— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
As we regrettably mentioned in May, the beautiful Flax Art & Design building has been slated for demolition in favor of nine stories of condos. Now, SocketSite unveils the plans for the long-standing art store at the corner of Valencia and Market.
In the process of being designed and refined by Solomon Cordwell Buenz, the preliminary design concept for the development calls for the project to finished in stucco with painted metal balcony guardrails, as rendered above, and with two internal courtyards.
When developers initially filed a Preliminary Project Assessment with the Planning Department, they noted the “project was designed to be respectful to neighboring buildings by providing setbacks.” And while the building may be “respectful,” it is still damn ugly.
Nevertheless, the proposed building will bring 160 residential units to the corner, along with a 4,500 square feet of commercial space and 123 parking spaces.
However, development is still years away. Flax still holds a lease for the existing space, Hoodline reports. That means demolition likely won’t begin until after December, 2015, when the art supplier’s lease expires.
[Photo: Patric Butler | Story: SocketSite, via Hoodline]
Comments (12)
This is sad. I remember driving to Flax (foolishly/struggling with a car to flax from the inner richomond) when I first moved here and felt like I was in such a different place. Such a little bright spot, leaning away from the sun in such a different way. Little did I know I would be walking and riding my bike by it all the time. I came back many times for professional service and advice.
And yes, I’m sure before Flax it was 3 or few other things before it became what is, now, this place before me now. Before me lays a psychosycape left to be decided …
Where shall we roam to argue and inadvertantly exploit now? Sunnyvale? Nevada? Colorado? Doubt it.
I should have been scared and turned away. Break your heart later in the misery of others.
The 160 + people who will live there, can care less about your manufactured emotional turmoil…
Wow, nice East Germany circa early 60s inspired building design there. Is everyone at the planning department set on turning our beloved City into a profit making turd?
If it means kicking out the eco-douches, skill-less artists out of the city and razing these horrible ironic-for-the-sake-of-irony buildings, I am all for it.
Godspeed to these approvals.
Bring in the Caterpillars !!
I’m super curious about what you mean by “ironic-for-the-sake-of-irony buildings.”
Eight floors of ugly that will last for decades. Archipuke. Five floor has been the limit for a long time.
In the back it’s actually 10 stories !
Well that sure is ugly.
This is an outrage. The last thing this city needs is more housing supply. More condos will just lead to lower rents and lower home prices. What we need is more art stores and more affordable art-store rents! When will our leaders learn???
Did you know that artists routinely donate over 40% of the proceeds to charitable and philanthropic causes?
It is actually coded into the artist’s DNA to be a better member of the society.
Artists are god’s chosen people.
Artists pay higher taxes too.
More so than any mid-level SF employee who can no longer raise his/her kids in the city.
Artists are just better that way.
Give them free rent and they will cure leukemia, kill MRSA for good and invent a drug for hip dysplasia in dogs.
Yes. Yes, they will.
More condos while needed won’t lead to lower rents and lower home prices. Sorry. That’s not the way inelastic demand works. In fact, Mayor Moustache’s policies are only satisfying the top of the market which then become attractive places to park foreign money. And since they’re not living there the amount of people who need housing could actually increase (it won’t appreciably, but it could - we aren’t Manhattan where this did happen) and therefore prices could actually rise.
But you were trying to be sarcastic weren’t you?
Flax was always corporate, snooty, horrible people IN it, snooty people went there. Sad to see an art store go but….that’s how it is today.