The owner of a historic San Francisco theater that was shuttered since the pandemic plans to demolish the property and replace it with multifamily housing.
SFGate reports Jesse Appleton had initially planned to restore and reopen the Empire Theater, which opened in 1925 and permanently closed in February 2021. However, the venue’s previous operator, the Cinemark theater chain, stripped the property of its projection equipment and seats and left the building in a dilapidated condition.
Appleton’s family owned the Empire Theater since its opening, but he lamented that bringing it back as a commercial theater was “not a viable option.”
“This is due to myriad factors, including the current state of the building as well as economic considerations,” he stated. “When considering the urgent need for more housing across the city, as well as the recent opening of a new theater in Stonestown, the project team chose to move ahead with housing.”
Appleton has submitted plans for a nine-story, 64-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail. If approved and completed, 10 units of the building would be set aside for affordable housing.
However, a structure of the proposed dimensions might be at odds with the aesthetics of West Portal neighborhood where the theater is based. SFGate described West Portal as “a low-slung neighborhood with a suburb-within-a-city feel,” with detached single-family homes and properties that do not rise above the two-story level.
Photo of the Empire Theater in 2002, courtesy of Cinema Treasures
