VACANT TO VIBRANT CONTINUES TO EXPAND AS MORE BUSINESSES JOIN
ECONOMIC RECOVERY PROGRAM WITH SUMMER POP-UPS OPENING THIS MONTH
11 GRANTEES OPENING NEW STOREFRONTS IN FORMERLY VACANT PROPERTIES
AS GRAND OPENING WEEK BEGINS JUNE 18TH
Each Pop-Up Opening Doors On Rolling Basis Ahead of Grand Opening Week
As Soft Opening Period Begins
SF New Deal, Mayor London Breed & The Office of Economic & Workforce Development
Continue Joint Efforts to Revitalize Downtown Economy & Support City’s Small Businesses
San Francisco, CA (June 10, 2024) – SF New Deal, Mayor London N. Breed, and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development announced today the opening schedule for the second wave of pop-up activations arriving in San Francisco this summer season, which includes the introduction of three new grantees in addition to the eight pop-ups previously announced.
Beginning June 18, storefront locations will be open for their regular business hours including pop-ups in The Financial District, The East Cut, and Yerba Buena neighborhoods. Featuring a curated mix of independently owned businesses, community organizations, and local creatives, each pop-up will activate within one of eight previously vacant ground-floor properties.
To celebrate the milestone, pop-up activators have planned grand opening celebrations for the week of June 17, although some activators have begun opening their doors to the general public today as part of their soft opening.
With soft openings happening on a rolling basis, the most up-to-date information about hours of operation during the soft launch period is available through each pop-up's social media channels. Regular operating hours for pop-ups beginning June 18 will be available online soon at www.VibrantSF.org.
"In the last year, we’ve put forward investments and programs that have helped our work to revitalize Downtown as we reimagine our future,” said San Francisco Mayor London Breed. “We are working every day to bring creative solutions and vibrancy to our Downtown and neighborhoods across the City, and Vacant to Vibrant is a great example of how we are solving for vacant storefronts while supporting our small businesses.”
Joining the eight previously announced grantees, several new pop-ups will be activating within larger storefront locations including Critty Smitty (inside Aurora Centro), Galeria Francesca (inside JUMA Ventures’ Steep Creamery), and Super Extra Fancy (inside Hungry Crumbs), marking a total of eleven local grantees involved in the second cohort.
“Vacant to Vibrant is giving a jolt of small business and artistic energy to San Francisco. SF New Deal is excited to invite everyone down to support these entrepreneurs and artists as they bring a vision of a vibrant, inclusive downtown to life. Small businesses are a key ingredient in the renewal of our downtown, and we are excited to support these businesses as they open a window into the future of downtown,” said Simon Bertrang, SF New Deal’s Executive Director.
The expanded list of activators involved in Vacant to Vibrant this summer includes those listed below:
THE EAST CUT
- Aurora Centro
- Hosted by BXP at 415 Mission Street, 5th Floor
- A petite San Francisco deli with a curious kitchen, offering eclectic cheeses, charcuterie, fish tins, chips, snacks, and more
- Critty Smitty ###
- Hosted by BXP at 415 Mission Street, 5th Floor
- Black, Queer multimedia artist based out of Oakland, California that offers commissioned graphic, illustration, product design, and murals to a wide array of individuals and businesses
- Galeria Francesca ###
- Hosted by Kilroy Realty at 303 2nd Street, S137
- Francesca is a collective of two Fernandas who are co-workers at the SFMOMA. The duo combines their Mexican and Brazilian backgrounds to illuminate Latin American narratives in the Bay Area.
