What's Going on with Cine Latino?
People were tearing down the marquee of the much-neglected Cine Latino this weekend and now all that remains is a steal frame and some rotted wood. Were they just doing some routine destructive maintenance to get rid of an imminent hazard, or is this the beginning some new development in the space?
We have to ask because just two months or so ago we were hearing multiple rumors that a brewery partnering with Gordon Biersch were looking at opening a brewery at Cine Latino in conjunction with the forthcoming Alamo Drafthouse across the street. All parties denied the rumors, so we let it go. But now someone is suddenly doing work on the place? Even if that specific rumor was wrong, it seems as though something is up.
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Have you seen inside there? It's gigantic.
Were the appropriate Concerned Neighbors consulted with adequate time for the ritual freakout about proposed changes? If not, I am outraged on their behalf!
Looking inside is a bit sad. The steel frame appears to be a seismic retrofit and there's absolutely nothing left of the original interior. It's just the seriously neglected skin of an old building hung on a generic steel frame. It really might as well be a new construction
Yeah, unfortunately the building was absolutely gutted several years ago. A real shame.
Not to change the subject but does anybody know what's going on inside the vacant corner building that was hit by a car (truck?) on the south east corner of 18th and Mission? I"ve seen lights on inside and workers clearing out the place.
I heard it was sold about 4 months ago. Maybe someone knows how to check the public records and could see if true.
The planning department heard a proposal in Nov 2001 to convert the Cine Latino (formerly the Wigwam Theater) into a health club and rock climbing gym. There were building permits issued in 2009 to the "owner" for a proposed "health studios and gym". According to the planning department the owner is Robert Cort of 3rd Ave here in SF. All this according to the Internets. Not bad, but I like the rumors better. Whatever happens there they must bring back the "Wigwam" name.
From what I understand, that proposal went out the window years ago. From a 2002 Chronicle story:
Obviously that never happened.
Anyway, here's an interesting article about the building's owner: http://www.sfweekly.com/1999-04-21/calendar/disaster-corts-the-mission/
I love that the first graf of the Weekly article - written in 1999 - reports: "White-tablecloth restaurants and bars oriented toward the backward-baseball-cap crowd have proliferated, drawing upper-middle-class partiers to a neighborhood they once avoided." Plus ca change . . .
And since gentrification is all we can ever talk about, note in the piece you quote: "Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition members said . . . that health clubs aren't a neighborhood business." This seems to be the complaint now about the Flour + Waters and Commonwealths of the Mission, but I really do wonder what is a "neighborhood business." It seems that if nice restaurants are excluded, the Mission replaces all empty space with (1) Cellphone storefronts, (2) Chase outposts, (3) nail salons, and (4) businesses that transmit money to Mexico and Central America. Are these "neighborhood businesses"? I would never enter a rock climbing gym, but it would seem a lot more appealing to me than another one of the four categories that fill every available square foot in the neighborhood.
we value your post. Thank you for the great participation in these forums.,jeez that sounds cheesy but it's true. cheers
Who knew that Mexicans liked boarded up, dilapidated theaters more than health clubs?
Rob is right about the permit, though -- the newest building permit was issued several years ago.
I wonder if this latest renovation is legal? It certainly doesn't sound like it.
Wow. That's some serious scumbaggage right there.
From the (also Cort-owned) US Bank bldg. just south of it, you can see clear into the building now that its roof, too, has been removed. It was completely gutted; over the last year they've added a new 2nd level; now they've got scaffolding up to work on the exterior walls.
We talked to some of the contractors a few months back; they said this was a multi-year project to convert the building for "retail", but didn't get more specific than that.
"retail" = cell phones, check-cashing, and nail salons in this case.
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