SF Supervisors Call for Better Plan to Boost Union Square

First, Macy’s announced it would close its flagship store in San Francisco’s Union Square. Then this week, Shreve & Co., whose roots go back to 1852, said it would pack its jewels and leave.

After Union Square posted record-high retail vacancy in the first quarter, city supervisors asked officials to develop a better plan for investing city funds to revitalize the historic shopping district, the San Francisco Examiner reported.

In the first three months of the year, retail vacancies in San Francisco hit a record 7.9 percent — with 20.6 percent storefront vacancies in Union Square, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

The one-in-five empty storefronts came after San Francisco poured more than $1.5 million since 2022 to bring life to Union Square by recruiting businesses, improving streets, adding cops and hosting events such as a tulip celebration that drew 30,000 people one day in March.

Four supervisors joined a Land Use and Transportation Committee hearing where officials from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development and other agencies outlined their initiatives.

But in light of looming budget cuts, the city leaders called for a more “cohesive plan.”

“It seems like our business plan for this area just is not working now,” said Supervisor Myrna Melgar, the committee’s chairperson, who suggested more temporary pop-up stores, food trucks and other low-cost ways to activate street life.

“And so I’m interested again in the plan, what’s the plan?” Melgar said. “What’s the timeline? How do we make that happen?”

Supervisor Ahsha Safai, the hearing’s sponsor and a 2024 mayoral candidate, asked city officials to return later with a “larger vision” for Union Square.

Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, another mayoral candidate who represents Union Square and has supported spending for its benefit, said he understood his colleagues’ “frustration” in light of longstanding retail trends and city expenditures, including “a disproportionate investment in public safety and law enforcement” on the square.

It is a “collective imperative,” Peskin said, “to move away from the ‘throw-the-spaghetti-on-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks’ to a plan that is rational.”

Supervisor Dean Preston said he was “still unsure what the longer term plan is” if stores like Macy’s are not Downtown.

Sarah Dennis Phillips, executive director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, insisted many actions taken by her office and other city agencies add up to a bigger impact.

“The plan, No. 1, is to create a really great environment,” Phillips told the supervisors. “The city is in charge of the public realm. How do we make our streets great? How do we make sure the spaces are safe? And how do we make them places that people want to be?”

Phillips pointed to challenges, saying a third of the city’s hotel rooms are in the Union Square area while tourism, which plunged during the pandemic, hasn’t fully recovered.

In February, Macy’s announced plans to shutter its 400,000-square-foot flagship department store at 170 O’Farrell Street, bringing to an end a 71-year run in the heart of the city. Peskin said the store that opened in 1947 will remain open until the New York-based retailer finds a buyer for the property.

Macy’s announced exit came after Nordstrom closed two stores in San Francisco, including its 312,000-square-foot department store in the San Francisco Centre at 865 Market Street, ending a 35-year presence in Downtown.

This week, Shreve & Co., a jeweler founded in San Francisco 172 years ago, announced it would close its 15,000-square-foot store at 150 Post Street, after a liquidation sale this month, the Examiner reported. A store in Palo Alto will be dubbed its “flagship.”

— Dana Bartholomew