The refined plans for a 12-story hotel and office building to finally rise upon the long-vacant lot at 1125 Market Street, upon which the former Bell/American/Embassy Theater once stood adjacent to the newly renovated Strand, are one big step closer to reality, with the project having effectively been cleared from an environmental perspective.

That being said, as redesigned by Woods Bagot and Leong Leong for the Pacific Eagle team, the proposed development would yield a 180-room hotel over 5,500 square feet of ground floor restaurant/retail space and 10,500 square feet of co-working office space, the demand and economics for which are likely under review.

We’ll keep you posted and plugged-in.

16 thoughts on “Refined Plans for New Mid-Market Hotel Closer to Reality, But…”
  1. A new twist of phrase perfectly appropriate in the Covid era – “the demand and economics for which are likely under review”. Previous to Covid it would have been “the design for which is under review”.

    As to the economics of this it is hard to see how how the project is viable. The travel industry will take years to return to normal and business travel could significantly shrink in favor of “virtual business travel”. That was already happening.

    This is one of several moderate sized hotel projects which have been proposed and which have dicey futures. There is one in the Folsom/Hawthorne area and another on Harrison – to name just two.

    More office space? Hardly – there is about to be a large glut of office space in San Francisco. Net absorption of office space was falling late last year prior to Covid. Did SS post the first quarter 2020 office space absorption/rents numbers? Don’t recall seeing it. Anyway, it’s a safe bet that the demand for SF office space will continue to decline.

    1. business travel will be back to normal by the time this is built. making decisions on who’s going to stay at a hotel based on whats happening today makes no sense. dave, the hotel vacancy rate in 2019 was one of the lowest on record, so not sure how your comments that this was already happening is relevant.

      still think the bigger problem here is what will change in mid-market area in next 3 years to make it a place anyone would want to stay. its literally a cesspool right now. that would be my biggest worry. the market will come back, but will the tents, addicts, homeless, criminal activity recede?

      1. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that in the next 3 years, given the eviction ‘apocalypse’ that is about to kick off when the temporarily bans expire, homelessness will increase dramatically, and shortly after the number of people living on the street will increase proportionally. An increase in tents, addicts and drug-related criminal activity will follow.

    2. “[…] here is about to be a large glut of office space[…]”

      There was already a large glut of office space before before our spiky interloper arrived. Large doesn’t begin to describe what’s happening now.

      1. True – the office market was weakening prior to Covid. This will only accelerate now. SS – hint, hint – should post 1st and 2nd quarter office space absorption/office space rent data.

    3. No worries, as this is San Francisco and it’ll still take years to obtain Planning Approval, and then at least another year to secure the Building Permit; followed by a couple of years of actually building the project. By that time, if there is still no effective Covid19 vaccine or treatment, we’ll all be dead anyhow.

    4. As others have said, this is a pretty irrelevant point because it wouldn’t be ready for a few years even if they moved full speed ahead. And even if we see a substantial longer term reduction in the number of travelers coming to the city (below the peak but well above where we are right now) there would still be a shortage of hotel rooms.

  2. Any insights into how Yotel and Proper are doing just half a block down from this? Pre-global pandemic and post? I have to believe that 7th and Market is still a tough sell for hotel guests that know *anything* about San Francisco

    1. You say this, but people stay in Union Square all the time. And I’d argue that area is as bad or worse in terms on the situation on the streets.

  3. Not sure what the likely time line is for this project to break ground, but I doubt there will be a construction debt financing source available for a hotel in San Francisco for at least 12 months (probably longer).

    1. You forget what city the project is proposed for. It will take at least 2 years just to get through the approval and permitting process. And, then, the developer would still only move ahead based on market conditions. Assuming it moves forward, the completion date for the hotel is at least 3-4 years from now.

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