- Hungry Crumbs
- Hosted by Clarion Partners at 215 Fremont Street, 5B
- San Francisco's premier cookie bakery, serving up handcrafted, luscious cookies across the Bay Area
- Steep Creamery
- Hosted by Kilroy Realty at 303 2nd Street, S137
- A youth-run and led boba and ice cream shop focused on management and leadership training for young people from underserved communities in San Francisco; Steep Creamery is operated by JUMA Ventures, a nonprofit social enterprise that operates businesses to employ young people for long-term career success
- Koolfi Creamery
- Hosted by Salesforce at 50 Fremont Street
- Small-batch Indian-influenced California-style ice cream shop offering flavors made with the best local and imported ingredients
- Paper Son Cafe
- Hosted by Kilroy Realty at 303 2nd Street, N102
- Quintessential SF coffee shop offering both locally roasted coffee and adventurous new flavor profiles
- Super Extra Fancy ###
- Hosted by Clarion Partners at 215 Fremont Street, 5B
- A nature-inspired art practice specializing in original ink brush drawing with artwork inspired by local trees
FINANCIAL DISTRICT
- 7x7 Social Club
- Hosted by Tusker Corporation at 524 Washington Street
- Longstanding SF media publication offering original, authentic content around the Bay Area’s favorite pastimes including dining and drinking, travel and the great outdoors, arts and culture, style and wellness
- SAINTFLORA
- Hosted by The Gateway at 209 Jackson Street
- Full-service floral and online shop specializing in unconventional flower experiences
YERBA BUENA
- Public Glass Gallery
- Hosted by Monahan Parker, Inc. at 149 New Montgomery Street
- Nonprofit arts organization home to San Francisco's only public-access glass studio and school
### denotes newly announced grantees
.jpg)
Launched last year to support the economic recovery of Downtown San Francisco, the Vacant to Vibrant program was originally developed through a partnership bringing together local nonprofit SF New Deal with Mayor London N. Breed and the Office of Economic Workforce and Development (OEWD), alongside support from presenting sponsor Wells Fargo.
A key part of Mayor Breed’s Roadmap to San Francisco's Future, Vacant to Vibrant creates new opportunities for small businesses, artists, and cultural organizations to establish themselves in Downtown San Francisco. Grantees are offered a rent-free storefront space for an initial three-month term to create unique pop-up activations in formerly vacant storefront spaces.
SF New Deal, with support from the Mayor’s Office, OEWD, and the Office of Small Business, supports grantees with permit navigation to enable swift openings while offering technical assistance and grant funding.
“The success of the Vacant to Vibrant initiative is activating the ground floor of Downtown’s streets," said Sarah Dennis Phillips, Executive Director for The Office of Economic and Workforce Development. “This next phase will bring even more of San Francisco’s true flavor to Downtown workers and residents, and we look forward to seeing this next cohort of pop-up businesses become part of our City for the long-term.”
These summer activators will have the potential to extend their leases long-term thanks to support from program partners at SF New Deal and OEWD, as well as corporate sponsors including Wells Fargo who generously donated $1 million to the program this spring, in a joint and ongoing effort to support the economic revitalization of San Francisco.
Of the original 9 properties involved in the inaugural cohort of the program that opened last fall, seven small-business owners signed long-term leases downtown and will receive additional grant funding and technical assistance from SF New Deal, made possible through Wells Fargo’s financial commitment to Vacant to Vibrant, among other major sponsors including Visa and JPMorgan Chase who’ve signed on to support this cause.
Between the 7 businesses that have signed long-term leases and the 8 new locations joining the program this summer, there are now 15 Vacant to Vibrant locations bringing new and exciting energy downtown.
“Our local economy depends on the strength of the small business community – which is why Wells Fargo is committed to being a part of this project to help our small business community grow and revitalize downtown,” said Katy Fitzsimmons, senior lead community impact and sustainability specialist at Wells Fargo.
“As two Latinas art-workers in San Francisco, we created ffrancesca as an extension of our practice. We are excited about this opportunity, which will serve as a platform to collaborate with local creatives and elevate their voices. We believe in the transformative power of art and culture as catalysts for social change”, said Fernanda Carlovich and Fernanda Partida Ochoa, owners of Galeria Francesca and summer program grantee. “Inspired by the concepts of afinidades (kinship) and alteridades (otherness), this pop-up aims to support the local arts community, fostering an environment of creativity and open dialogue,”
“Alimentari Aurora opened its doors in 2020 out of pure passion and dedication to the pleasure of eating. Four years later, all of us at Aurora are thrilled to share our light with downtown San Francisco. After all, Aurora means dawn”, said Dario Barbone, owner of Alimentari Aurora and summer program grantee. “Our customers can expect from our Aurora Centro pop-up the same true Italian soul and eclectic flavors that have made Alimentari Aurora an instant classic.”
Visit www.VibrantSF.org, call (415) 480-1185, or follow along on Instagram at @VacantToVibrant to learn more about Vacant to Vibrant.
# # #
No comments:
Post a Comment