Today's news in the S.F. Business Times should be headlines in
tomorrows newspapers. Whole Foods was scheduled to fill a large empty
retail spot at Golden Gate Park where Haight Street terminates on its
Western end. The lot has been dead for years at a very important, high
traffic spot. Opposite one of McDonald's top stores.
The property owner/developer announced the deal was off, after a year of fighting to get permits. The developer, Mark Brennan, said the City fees could reach $6 million for the development, which is too high. So San Francisco, with unfathomably high wage requirements, has fees that are onerous too.
Nobody has talked to Whole Foods, but they have had a rough year for earnings so maybe they aren't in a hurry to expand.
Our City fathers have finally presented the golden goose on a silver platter, dead, for all to see.
Last year they killed Home Depot, this year it is Whole Foods.