2125 Chestnut - Marina District of San Francisco

In mid-Sept. 2006 news accounts confirmed that Apple planned a new store in the Marina District of San Francisco, within eye-shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The store would be located at 2125 Chestnut Street, in a quiet neighborhood already occupied by three GAP stores, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and lots of locally-owned shops and restaurants.

The space is now occupied by Walgreens, a chain drug store. However, the space next door (west) is the long-time Marina Theater, which closed many years ago. That space is be remodeled into a theater upstairs, retail downstairs combination. When it's completed in late 2006, Walgreens will move into the ground floor space, freeing up their 40'x200' space for Apple.

The Examiner newspaper reported that business leaders support the plan, but that residents have already filed opposition with the city's planning department, saying the Walgreens building's Spanish clay tiles are historic. The planning department denies this is so.

Download (pdf) the permits related to this project.

A view along Chestnut Street, showing the Walgreens space that Apple would like to occupy. The space is only 40-feet wide by about 212 feet deep, creating an 8,500 s.f. space.

Some neighbors claim that the Spanish clay tiles on the very narrow roof of the building are historic, and that Apple's architectural plans shouldn't do away with them.

The 2-story building to the right is the former Marina Theater (opened 1928), which is considered historic, but closed in 2001 and has been vacant for several years. A developer finally reached an agreement with the local business association and a theater preservation group to re-open the theater on the second floor, and offer retail on the ground floor. Walgreens decided to take that retail space, freeing up their own space for Apple.