While a reincarnation of the restaurant Maroc has recently been reported as ‘coming soon’ to the vacant Cafe La Taza space on its second floor, plans to level the Bite Me Sandwiches and former Bar Vero building at 4230 18th Street have been drawn.

And as proposed, a modern four-story hotel designed by Cass Calder Smith Architecture will rise up to 40 feet in height upon the Castro District parcel between Diamond and Collingwood Streets.

In addition to 12 hotel rooms across the new building’s top three floors, the ground floor of the proposed development includes a new 1,800 square foot restaurant space and a decent sized roof deck, but no formal hotel lobby.

We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in as the plans progress.

38 thoughts on “Plans for a Boutique Hotel in the Heart of the Castro”
    1. They need to make windows smaller and put in Bay Windows. The hotel reeks of class warfare due to the large windows – Planning subjectivity in 3.. 2… 1

      1. Need! Need! The Knights of Need. I don’t mind a random, modern interjection here and there. It’s true, though – this building has nothing to do with San Francisco.

          1. That’s not true. Since you referenced this historical architectural movement I would have expected you to have known this.

  1. Long overdue for this neighborhood. Much needed, and it does not replace any residential units. Great location for visitors.

      1. True, but I could see 30 rooms (and 6-7 floors) suiting it just fine. We need more decentralized hotel rooms in place of illegal airbnbs.

          1. 18th Street is a major commercial street and the area is well-served by public transit. I think 6-7 floors would be fine.

            Nice design, let’s hope Planning doesn’t wreck it in the name of “neighborhood character”.

          1. see ronjohn’s comment below for context: people visiting friends/family often stay in airbnbs because there are so few hotel options in most neighborhoods. Most of us don’t live near union square / the wharf, and have guests who would rather stay a few blocks away than in the tourist zone.

          2. I’m literally staying in an Airbnb right now only because all the hotels in this city (not SF) are downtown and downtown is boring if you’re not here on business.

          3. Oh I am sure there are some people who are looking for particular locations; but pricey boutique hotels will not dent airbnb’s business even if they are decentralized. They are different products with different clientele.

  2. Very cool. Finally a place for friends & family to stay around here. Love the design. Also, love that it’s just 12 rooms. Fits in perfectly.

  3. Please expedite and build! Too bad they can’t assemble the curry boys spot to do something a little larger (but not taller). The neighborhood would really benefit from some lodging.

    1. Larger and taller would be great. The Castro has been among the City’s wealthier hoods for a while now. It’s a case study in how low height limits ossify neighborhoods into rich enclaves and concentrate density unfairly into places like the Mission and the Tenderloin instead. The best time to upzone the Castro was 20 years ago but the second best time is now. Same goes for where I live, the sliver of the Mission west of Valencia.

      Hotels won’t help with affordability the way apartments would, but yes to upzoning.

  4. Nice modern urban expression for a small hotel, however I think they will have push-back from some neighbors and perhaps the Planning Department for not being “contextual” enough.

    Watch Planning mess it up.

  5. I would love to see this happen. The fact, though, that I’ve so rarely (ever?) seen the development of a hotel at this scale from the ground up makes me think that the economics are pretty sketchy. But agreed agreed agreed that there is a huge market for hotel rooms in neighborhoods like the Castro. The fact that Becks does so well (and has been substantially upgraded in recent years) is testament to the need.

  6. can we try to keep some consistency in the architecture… its messy and the neighborhood is becoming ugly

        1. technically “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) but since this is the Castro, maybe we should quote Oscar Wilde: “Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

          1. Well, I left out foolish, because it seemed obvious to me that the previous statement by crop was.

  7. Cool. But that sidewalk in the rendering looks like Syria. Seriously. More patches than mission district hobo hipster. And how is that Curry Boyz awning even legal?

  8. Note that the name of the proposed restaurant at the location is not “Morac” but Maroc — as in the French name for Morocco.

    1. Yes, I had to zoom on the rendering. You have a very sharp eye. Long live The Doctor. Looking forward to seeing the female iteration of this classic show.

  9. It’s going to be one horrendously noisy long time in the building. My sympathies to everyone living or trying to restaurant nearby. In the end, it will take some getting used to but it is a step in the right direction unlike the empty, closed businesses in the Castro that are owned by someone who has never made any good use of them for more than twenty years.

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