Metreon

The Metreon

The Metreon is a shopping center located in downtown San Francisco at the corner of 4th Street and Mission Street. It is a four-story 350,000 square foot (33,000 m²) building built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention center. Metreon opened on June 16, 1999, as the first of a proposed chain of Sony "urban entertainment centers", aggregating dining, gaming, music, exhibitions, shopping, and movies. Sony intended the ambitious 85 million dollar project to be not only a theme park and gallery for Sony products but a way to reinforce a hip image for the Sony brand.

In 2006 Metreon was sold to Westfield, a mall developer, and it was refashioned as a food-oriented mall. In 2011, with few exceptions, remaining businesses in the mall were closed. Westfield has announced a major renovation with an emphasis on dining, including Target Corporation creating a large downtown department store that will take up the second floor. The new center is expected to be completed by 2012.

History

The Metreon at night

The Metreon's original attractions included a movie theater including both standard and IMAX screens, a multimedia edutainment presentation involving audio-animatronics and 3-D film based on the famous book The Way Things Work by David Macaulay, a play area for young children based on Maurice Sendak's popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are (sharing a floor with an In the Night Kitchen themed restaurant), and an arcade and bar, the Airtight Garage, based on French comic artist and graphic designer Jean "Moebius" Giraud's graphic novel of the same name and featuring all original games.

In October 2001 Metreon, in partnership with Sony's anime television network, Animax, was host to an anime festival, in which numerous anime titles were broadcast across its Action Theatre.^[1] As a hub for Sony products, the Metreon often hosted special events for the public when new products were released. Consumers flocked to the Metreon for high-demand items such as the PlayStation 2 or PSP.

Although Sony opened two additional centers in Tokyo and Berlin in 1999, the original center failed to turn the expected profit. Despite promising first-year foot traffic of six million, one million ahead of pre-launch projections, by the summer of 2001 "The Way Things Work" was closed and a major tenant, the Microsoft store, exited in late 2001. The other major exhibit, "Where the Wild Things Are," closed sometime after July 2004.

The Airtight Garage's games proved unpopular, with the exception of HyperBowl, a 3D obstacle course bowling game featuring air-supported bowling balls used as trackballs, and they eventually were gradually replaced by other, better-known games, until the arcade was finally closed, then reopened as "Portal One," which preserved the decor, full bar, and Hyperbowl but was otherwise a more typical arcade. Sunday May 13, 2007 was Portal One arcade's last day of operation. The arcade was relaunched again as a Tilt.

The 16-screen Loews (now AMC) theater was a success, becoming one of the most profitable theaters in the country and claiming much of the Metreon foot traffic; the lease agreement did not apportion ticket or concession sales to Metreon, however.^[2]

By 2002, there were persistent rumors that Sony wished to pull out of management of the property. In February 2006, Metreon was sold to The Westfield Group, the owner of the nearby Westfield San Francisco Centre shopping mall, and Forest City Enterprises, a real estate development company.

In early 2009, Sony announced that it would be closing the Sony and PlayStation stores, the last flagship stores located in the mall. Following the announcement, on March 3, 2009, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency approved plans from owners Westfield Group and Forest City Enterprises to renovate Metreon into a "restaurant-centric" mall. Expected modifications include relocation of the Fourth and Mission street entrance to the center of the block and the installation of a food terrace facing Yerba Buena Gardens. The San Francisco Filipino Cultural Center and the "Tavern on the Green" restaurant were projected tenants.^[3] Tavern on the Green, however, entered bankruptcy on September 11, 2009, "throwing into doubt" the plans for the Metreon location.^[4]

A seven-day-a-week farmers' market operated as an interim tenant in the former Discovery Channel Store space between May and November 2009.^[5] It closed in November 2009.^[6]

Target plans to open its first San Francisco store in the Metreon in 2012.^[7] Target is leasing 99,677 square feet, and construction has started.^[8]

The Sanraku sushi restaurant is located in the Metreon. There were also a bookstore, and a food court. As part of Westfield's major renovation, a new and expanded food court known as "the Dining Terrace" will be added and will replace the original food court. Sanraku Sushi and Jillian's are both expected to stay, with Jillian's eventually expanding inside the Metreon. Also, the current AMC Metreon 16 theatre will stay and undergo some renovations, including a new main entrance and a brand-new box office.

