Still struggling to rebuild a year after Outer Mission blaze
July 1 will bring two small but significant developments to the Outer Mission District block ravaged by fire a year ago: the return of the first residents and the reopening of the first business.
At 3322 Mission St., El Paisa, a Honduran family restaurant, will reopen its doors after water and smoke damage forced it to close last year, along with seven other businesses. Around the corner, at 33 29th St., a family of four will move into the three-bedroom unit they fled during the fire, leaving behind everything — school books, iPads, laptops, photo albums.
The two milestones are modest, considering the fire wiped out eight businesses and the homes of 58 residents. But it’s a start.
“The last year has been daunting and unfortunate for a lot of the businesses, and we are definitely looking forward to starting the next phase,” said Ana Rivera, who does outreach for the Mission Bernal Merchants Association.
On June 18, 2016, a blaze — likely sparked by a discarded cigarette or barbecue coals dropped in a trash bin at the residential hotel above the bar at 3300 Mission St. — tore through a key commercial block of the Outer Mission
business district, destroying six buildings. Burned beyond repair was Cole Hardware — the go-to home improvement source for residents of the Outer Mission, outer Noe Valley and Bernal Heights. The historic, family-owned 3300 Club bar was badly damaged, along with the 28 units of housing upstairs. Other businesses damaged include Playa Azul, El Gran Taco Loco and El Paisa.
Since then, despite vows to rebuild, progress has been slow. The charred remains of the Cole Hardware building were knocked down and winter rain collected in the old foundation. Mosquitoes bred in the stagnant water, causing the Department of Public Health to put the property under regular surveillance. Someone put a sign on the chain-link fence renaming the property the “Mission Memorial Manmade Marsh.”
Meanwhile the fate of the adjacent, partially charred 3300 Club and Graywood Hotel was not much better. The rear of the building, which was open to the rains all winter, became a canvas for graffiti taggers. The building has now been gutted. The landlord terminated the 3300 Club lease and hired a broker to sell it. The marketing materials highlighted the building as “a great opportunity for a developer to reposition the property.”
“The interiors are down to the studs with the beautiful exterior facade intact,” reads the brochure. “Great corner location in Bernal Heights near the Mission!”
Mark Macy, an architect hired by a developer who had the property under contract, concluded it would need to be stabilized or it would face the same fate as the structure at 22nd and Mission streets — site of another big Mission District fire, in January 2015. The building, which had a food hall and housing upstairs, was condemned and torn down after more than a year of neglect.
“Give it another season and it’s going to be like the 22nd Street property — it’s clear that any further delay would result in the building not being saved,” he said. “The parties involved should really be moving quickly, and that would include the city.”
To the south of the hardware store, Playa Azul, the Mexican seafood restaurant at 3318 Mission, is waiting for building permits. Alejandra Sanchez, whose parents own Playa Azul, said city officials assured them their rebuild would be a priority. But six months after filing for their building permits, they are still waiting for paperwork to go through.
“It’s been one thing after another,” she said. “We thought we would be in the middle of construction by now. At this rate it’s going to be two or three years before we can open. Frustration is mostly what my parents are feeling at this point.”
But while the progress has been slow, lately both the owners of the 3300 Club and Cole Hardware have fresh reason for optimism. The nonprofit Mission Economic Development Agency is in contract to buy the 3300 Club building and, if the deal goes through, would seek to bring back the bar and rebuild affordable housing upstairs.
Theresa Keane, whose family owns the 3300 Club business, said she is hopeful the development agency will be able to buy the building and work out a deal with the bar.
“It’s not a done deal, but everybody says they miss it and want it back,” she said. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up. I’m going to play it cool and wait and see. Even if MEDA is going to come — how much is it going to cost us? Will we be able to afford it? We are still dealing with our insurance company. We still have debts we have to pay back once we get the money.”
And Rick Karp, owner of Cole Hardware, said he has had productive conversations with developer John Strickland, who bought the site and is proposing eight units above retail on the site. Karp, the second-generation owner of Cole Hardware, said he never completely gave up on opening a new store in the Outer Mission but that it was looking unlikely before the new property owner came into the picture.
“We don’t have anything signed on the dotted line, but we have been working with him since before he purchased the property,” Karp said. “He is a great guy, very communityoriented, very interested in us going back in and is designing the retail space around our needs.”
Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the neighborhood, said bringing back Cole Hardware and the 3300 Club are top priorities, along with rebuilding the affordable units. Her office is working with the Economic Development Agency and the business owners.
“We’re going to help make sure both those things happen,” Ronen said. “These are legacy businesses that are beloved in the neighborhood.”
Having a dead 3300 block on Mission Street has hurt all the merchants in the neighborhood, said Mission Bernal Merchants Association founder Eden Stein, who owns the gift shop and gallery Secession Art and Design on Mission near Valencia Street.
“There is not a day that goes by when someone doesn’t ask me, ‘When is Cole Hardware coming back?’ ” she said. “‘Can you please let them know that we need them in our community? ’ It’s love notes for days. They were such a core part of our community.”