The owners of the former Red Vic movie house in the Upper Haight held a community meeting this week to unveil their plans for repurposing the space, which includes the aforementioned expansion of next-door cocktail nexus The Alembic. The restaurant will add about 38 seats with the expansion into what was the Red Vic lobby, including a communal table at the center (see the floor plan here). But also central to the new concept is a “market hall” in the largest Haight-facing portion of the building which will contain five food stalls (we also heard something about this in the fall), kind of like 331 Cortland in Bernal Heights. There are now two confirmed tenants including an “eco-conscious bakery/coffee shop” called PicnicFare.
The other tenant is a wholesale food brokerage called Buyer’s Best Friend that was already headquartered in the neighborhood, and they’re still looking to sign leases with three more food-related business start-ups.
The Red Vic’s original spirit will remain in the form of a 49-seat screening room and multi-purpose community room at the rear of the space, which will be made available to local filmmakers as well as community groups, and private parties.
As of now, the project might be complete by late 2012, but we shall see. We’re mostly just looking forward to finding a seat at the bar at The Alembic after 5 p.m.
Red Vic Revamp for 2012 [Uppercasing via Eater]
Earlier: Update on Alembic’s Expansion; Super Duper Opens For Real in the Marina; And More
The Alembic to Expand Next Door as Red Vic Shutters
