SF’s Mezzanine Announces 2019 Closure

https://www.facebook.com/mezzanineSF –

San Francisco nightclub Mezzanine is being forced to close up shop next October, possibly to be replaced by commercial office space. 

The announcement came via Facebook Nov. 20, stating that the building owners declined to renew the 1,000-capacity club’s lease, opting instead to work with Colton Commercial & Partners Inc. to put commercial office space in the place of Mezzanine for a potential 600 percent increase in rent.

“I was disappointed that the owners of the building didn’t give me an opportunity to renegotiate a new lease,” Mezzanine owner Deborah Jackman said in a statement. “I was further disappointed that my request for a three month extension, so that we could close out 2019 was rejected. What I find most disturbing is that Mezzanine, like so many other cultural institutions, has fallen victim to corporate greed and commercial development.”

The venue, opened in 2003, has just this year hosted Paul Oakenfold, Quinn XCII, Tricky, Big Gigantic and Nightmares On Wax. In recent years the venue has hosted Tokimonsta ($24,450 grossed on 1,110 tickets), Slushii ($23,050 grossed on 1,142 tickets), K. Michelle ($16,800 grossed on 480 tickets) and The Temper Trap ($26,475 grossed on 1,000 tickets).

In an effort to save their beloved Mezzanine, a number of fans have created a Facebook page seeking to transform the outer façade of Mezzanine into one of a Chili’s restaurant. 

In an analysis on club and independent venue closures earlier this year, longtime owner of New York’s The Continental Trigger said: “You gotta own your building. But how many of us are millionaires? The big corporations can do it, but us independent people, it’s really rare.  

“Unless you own your building, you’re at the mercy of a 10-year lease and rent increasing. That’s the way it goes.”

Legendary Seattle club The Showbox was facing potential shutdown earlier this year, but the local community and City Councilmember Kshama Sawant were able to push through legislation temporarily including the venue in a historical district, saving it from closure and/or demolition.