By Adrian Spinelli
Looks like yet another favorite San Francisco gathering place could be blown to dust to make room for luxury condos. Also, the sky is blue. Welcome to your harsh new reality, San Francisco. But as we recently discovered, this process might not be as cut and dry as it seems …
Local real estate blog SocketSite first reported that plans to raze the building housing Lucky 13 have been submitted to the SF Planning Department. However, we reached out to the SF Planning Department to get some answers on what exactly this means and why all your friends are up in arms on social media over losing this bar.
Apparently, the building at 2140 Market is merely in the stages of a “preliminary project assessment.” This is when the building owners (Multi Ventures LLC, in this case) have a plan for the property and need to have a study done to assess it. According to Kurt Boten, a planner at the SF Planning Dept, this process “can take anywhere from three to six months.” And this is just the study performed before the permits are officially filed for the project. However, Boten goes on to say that “If you’re dropping $5,000 for this study, then you’re probably serious about building on it.”
If the plans go through, this development in particular hurts big time. To say Lucky 13 is a bar with character is a gross understatement. It’s a large and fabulously divey rock ’n’ roll bar with a rockin’ jukebox, nudie photo hunt (a dying art), top notch pinball tables (my jar of pinball quarters qualifies me to make this assessment), a comprehensive draft beer selection to go with cheap cans, and the best damn free popcorn machine in San Francisco. So punk rock.
But it should also be noted that 2140 Market St. is labeled a historical building, so any plans to develop the property and “alter the facade” have to go through the preservation society as well, further adding to the bureaucracy standing in the project’s way. In fact, back in 2004, a permit to add a six-story, 28-unit structure passed, but the permits were cancelled later in 2009. This marks the re-start of what appears to be a lengthy process for the now five-story, 55 foot tall, 31-unit “mixed use building.”
Last time I was in Lucky 13, there was a dude set up on one of the standing tables selling soul food at 11 p.m. on a Monday. I’m talking fried chicken wings, mac and cheese, peach cobbler — a deal at $10 for all-you-can-eat. This random awesomeness is a prime example of what makes Lucky 13 so great. Let’s hope the developers and bureaucrats get too tied up in the details of the 21-page document outlining the assessment and leave our precious congregation space where it stands.
Note: We reached out to Lucky 13 for comment on the possible condo development and a man calling himself “just the lowly bartender” said, “I have no idea idea what this is all about. “ Do what you will with that.
Update: Lucky 13’s Martin Kraenkel wrote on his Facebook page:
Hey everybody! Thank you very much regarding your concerns for the LUCKY 13! The possibility of the replacement of the bar with condos has been hanging over our heads since 2002. The building is actually a historical landmark and that makes it a little more difficult to demolish. At this point, plans are submitted and in the very, very early stages of any kind of decision or action. In the short term we are not going anywhere! Again, thank you so much for all your concerns and out pouring support. It means a lot to everybody at the Lucky 13. Keep your fingers crossed…
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Photo by Torbakhopper/Flickr
