From today’s Examiner,

Ornate vacant theater built in 1916 to be transformed into entertainment center

Beneath several layers of paint on a wall of the New Mission Theater is a patch of gold and silver left over from the Depression era, when the theater experienced its heyday.

The historically significant portions of the 1916 art deco theater, located on the 2500 block of Mission Street [@ 21st Street], are scheduled to remain intact under plans to transform the vacant space into a venue for dancing, live music, movies and dining. Next door, 95 housing units are planned in an eight-story development, the second piece of the project designed to help pay for the theater’s restoration.

The historic theater, which can seat up to 2,300, is one of the last remaining early movie houses in The City. Starting in 2000, dozens fought to keep the theater from being demolished and turned into a campus building for the City College of San Francisco.

In late 2003, developer Gus Murad & Associates bought the building from the college and now plans to create a separate bar area behind the auditorium designed to serve as a movie house, dance floor or dining area. An elevator would transport people up and down to the basement level where a kitchen, storage and bathrooms are part of the blueprints.

Construction, if approved by The City’s Planning Commission, will likely begin in about two years, Morris said. The environmental impact report is in the works, city officials said. The architect declined to disclose the estimated cost of plans, which aim to make the theater a destination for diners. Preservationists who fought to save the theater on the National Register of Historical Places praised the new blueprints. [more...]

This is right next door to Medjool and Foreign Cinema, and just across the street from 12 Galaxies, so there’s little doubt that this will add more activity and nightlife to an already popular block.

New Mission to have new use [Examiner]
What’s up with these unused buildings? [SFHomeBlog]

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