Plans to Convert Storied North Beach Restaurant into Apartments
October 21, 2016
Having transitioned from the King of Thai Noodle House to Tamarind Hall last year, plans to convert the second and third floors of the North Beach restaurant at 1268 Grant Avenue into four apartments with a garden roof deck are in the works.
But in order to proceed, a variance from Planning Code Section 134, which requires a rear yard for buildings with residences on the second floor and above will have to be granted by the city as the existing building covers the entire lot.
While the corner structure was constructed as a two-story building around 1906, the adjacent 1234 Grant Avenue portion of the restaurant space, which was once La Pantera Café, was expanded from a single-story and merged for Lorenzo Petroni’s storied Basta Pasta back in 1988.
As proposed, the ground floor of the two buildings would remain a single restaurant with bar.
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New apartments in Aaron Peskin’s district? Unlikely.
Gotta keep those evil developers from ruining everything, right?
You beat me to it. At a minimum he will require a shakedown. Oppps did I say that??
Is it really a “storied” restaurant if it’s only been open a year? Oh, I see, It was storied 28 years – and at least two transitions – ago. Maybe: “Plans to Convert Former Site of Long Gone Storied Restaurant…” would be more apt, if less attention geting.
Perhaps it’s ‘storied’ because the restaurant inhabits more than the ground floor.
where’s the 3rd story/
They’re set back behind the “orientalized” storefront with the large window (to the right of the corner bldg); if you type in “1268 Grant St – or better yet, “Ave” – in any of the various map sites you can see it in the aerial view(s).
you’re right, there is a set-back upper floor on the yellow building, as seen on the satellite maps.
This loss is a series tragedy for our neighborhood. Special thanks to all the “developers” and 30k millionaires on sockitsite who cheer for this loss. As a life long resident on North Beach, the level of posturing on this site is ridiculous.
How is this a loss for the neighborhood? The article says the restaurant is staying, and a developer is just trying to add some housing on top of it.
I’m not a life-long resident, but a 13-year one. Clearly you haven’t paid attention to this particular location.
That spot has been like a curse on each restaurant that tried. When I moved in it was Basta Pasta, after a few years that closed and it became “Citizen Thai and the Monkey” (sister-restaurant of Koh Samui and the Monkey, in SOMA), expanded with a bar section that wasn’t there before.
A few years later (maybe around 2008?) Citizen Thai gave up, and King of Thai moved in. They had one slow year before dramatically shrinking the menu and dropping prices (beer $2, all food items $5). It got crowded for a while, but not particularly profitable (I assume). Around 2011 or so King of Thai started slowly raising prices, and the number of customers started shrinking again.
I’d guesstimate that a year and a half ago the current restaurant opened shop. This one also doesn’t seem very popular – any time I walk by it’s empty. I don’t blame the owners (of the restaurant, or the building) for trying to find a more profitable way to spend their money and time.
If you want to keep the restaurant, you need to go eat there and encourage your friends to do so, as well. It doesn’t seem fair to force people to stay in the restaurant business just because you feel it’s “tragedy for our neighborhood”.
what’s the tragedy. losing a restaurant that’s 1 yr old?
I didn’t read that the restaurant was staying. I read that there will be a restaurant on the first floor. Will the restaurant be able to stay during construction?
Was the restaurant on three floors?
As we reported above, the restaurant is three floors, the third of which is being used for back office space.
UPDATE: North Beach Restaurant in Play with Plans to Apartmentize