Mill Valley OKs private downtown club
A controversial plan to turn a vacant century-old bank in downtown Mill Valley into a membership-based social club, with restaurant and bar, cleared its last hurdle when the City Council approved the application this week.
Treehouse MV will occupy a former Bank of America building at 60 Throckmorton Ave., next door to Sweetwater Music Hall and across the street from City Hall, in the crowded downtown corridor of the Marin County city.
Membership dues for Treehouse MV will be around $250 a month and open to people anywhere. No limit on the number of memberships has been set.
But opponents argued that the elitist concept of the private club is not in keeping with the character of Mill Valley and that it will further clog already tight parking in downtown.
To allay these concerns, the club will offer 20% of its memberships either needs-based, or in kind for artists, musicians and writers. An app-based ride-sharing service will be offered to transport residents from their homes in town to the club, according to Daisy Allen, senior planner for the city.
“It will be a simple community gathering place,” said Michael Natenshon and Adam Lynch, both 45 and Mill Valley residents who will operate Treehouse MV. “We see it as a great third place, not necessarily home and not necessarily where you work but a social hub.”
The planning commission unanimously approved the plan for Treehouse MV in October, but it was appealed to the City Council, which denied the appeal Monday. An initial vote was split 2-2, but it later passed unanimously after strengthened conditions were added.
“This went through way too quickly for such an important building in the downtown area, and the project is not appropriate,’’ said Ken Wachtel, a former Mill Valley mayor who filed the appeal. “A private membership club is exclusionary and is not how we view ourselves in Mill Valley. It will also be a burden on parking and prejudicial against our existing businesses.”
Mayor Urban Carmel said there was no basis for upholding the appeal because it is essentially a restaurant. “This is a project that complies with our general plan, complies with our land use, and complies with our parking plan,” Carmel said.
He added that the argument that the club is exclusionary is not applicable because there is nothing regarding diversity and inclusiveness that applies to land-use decisions. Moreover, he said, there is already a private outdoor art club, a tennis club and a swim club in Mill Valley.
“We already have this in our city,’’ Carmel said. “There is no basis for upholding the appeal or denying the prior approval.”
The Bank of America building was constructed in 1911 and is a Mill Valley landmark eligible for national landmark designation. The bank closed in 2021 and the property is owned by Spruce MVML, a limited liability corporation in San Francisco. It has been leased for the next seven years to Natenshon and Lynch, childhood friends from Amherst, Mass., who have lived in town for more than 10 years and each have kids in the public schools of Mill Valley.
Natenshon and Lynch are cofounders and partners in Marine Layer, a California clothing brand with stores nationwide. Also working on the Treehouse MV plan are designer Molly Getty and architect Thomas Ryan.
The next step is to secure a building permit. Construction is expected to begin in early 2024, with the club’s opening targeted by the end of the year.
The historic exterior will be restored with windows that had been covered by the bank, reopened to the streetscape. Food and beverage partners are being considered for the first floor, which is 5,000 square feet.
The mezzanine, 3,500 square feet, will be for events and meetings. There will be a rooftop garden but no outdoor bar and no amplified music.
There also will be no parking lot. The bank building covers the entire lot, which is not unusual in Mill Valley. Sweetwater doesn’t have parking either.
“We’re hoping to breathe a little life and vibrancy into an area that was more bustling before COVID,’’ Natenshon said. “This is not a business endeavor. It’s something that we’re envisioning as a community project.”