By Thomas K. Pendergast

There is one five-story and a couple of four story buildings on West Portal Avenue, while the rest top out at two or three floors. So, when a 10-story building was proposed to replace the old Empire Movie Theater near Vicente Street, it received pushback from many local merchants and neighbors.

Nine months later, developers have responded to these complaints by doubling down, increasing the floors to 13 and the residential units offered from 64 up to 172.

And for parking, while originally 27 spaces were imagined, the new proposal now offers 89 underground residential parking spaces. The residential units will be a mix of 21 studios, 52 one-bedrooms, 72 two-bedrooms and 27 three-bedroom apartments. On the ground floor will be 6,965 square-feet of retail space.

The cinema closed in February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A couple of months later, in May 2021, the Regal 12 Stonestown Galleria Theatre multiplex opened, establishing itself as the neighborhood’s primary movie theater.

The project is being constructed by San-Francisco-based DM Development and designed by Handel Architects.

The developers are taking advantage of two California state laws that allow the structure to be taller and denser than the current zoning allows. One of the laws, SB-330, doubles the allowable density on the site, while the other, AB-2011, offers a streamlined 90-day, over-the-counter approval.

Jana Klein says she has lived in the neighborhood for 24 years and goes on West Portal Avenue nearly every day.

“I haven’t been able to find a single neighbor of mine who is for it. Neighbors are for smart housing, housing that would fit into the aesthetic of the village that we live in,” Klein said. “The neighbors are very, very concerned that this type of project is going to put our beloved merchants out of business. And that’s what we care about. This is a community.

“Maybe there’s somebody in the Outer Sunset that thinks ‘oh this is going to be great for the merchants.’ Yeah, the ones who will survive.”

But Klein does not have to go all the way to the Outer Sunset to find supporters of the project. Some of them, like Ryan White, are a bit closer.

“I live in the ‘Middle’ Sunset,” White said. “I think the residents need to allow construction to happen, especially along major transit corridors, so we can add housing units to meet demand and slowly stabilize our of control rising rent prices.

“We can either be the New York of the West Coast, or fail as a City, because tech and other industries will leave if we do nothing,” he said. “If someone wanted to build a 10-story building on my block, I’d have no problem with it. More housing benefits everyone.”

Diana Zogaric owns Shaws Candy near the property.

“We’ve kind of accepted the situation, and at this point, our main concern is that we’re in the dark. We have no seat at the table.”

DM Development has not yet released any notice regarding the construction timeline for this project.

“We don’t know how long the construction is going to take, when it’s going to start,” Zogaric said. “So, that’s the big concern for us. We need a plan.”

Zogaric said she thinks that the building will likely bring new customers in the door, eventually, if she is still in business by then.

She said merchants are expecting about a 20% drop in business during the construction time, and they do not know how long that is going to be.

“We’re ordering our spring products for Easter. Do I order the same amount as last year? Do I expect a 20% decline in revenue, in foot traffic at that point? We’re not really sure,” Zogaric said. “So, if we’re going to have to pivot to something like online sales or deliveries, we would like to know the timeline.

“This area is already pretty congested, but we expect that people are going to avoid it if they can during construction. We are happy to welcome new folks into the neighborhood.We’re definitely not anti-housing as some people have accused us of being,” she said. “But we also don’t have very deep pockets. I think there’s this misconception that we’re all crazy wealthy but that’s not the case. We have very small (profit) margins, and we do not have deep pockets. So, yes, it is ‘if’ we can survive that construction.”

Klein is skeptical of the narrative that the completed building will bring in new customers, given that some projects don’t turn out as expected and result in a lot of empty units, like the Westerly on Sloat Boulevard, a luxury apartment building which took many years to construct and still has vacancies.

Klein referenced the 12-story “luxury” building at Oak, Franklin and Market streets, that sat completely empty for years after its completion as an example of what many fear.

The owner of that other property got tangled up in a federal corruption probe involving former Public Works head Mohammed Nuru, eventually resulting in total financial collapse and defaults.

Eventually new owners came in and pivoted to renting the units instead of selling them, saving the building from a fate no one could have predicted when that project was first proposed.

Klein wonders if enough units will be filed at the West Portal project to justify the construction.

“I don’t blame the merchants for being scared out of their wits. Not one single bit,” Klein said.