by Garrett Leahy :sfstandard – excerpt
A feud between a property developer and a city official may squash housing plans for a dilapidated old San Francisco movie theater.
The conflict centers on a local supervisor’s plan to designate the Alexandria Theater as a historic landmark, which the property owner says will cause development costs to skyrocket, making it impossible to complete the project—and leaving the theater in its blighted condition.
Development plans for the theater have fallen through before. Now the city and restoration advocates are seething at the thought of the failure of another project that could transform the theater into much-needed San Francisco housing if completed…
Woody LaBounty, head of San Francisco Heritage, a nonprofit that seeks to preserve San Francisco’s unique architecture, said his organization has pushed for the theater’s redevelopment for at least 15 years. The local historian said he’s tired of seeing the Alexandria Theater in a state of disrepair and wants to see it redeveloped.
“The whole idea was housing in the back, and swim center in the front,” LaBounty said. “At what point are we supposed to believe that the owners don’t have the money to build it because it’s a historic landmark? The owners have had two approved projects, and they haven’t done anything.”…(more)