Having quietly changed hands late last year, the Hotel Mirabelle at 1906 Mission, near the intersection of Mission and 15th Street, is undergoing a much needed overhaul, with a number of rooms having already been taken down to the studs and modernized.
Officially purchased by the 1906 Mission LLC, the members of the corporation are the owners of a local tour and travel company.
While a bathroom is being added to the manger’s unit, the hotel’s guest rooms will continue to share (newly remodeled) shower rooms and the hotel will continue to serve both tourists and long-term tenants.
Expect the dilapidated ground floor retail space along Mission to soon be reborn. And as plugged-in people know, there are plans to develop the garage next door.
FINALLY
The 15th street – 16th street area from Folsom to Valencia has been in need of love and attention – it’s coming up but wow has it taken time – 16th/BART will be the big deal. Cant wait for everyone to yell and scream why we cant build there…”But where will the crazy people go…”?
errr…A mental hospital…where they are card for…!?
Now I think I’ll sit back and watch the abusive comments come rolling in….
What “tourist ” would stay here? Someone on a drug binge holiday?
What tourist would stay here? Europeans most likely. Ones unfamiliar with the neighborhood. Shared bathrooms and showers are more common over there so that part won’t turn off the lower end European tourist (mainly the young) and, as the article suggests, since the owners also have a tour company they can sell the rooms through it.
FYI some people love Mirabelle, even before it gets its much needed overhaul. It gets 3.5 star on Tripadvisor.
Ack. I stayed there for a few months when I moved here. It’s one of a number of SRO hotels that have been converted to “boutique” SROs. It’s about as nice as an SRO with tiny rooms and shared baths can be. It was clean, and the staff was friendly, but it’s a Victorian flop house that is pretty much unchanged from the 1890s. all but two rooms on each floor are barely big enough for a bed and a suitcase.
They all seem to operate similarly; an enterprising person buys an SRO, and renovates the rooms as older protected tenants move out, usually there are at least a few 30+ year residents. They then rent the rooms by the week. Generally, they either kick you out after 28 days, or dramatically increase the rate on the fourth week, in order to avoid anyone gaining protected tenant status (I assumed).
It wasn’t bad at all, but the people who stay there are more likely to be close to falling off the margins of society; escaping abusive relationships, barely sustaining and unable to come up with a security deposit, unemployed and living week-to-week… But there were a fair amount of hip young people looking for a relatively cheap place too.
It’s an interesting dynamic, as it’s closer to the original purpose of SROs (for profit, budget, transient places) than the permanent squalid residences or nonprofit-run places for the homeless and mentally ill that most SROs have become.
What’s with all you prudes? hugh and BTinSF nailed it. If I was in my twenties/early 30’s, visiting SF for the first time, I’d stay there! Probably be a very interesting place to stay and meet cool travelers and colorful locals.
I’m with Hugh
This is what SROs are suppose to be for.
Too bad about rent control laws. This should be a place for people to be able to live long term.
Although not in San Francisco, some of my favorite places to stay in the US involve shared bathrooms. These are places I return to time and again on long summer motorcycle tours.
New Sheridan Hotel, Telluride, Colorado. Okay most of the 26 rooms have bathrooms, but there are a couple without that rent out for a fraction of the others and just happen to be across the hall from the Spa – which you are comped to if you rent a room without a bathroom.
Roosevelt Lodge (Northeast corner of Yellowstone); the most remote of the Yellowstone Lodges with a limited number of cabins all without bathrooms, but a great log cabin common hall and dining room. Here is where you are most likely to see a grizzly bear or a wolf before breakfast.
Old Faithful “Old House”; the Old House is the oldest part of the Old Faithful Lodge. True log walls and shared bathrooms. If you know which ones to ask for you can watch Old Faithful blow its top while laying in your bed.