SF could spend $6M to fill empty stores near cable car turnaround

Would-be tenants for empty storefronts near San Francisco’s Powell Street cable car turnaround could benefit from a proposal to spend millions to boost local business.

A plan by Mayor London Breed and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin would pour $6 million into the three-block stretch of Powell Street between Union Square and Market Street, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The goal is to fix up the streets near the cable car attraction to draw feet to an area pockmarked with empty stores. 

“We need to change how we do things in this city to support our Downtown and Union Square,” Breed said in a statement. “This stretch of Powell Street should be a destination filled with activity, shopping and dining.”

The cable car turnaround, highlighted in movies and Instagram posts, is where tourists line up to board the Powell Street cable car to Fisherman’s Wharf.

The $6 million, to rely on approval of the mayor’s budget on Aug. 1, would be spent on street and tenant improvements.

It would include $4 million to widen sidewalks on both sides of Powell, between Ellis and Geary streets, and to replace old metallic grates and benches, the mayor’s office said. 

Another $2 million would help draw tenants to empty ground-floor storefronts on Powell Street.

If approved, the money could help fill up to 10 vacant stores in the city’s central shopping district by subsidizing improvements made by tenants, or by helping new businesses get off the ground.

“The funds would only be made available once a landlord and tenant had reached tentative agreement on lease terms,” the mayor’s office said.

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The Union Square area has been hit hard by closures during the pandemic, with more than a half dozen stores that have closed or have plans to shut their doors, according to a Chronicle analysis. Foot traffic in the area has been slow. The area has been plagued by retail theft.

Two nearby Nordstrom stores have said they won’t renew their lease, while Coco Republic and Williams-Sonoma announced they’ll close up shop in Union Square.

— Dana Bartholomew