by Garrett Leahy : sfstandard – excerpt
A shuttered San Francisco diner has sat empty for over eight years, despite long-standing plans to develop it into luxury apartments.
The Lucky Penny diner, next to a Trader Joe’s at 2670 Geary Blvd. in Laurel Heights, was a favorite for late-night hospital visitors and University of San Francisco students, as it stayed open around the clock.
After it served its last patty melt on Christmas Eve in 2015, plans emerged in 2018 to demolish the diner and erect a building with 101 luxury apartments, dubbed the Laurel, by developer Presidio Bay Ventures.
But it’s 2024, and the Lucky Penny remains a shell of its once-bustling self.
Ex-cop Dominic Yin, who runs the family trust that owns the land and building, blames city red tape and swelling labor and building costs brought about by inflation for the delay.
“Take whatever the price [for development] was and double or triple it,” Yin said, declining to share how much construction would cost currently.
A 2019 building permit for an eight-story building with apartments and a street-level commercial space pegged the cost at $25 million. The Planning Commission approved the project in January 2020…(more)