’re not going to pass up an opportunity to capitalize on this housing bubble/building boom.
So what if they turn Valencia into a shitshow? That’s how they make money!
My comment about knowing the location since the 1980s was just offering perspective not trying to establish cred. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. My grandfather lived around the corner. The lesbian bar that preceded the Elbo room might be seen as the first wave of gentrification in my family’s view so the comments from some lamenting to loss of the Elbo Room from the next generation of gentrifiers amuses me.
In all honestly my post was referring to urban design first and foremost and why it is bland in SF so often.
I don’t know how to take your comment about schools.
i thought rent controlled, middle aged losers ran this town. lol.
“why anyone young”? You don’t even know that it’s mostly older people that are being pushed out? You are so clueless about your own neighborhood, you think it is ‘young people’ that are pissed off? You are gentrification incarnate. I’ve seen literarily fifty people on my block alone FORCED to move out of the city. 24th and folsom. In the past ten years. You are HAPPY cuz now you can take your kids to a park. Why couldn’t you before? Nasty drug dealers around? Homeless? Both groups of stupid generalizations would never TOUCH your kids idiot. Stinky people? Working class…down and out… that is what you really mean you fucking prick. We will not accept ‘change’ as in cleansing. We will not accept change as in a speculative bubble destroying what little community we have. We will not accept change as in having to move, often lose jobs, then having to commute by car twice as long, having to pull our kids outta of schools they’ve made bonds in. You and your money stinks. Anyone that buys a house in the mission now, or a condo, is from the top 5% . A class enemy. You bought in, now WE will finally react.
My only correction would be that anyone who buys in the Mission right now is in the top .1%.
That seems exaggerated. Is a 200k family income top .1%? This is a factual statement we can check
$200,000 is approx 99th percentile. http://www.theglitteringeye.com/images/us-income-distribution.gif
How many people making 200 large do you think are buying in the Mission now?
If you’re buying in the Mission right now, you’re approx in the top .1%.
My comment was referring to Elbo Room and those lamenting the loss who may not realize they themselves are like 2nd generation gentrifiers.
The rest of your post is just ranting against strawmen. I empathize with locals being evicted for one thing and secondly I live in a 900 sq foot rent controlled apartment with my wife and daughter. When my second comes we will have to leave.
Referring to them as architects is like calling a Yugo a sports car.
The construction designs are ugly, and sadly, typical of this era’s construction. Are they trying to create a suburban feel? (barf). For all the people out there that are excited for this type of change, you should ask yourself why you moved to the city in the first place. Probably because of the originality, and awesome eclectic crowd. I fight this change because I don’t want to live in Palo Alto. If you are supporting it, don’t live here. You are ruining a truly original city.
I’m so sad about the Elbo Room…the people that don’t care don’t go there (and for that we are thankful) but it is a shame we civilized folks could be losing a great establishment.
Some high quality Fox News joirnism here MM. Bring on the hate.
Consider it brought.
The owners are proceeding with their plan to raze the Room and put up a condominium in its place. There is a pre-application meeting scheduled to review their plans on November 6th from 6-8 in the community room of the Mission Police Station across from the Room. This is a chance to make your voice heard, whatever your opinion of the project.