It’s another grand opening for Grand Coffee.
That’s right: The popular, tiny coffee spot at 2663 Mission St. will open a neighborhood cafe and yes, you can sit down there. The cafe opens at 2544 Mission St. between 21st and 22nd streets, a block north from the original.
The news was announced via an Instagram post showing owner Nabeel Silmi and longtime employee Kimberly Kim holding stacks of glasses and coffee cups in front of some building supplies. The post shared that Grand Coffee’s cafe will have the same coffee menu, with a little something extra: New signature drinks, and outdoor seating at its new location. The old location will remain as is.
Come prepared for “the same community-and-neighbor-driven atmosphere you’ve loved from the original location,” the post said, “signed” by Silmi, Kim, and veteran staffer Adrian Lopez.
The cafe on the west side of Mission Street near the New Mission Theater opens up at a two-story building that has one commercial unit and was purchased in 2017, city documents show. Its new neighbors will be the Alamo Drafthouse and Foreign Cinema.
That means both Mission locations will be next to theater spaces; Silmi launched the original in the historic Grand Theater in 2010, right after the recession. It has since expanded into a roastery that sells its beans at the store, other shops and online, and runs with assistance of Kim and Lopez.
When Covid-19 pandemic stripped Grand Coffee down to a take-out window, several mornings a week the cafe’s line of caffeine-deprived customers was long and often spilled out in front of the neighboring Lucky Pork Market grocery store. Perhaps the new cafe can help carry the load.
This story is developing and may be updated.
Very cool. Kind of wished they would have moved into where Rev used to be.
I hear you on that. No one has moved into the old Revolution Cafe space because of two things:
1. The landlord, Kaushik Dattani, has an office upstairs from the place. He is documented as one of the worst landlords in all of SF. The same Dattani that tried to evict a 82-year-old woman from her 40 year tenancy as well as a longtime resident couple purely for his own wealth and profit . This prompted a public protest & march outside his office in 2014. Dattani “Ellis Acted” around 25-30 residents in his quest of acquiring real eatate in the past 10 years. Dattani has a past of increasing rent 3 fold to force out retail tenants AFTER they spend their own money to renovate his building and bring it up to code. Not the kind of person you want to enter into a 10 year lease with.
2. I spoke with the real estate agent handling the lease at the former Revolution Cafe. It is firm that Dattani the landlord is unwilling to put any money at all into upgrading the space, all the while demanding that the new tenant make the ceiling a soundproof one, at an estimated cost of $17,000 from the acoustical engineer. Another major hurdle in permitting is that the space is not up to ADA standards including entryway ramp, ADA toilet room and counter space. There are other possible issues with the fire marshal and fire safety. The existing electrical system wiring is shoddy and not to code either. Dattani expects the tenant to foot 100% of these costs and he won’t budge. I estimate the costs at over $100,000 before the doors open for business. Dattani is not willing to forego any months of rent while this renovation is going on, as well.
The above reasons are why Revolution Cafe has sat empty for years, and will likely continue to sit empty.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://antievictionmap.com/kaushik-m-dattani&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwilwYuF_5H3AhW5JkQIHSxpD1kQFnoECAAQAg&usg=AOvVaw2Lf2y5iGwokDDSnm5nRDxm