Is the third time the charm for a long-simmering redevelopment in the Richmond District?
After over 20 years of failed plans to turn the dilapidated Alexandria Theater on Geary into everything from a restaurant and condominium development to a swimming pool and offices, developer TimeSpace Group recently received San Francisco Planning Commission approval for a zoning variance to build 75 housing units up to 85 feet high, more than double the current height allowance of 40 feet.
San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who represents Richmond, sponsored the special-use district for the former movie theater late last year, as well as a modified version in March. She has been working on a housing plan with the developers since at least 2023. The recently approved version allows for increased density but requires that the theater’s historic blade sign and marquee, as well as internal murals and original 1920s-era sunburst chandelier, be retained.
Chan did not reply to a request for comment, but said during the commission meeting on April 3 that the most recent approved plan to turn the long-empty theater into a swimming pool with classrooms and office space above ended during the pandemic when it seemed, “at that time, were we going to have indoor swimming pools ever again?”
The current plan took its inspiration from the former Coronet Theater, also on Geary, which is now senior housing, she said at the hearing. The Alexandria project would be 12 percent affordable housing, with 85 percent of the units having two or three bedrooms. Chan said the theater would become sorely needed family housing, while keeping a community-facing commercial space and preserving historic aspects of the 1920s-era Egyptian Revival-style theater on the ground floor.
Yorke Lee, who founded the Saratoga-based Time Space Group and has owned the Alexandria since 2014, did not reply to a request for comment. The group has not submitted detailed plans but had initial massing diagrams of the eight-story building at the hearing. It has three years to get a building permit after the zoning change is approved.
Nick Cola, an attorney for the developer, said at the hearing that the special use district “creates a pathway for us to reactivate the space.” A “clubhouse-type space” on the ground floor would include the preserved murals, while the former ticket box would be turned into retail, architect Irving Gonzales said at the hearing.
The commission unanimously approved the zoning carve-out for the project after the recommendation of planning staff, which said the 80-foot height was “appropriate” given the width of Geary Boulevard, and consistent with proposed heights in the upcoming city rezoning plan. The proposed unit mix and reduced inclusionary rate would make the development “more feasible,” said the project’s principal city planner, Tina Tam, while prioritizing family-sized units and ensuring that “this part of Geary Boulevard’s past will be preserved for future generations.”
Though some neighbors sent letters of complaint to the commission about the new height and lack of parking before the meeting, no one spoke against the project at the hearing. Preservationist Woody LaBounty told the commission that he had been following the various proposed projects over the 21 years since the theater, which he called a “placemaker for the Central Richmond,” closed in 2004.
“I just implore them to get moving on this,” he said of the development team. “So that the neighborhood can have the housing and the beautiful, beautiful Alexandria Theater building back to enjoy for future generations.”
Planning Commissioner Sean McGarry, who lives in the district, was among the commissioners who seconded the concerns that time was of the essence.
“Anything that can be done for the Alexandria Theater should have been done yesterday,” he said. “There’s been no maintenance on this building for the last 20 years. It’s very, very sad.”
As a member of the Carpenters Union Local 22, McGarry wanted to know if union labor would be mandatory on the project. Chan said the city attorney had advised that it could be strongly encouraged, but not mandated.
The next step is for the zoning change to go to the Land Use Committee and then the full Board of Supervisors. Dates for those hearings were not yet available, according to Tam. If it is approved by the full board, it would only return to planning for informational updates, and would not require any further approvals.
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