San Francisco's Metreon Gets A Second Chance
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — The first retailers and restaurants in San Francisco's new Metreon shopping center open their doors this weekend. The $30 million renovation in the space on 4th and Mission Streets in the South of Market will give what was largely considered to be a dot com-era failure a second chance.
Workers are putting finishing touches on Buckhorn Grill, SoGreen Yogurt, and the San Francisco Soup Company before their grand opening on Saturday.
18 more businesses will debut each week into April said Scot Vallee the vice president of Westfield, the Metreon's owner and developer.
KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:
"It's a 180 degree difference. It's lighter, it's brighter. It faces out to the people and not inward and I think the selection of food here will keep people coming back," he said.
Vallee hopes to attract the convention and business crowd during the week and on weekends he projects the locals will come out too for the AMC Theater and the new City Target which is set to open in October.
"We're now going to be a seven day a week building versus before when we only had a couple busy days a week," he said.
The new Metreon is expected to generate $15 million a year in sales tax revenue, and create 600 construction jobs and 700 permanent jobs. It will also include the city's first ever Target store.
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