Real estate stars align for tiny movie theater in Bernal Heights
A vacant ground-floor office at Mission and 29th streets that most recently housed a real estate firm will see a new life as a tiny movie theater.
That’s according to an application filed with San Francisco Planning this summer, which became public on Tuesday. The space at 3293 Mission St. in Bernal Heights spans about 1,500 square feet.
The new 49-seat theater will be called the Portal, according to proprietor Nellie Killian, who said that she hopes to open in the coming months.
“I’m hoping to do sort of a combination of very small releases and revivals, sort of similar to stuff that maybe is like a little smaller than what the Roxie shows or things that would only show once or twice right now,” Killian said, referring to the Roxie Theater in the Mission District, “since we’ve seen such a contraction of alternative cinema spaces in the Bay Area. I think there’s definitely room for more series and experimental stuff.”
Killian is a San Francisco native who spent 20 years living in New York City, where she worked at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Anthology Film Archives, and was responsible for the programming at a number of cinemas and art festivals.
Killian always wanted to open her own theater, but she said the cost of renting out theater spaces in San Francisco has made that dream impossible — until now.
“I looked at spaces for more than a year, and then this space on Mission Street popped up. It was sort of perfect dimensions and — I learned a lot about the building code over the course of this — had certain things in terms of where the exits were laid out and stuff that finally seemed doable,” she said.
In an effort to combat commercial vacancies, San Francisco has greatly encouraged the conversion of empty offices into housing or other uses, and this year passed zoning changes in certain parts of downtown to help facilitate adaptive reuse projects.
The stretch along Mission where the theater is proposed is zoned as the Mission Bernal Neighborhood Commercial District, which encourages a diversified commercial environment by permitting a variety of uses and neighborhood-serving businesses, including most retail, personal services and offices at all stories of new buildings.
Dan Sider, chief of staff of the city’s planning department, confirmed that a movie theater in the space is principally permitted.
“We are 100% onboard with activating commercial spaces. It’s great if they are in the neighborhoods, and it’s great if they are downtown. Obviously, downtown needs special help right now, which is why we are focused there, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t walk and chew gum at the same time,” Sider said. “This project looks promising.”
Still, Killian said that navigating the permitting process has not been quick or easy.
“We submitted the application to the city a few months ago, and it took them a while to get us through the pre-check process,” she said. “It also took us a while to figure it out — we had some pre-application meetings with the city where we realized that we had misunderstood certain things and had to go back to the drawing board.”
But with the project now on track, the Portal will be joining a micro-neighborhood that — while not immune to vacancies — has boasted a lively and evolving entertainment district for many years. Popular bars and music venues like the Knockout, El Rio and Royal Cuckoo Organ Bar are down the street from the proposed theater, and a number of restaurants dot the area.
Across the street from 3293 Mission, northern Iranian restaurant Komaaj has filled the vacancy left behind by Goood Frickin’ Chicken, a much-loved Mediterranean restaurant that closed last summer after 18 years in the neighborhood.
And the area’s most glaring vacancy — a blighted residential hotel at 3300 Mission St. that, for years, housed the 3300 Club bar on its ground floor before a fire destroyed the building in 2016 — is in the process of being redeveloped into affordable housing.