Stores and features

The Metreon 16, an IMAX 3D movie theater operated by AMC Loews Cineplex, and Jillians, a restaurant, are the only attractions remaining open as Target moves in.

The Metreon is also home to the Walk of Game, which is loosely based on the Walk of Fame — honorees include Shigeru Miyamoto, Nolan Bushnell, StarCraft, Sid Meier, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Link from The Legend of Zelda series. A special Walk of Game event took place there in 2005 and 2006. It was unknown that it would ever continue and is now most likely obsolete, now that Target is taking up the second floor where the Walk of Game was.

Crime

The Metreon has been the scene of a number of well-publicized shootings. Four people are known to have been shot at the Metreon, in three separate incidents.^[9][10][11]

A manager of the Metreon theaters, Kenneth Kintsley, was convicted in 2010 of embezzling $300,000 from the theaters between 2001 and 2004.^[12]

References

1. ^ Metreon media release, Anime News Network, 9 October 2001.
2. ^ Lazarus, David (January 24, 2003). "Metreon's great view wasted". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/01/24/BU187234.DTL&hw=LOEWS&sn=002&sc=847. 
3. ^ Upton, John (March 4, 2009). "Revamped Metreon slated to be restaurant-centric". San Francisco Examiner. http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Revamped-Metreon-slated-to-be-restaurant-centric-40700262.html. 
4. ^ Selna, Robert (September 12, 2009). "Tavern on the Green's struggles may hurt S.F.". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/11/BUD219LRN9.DTL. 
5. ^ Said, Carolyn (May 15, 2009). "New farmers' market finds a home at the Metreon". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/15/BUJP17KOL6.DTL. 
6. ^ "Island Earth Farmers Market shut down by Board of Health!?". 2009-11-19. http://vegansaurus.com/post/250443601/island-earth-farmers-market-shut-down-by-board-of. 
7. ^ Ross, Andrew S. (2010-11-19). "Target to open in San Francisco's Metreon". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/19/BU761GDMLH.DTL. Retrieved 2010-11-28. 
8. ^ Duxbury, Sara (2011-04-19). "Target lease in Metreon is official". San Francisco Business Times. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2011/04/18/target-lease-in-metreon-is-official.html. 
9. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (August 9, 2001). "S.F. police agree to divulge names in Metreon killing". San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/08/09/MNL196860.DTL. 
10. ^ Vigil, Delfin (September 17, 2007). "Shooting kills one, hurts one outside Jillian's". San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/17/BANES7D9D.DTL. 
11. ^ Van Derbeken, Jaxon (November 13, 2007). "Metreon victim was killed after standing on escalator, not walking". San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco). http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/13/BA8BTB1AU.DTL. 
12. ^ "Metreon theater manager convicted of embezzling $300,000". ABC News / KGO TV. April 9, 2010. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7378508. 

External links

San Francisco Bay Area portal

• Official website
• Island Earth Farmers' Market Website
• Sarkar, Pia; Debare, Ilana (February 23, 2006). "Metreon gets new lease on life: Purchase by Westfield and Forest City adds failing center to growing S.F. retail empire". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/23/BUGESHCVKC1.DTL. 
• Lazarus, David (February 24, 2006). "Metreon's Shattered Dreams". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/24/BUGSVHDITS1.DTL. 
• The "Where the Wild Things Are" attraction at the Metreon, July 23, 2004. A six-part video on YouTube.

Coordinates: 37°47′04″N 122°24′12″W / 37.784374°N 122.403424°W / 37.784374; -122.403424