The operators of ‘The Market’ grocery and food emporium at the base of the Twitter building on Market Street are planning an expansion to Polk, with designs to renovate the former Big Apple Grocery site at the corner of Polk and Clay, designs which include a 7,000-square-foot grocery, nearly 5,500 square feet of restaurant space, and a lush deck and garden space on the roof.
In addition to the grocery, a café, pizza bar and Japanese tapas bar would occupy The Market’s ground floor; a sushi restaurant and production kitchen would be constructed in the basement of the building; and a restaurant, deck and landscaped seating area for grocery patrons would be built on the roof.
And if those plans aren’t sweet enough, the proposed project includes a Smitten Ice Cream stand as well.
The size of the project and roof deck will require Planning Commission approval, however, and The Market on Polk’s hearing has been scheduled for April 30.
UPDATE: From the Marketing Manager of The Market: “Smitten will no longer be a part of The Market on Polk.”
Sweet indeed
On their website it says The Market on Polk – Opening Summer 2015. Can they develop it so quickly if it is still to be approved?
The Big Apple Grocery was a neighborhood sore spot.
They list another location at 318 Main Street. Is this in the base of Lumina I’m guessing?
[Editor’s Note: No need to guess: Gourmet Grocery And Food Emporium Coming To Folsom And Main.]
This is a great interim use but in the long run I hope this location will be developed to its full potential. The lot is currently zoned for 65 ft, so a generous ground floor height for a medium sized grocer and five stories of housing above seems like the best ultimate use. However if the market dictates that The Market is viable so be it… better than staring at a vacant storefront.
No covered area?
They’re eliminating all street parking on Polk in favor of bicycle lanes… Good luck finding parking in an already difficult area in the worst parking city!
Try walking or ubering there like a sane person.
Or better yet, drive to a more reasonably priced grocery store if you have car.
I don’t think you can use “ubering” and “sane” in the same sentence. I use Uber a lot, but given its cost, for most people it is in no way a viable substitute for transit.
Hence the walking comment.
If you’re buying so much at one time that you need a car to carry it, it’s much more sane to Uber, where you only have to carry the groceries out the front door of the store rather than walking blocks for wherever your car might be parked. But obviously 95% of grocery store trips should be on foot.
ive never made a single grocery store run on foot. not even on my motorcycle. I buy about every 10 days. its so inefficient to go more frequently
If you go every ten days, then Uber is the obvious choice.
For me, this is how it stacks up:
1. 80% of my groceries are delivered (living in Tokyo now, but in SF it was delivered via Amazon Fresh). This includes all heavy/bulk items.
2. 15% of my groceries were picked up on the walk home from work, maybe once or twice a week. This is mostly fresh produce/fruits/meats. Some from grocery stores, some from specialty places.
3. 5% or so were picked up in once every couple months Uber trips. This is large batches that aren’t available to get online and too much of a pain to pick up on the way home.
#3 (actually making a special trip to the grocery store) is BY FAR the most inefficient, but still necessary every now and then. Most of you should be ordering far more than you do online.
my wife refuses to order groceries online. she wants to be at the grocery store individually selecting items. if i were single i would never go
That seems insanely inefficient.
I love how some people have decided they know what is best for how other people should purchase food. And if it differs from their own lifestyle it is “insane”. Of all the cities I have lived in, San Francisco takes the prize for having citizens who feel they posses complete knowledge and a perfect moral compass. The South Park smug episode was probably my favorite parody of what this city has become.
Hahaha! Well put. A true and observant comment. For a city of purported tolerance, there are a lot of people deciding what everyone else should do. Probably because there are highly intelligent (single) people who have achieved success, and they are sharing what they deem as the right (and only) path.
Anon: “I love how some people have decided they know what is best for how other people should purchase food.”
You mean like how you just declared that people should walk or use uber? LOL
No, that was a different “anon”. I haven’t figured out a name yet….
I was merely responding to moto’s notes about “efficiency”, as if driving a car to a store, piling huge amounts of stuff into that car, then carrying all of that stuff into your house was somehow the most efficient way (over and over again).
lol
I don’t care if people want to do that, but to call that “efficient” is a new level of insanity.
how is that not efficient? i find it much more efficient than the alternatives. I commute to the peninsula and pcik up groceries on my way home ~every 10 days. how would parking my car at home, and walking 15 mintues to a grocery store 4x/week be more efficient. for each his own, but considering ive been buying groceries for many years and tried several methods, for me, this is by far the “most Efficient”. stop trying to tell others their wrong about their own experiences.
Carrying it all out to your car only to carry it inside your house? Delivery is WAAAAY more efficient. My time is worth way to much to waste it on all of that carrying back and forth, and walking up and down aisles selecting things that I already know that I need. I get grocery stores for times when you’re not sure what you want, but staple items should all be delivered automatically without having to think about it or waste time with it.
Only they’re not. Plus, you can always park in the bike lane!
There should be enough demand just within walking distance to support a grocery store. Just look at Trader Joe’s, the parking lot always has spaces even when it’s mobbed. Of course I imagine the prices at this new place will be a bit higher than TJs.
Thank God, I assume this means that ridiculous, awful eyesore of a mural on the North side of the building is going away, can’t happen soon enough.
I love that mural! The dancing toast is my favorite.
LOL, different strokes for different folks, I guess… 🙂
For me I always feel like puking whenever I see it as I’m standing at that bus shelter waiting for the 1 California to show up.
Actually, look at that top rendering more closely. The mural’s still there. Don’t know if it’s an oversight, laziness, or intentional, but your little friend Dopey Tomato is clearly visible behind the bus stop.
Gorgeous garden.
Yeah, I used to run in to the Apple sometimes to grab milk or whatever, it would be nice if the gourmet store has some reasonably priced staples. But I’m glad the market is remaining a market, even if it is a pricier one.
No parking? Can you imagine the Whole Foods on California without parking?
Would this be one of the locations where the Polk Street bike lane would eliminate all street parking? Even if one were to use Uber…how would they be able to pick you up without blocking the bike lane, and getting their vehicle picture posted on Streetsblog as an outrage since they stopped in a sacred bike lane for one minute pick up.
A grocery store existed here for decades without parking.
Go to Trader Joe’s instead, they always have parking. Whole Foods suffers from too many yuppies in Mercedes crowding the lot.
this isn’t costco. these smaller stores are for popping into more frequently so you never have more than a couple bags of groceries. this is a dense part of the city with thousands of residents within walking distance
Bi Rite has no parking, this is meant to be a neighborhood store.
I think this is an improvement over what is there but also a lost opportunity. The roof deck design looks very messy to me and not interesting or inviting. The market on Market is nice but visually I think there is lots of room for improvement. Comparing this to Eataly in NYC might be unfair but that place has a much better feel and energy.
The Eataly markets in Chicago and New York are HUGE, the one Chicago would dwarf the surrounding Polk Street neighborhood as it is at least the size of a large department store. You are right about the energy and feel of the place though, as Eataly somehow has been able to connect the atmosphere of a vibrant restaurant with a sort of indoor farmers market. There is nothing quite like it in San Francisco.
This is going to be awesome!!
I think if nothing else if will be good to have more choices. The Big Apple is an eyesore and while I would prefer if rainbow grocery went in there with bulk items and a MEAT dept I think it will help the sketchy flavor of that block. I do think their store is overpriced but perhaps with another location they will be more competitive.