SF to Consider Opening Retail Corridor to Large Chain Stores

San Francisco could allow chain stores like Target to fill vacant storefronts near City Hall, a sign the city may become more business friendly.

Supervisors Stephen Sherrill and Danny Sauter, among the city’s new moderate leaders, proposed a law to allow “formula retail” on a mile stretch of Van Ness Avenue, between Redwood Street and Broadway, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The city defines formula retail as a chain with 11 or more stores, anathema to supporters of local mom-and-pop businesses.

The proposed legislation would allow chain stores opening along Van Ness Avenue from Civic Center to Pacific Heights to skirt a planning process of between 12 and 18 months, requiring approval at the Planning Commission.

The approval can then be appealed to the Board of Supervisors — a process so arduous that many businesses just don’t bother, according to Sherrill.

“Van Ness is a highly trafficked city arterial that has been hampered by an outdated planning code,” Sherrill told the Chronicle. “By reducing barriers to filling these empty storefronts, we can activate these vacancies, support property owners and breathe new life into a corridor that has struggled to recover.”

Sherrill also requested a hearing on large commercial vacancies Downtown and along major transit routes. Such a hearing would “analyze barriers to occupying vacant commercial spaces and identify legislative solutions to streamline permitting processes that will incentivize reuse,” according to a news release.

San Francisco lawmakers have for decades worked to preserve the city’s unique character and support mom-and-pop businesses by making it harder for large retail chains to set up shop.

It’s not clear whether newly elected Mayor Daniel Lurie and a more moderate Board of Supervisors will allow a Target to help fill empty storefronts. But the proposal from Sauter and Sherrill shows the new board is looking to be more business-friendly, even if it’s big business.

The proposed ordinance comes weeks after Walgreens announced it would shutter a dozen San Francisco stores, including two on Van Ness. And it comes a week after Bloomingdale’s said it would close its store at the San Francisco Centre mall, joining Macy’s and Nordstrom in the parade of retailers rolling out of Downtown San Francisco.

Major vacancies along Van Ness include another former Walgreens at 790 Van Ness, empty for five years; a former Staples at 1700 Van Ness; and a former movie theater and gym at 1000 Van Ness.

The strip, once part of Highway 101, was for decades lined with car dealers, which left behind large footprints hard to fill in today’s retail landscape.

Chris Foley, a locally based developer, said the move would make Van Ness a better draw for retailers.

“You just have to make things easier,” he told the Chronicle. “Van Ness should be the Champs-Élysées.

“Instead, it’s dead.”

— Dana Bartholomew