Next fall, San Francisco will have one fewer large music venue.
Mezzanine (444 Jessie St.), the sizable South of Market event space known for its live music performances and club nights, announced via Facebook this morning that it has lost its lease, and will be permanently closing its doors next fall, after 16 years in business.
According to owner Deborah Jackman, landlord Colton Commercial & Partners has increased the rent by 600 percent, and hopes to lease the building as office space. Jackman will be forced to close the venue's doors in October 2019.
"Mezzanine, like so many cultural other institutions, has fallen victim to corporate greed and commercial development," Jackman said in a statement.
"I was disappointed that the owners of the building didn't give me an opportunity to negotiate a new lease ... I was further disappointed that my request for a three-month extension, so that we could close out 2019, was rejected."
Founded in 2003, Mezzanine is one of the city's few remaining independently owned music venues, and the largest woman-owned venue in the city. Over the years, it's hosted performances by a wide array of high-profile artists, such as Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, Florence and the Machine, and LCD Soundsystem, among others.
It also employs more than 35 people, who have been "hit hard by the news," Jackman said.
Nonetheless, plans for Mezzanine's 2018-2019 New Year's celebration will go on, as will an already scheduled Sweet 16 anniversary bash, set for April 2019.
Jackman says she's still holding out hope that the space can stay open a little longer.
“I’m also hoping that maybe there will be a rallying cry,” she told SF Weekly. “My dream — and it’s only a dream — is that there’s enough pressure from our fans and the community that maybe it buys us a few more months, and that they would let us have New Year’s 2020.”
