As we first reported last month, plans to raze the former Tower Records Annex turned bike rental shop at 1196 Columbus Avenue and develop a 75-room Moxy Hotel upon the site were back in play.

This morning, San Francisco’s Environmental Review Officer signed the Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project, which is a good thing if you’re the developer and obviates the need for a more detailed environmental review.

Once again, the proposed four-story hotel to rise on the site includes a 2,200-square-foot bar/lounge at the corner of Jones and Bay and a 2,500-square-foot rooftop terrace (“primarily for use by hotel patrons but also to host private events”).

And while the development doesn’t include a garage, it does include parking for 12 bikes, with the main entrance to the hotel fronting Columbus.

21 thoughts on “Proposed North Beach Hotel Closer to Reality”
    1. As someone who used live right up the street from this site, I can tell you that very little will “go wrong” with the nearby housing project.

    2. Why, what a well-informed comment. Not ignorant at all. I’m sure you have met lots of people who live in that complex and know them all very well.

        1. Actually born and raised in SF and have lived here all my life. I def know the city back and forth, blindfolded. Next question?

          1. That’s not what I asked. I didn’t ask if you knew the city. I asked what you know about the people in that complex.

    1. with a few exceptions in special locations, modern hotels are no longer the architectural landmarks they once were. Instead, they are often the blandest, the cheapest, even the ugliest, buildings in a town. There is a hideous hotel in downtown Suisun City that would blight a freeway interchange but is instead right at the foot of the city’s waterfront. Awful awful building.

    1. Well, kinda goes with that practical (but hideous) Walgreens that took over that iconic Tower Records location across the street….

  1. There’s a large hotel across the street with a similarly unpleasing architecural aesthetic so it will fit right into this area.

  2. Of course it looks cheap, because it was designed to be built inexpensively. Moxy is hotel giant Marriott’s brand targeting the rapidly emerging millennial traveler. The price point is slightly above a Motel 6 and well below a Hilton Garden Inn. They aren’t going to spend any money on interesting architecture; the responsible person at Stanton Architecture probably phoned this in while they were out a some trendy bar.

  3. Very Unfortunate design, It looks like an old motor motel South of Market near Harrison & 6th Street.

  4. Just think…they can hop on the T line at the new North Beach station a few blocks away. Never mind. I was thinking of a parallel universe where SF is a Transit First City.

    Back to the architecture. Looks like public housing. Cheap design and materials. Hopefully, it will be obscured by the fog most of the time.

  5. How do they fit 75 units into 4 stories? Assuming all rooms are on floors 2-4, that’s 25 rooms per floor. Doesn’t each room need a window?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *