The long-vacant site of the former Pacific Supermarket at Alemany Boulevard near Mission Street lost its replacement tenant Island Pacific Supermarket, but the SF Planning Commission just approved making the place a 33,000 square-foot rock climbing gym.

It was way back in May 2022 when the admittedly downtrodden Pacific Supermarket on Alemany Boulevard near Mission Street closed permanently, and the place has been vacant since. It looked like the spot would be replaced by a similarly named Filipino food purveyor when Island Pacific Market signed a lease to move in a little more than a year later. But that chain was tripped up by SF’s formula retail rules, and gave up the ghost on the 2900 Alemany Boulevard location. Oh, and that location has become something of a magnet for encampments ever since.

Image: SF Planning Department

But the SF Business Times reported this past July that a Berkeley-based rock climbing gym chain Touchstone Climbing had signed to take over the lease. And on Thursday, the SF Planning Commission unanimously approved Touchstone Climbing’s request to take over the place and transform it into a 33,000 square-foot rock-climbing facility.

While you may not have heard of Touchstone Climbing before, you might have heard of some of the sites they operate. Among these are Mission Cliffs in the Mission District and Dogpatch Boulders in Dogpatch. These places seem like competitors, but they’re all owned by the same company.

It is unclear if Touchstone Climbing will give his location a hip and unique neighborhood name.

The Planning Commission approved the request unanimously, and without discussion. But the full application submitted to the commission has the interesting bit of grocery gossip that after Island Pacific Market pulled out, they “had discussions with 24 different brokers and grocery companies including Safeway, Grocery Outlet, Smart & Final, Trader Joes, and Super 88” about taking over the lease. All of those talks ended up being fruitless.

Whether or not they will employ these hours, the Planning Commission granted Touchstone Climbing a permit to operate from 6 am to 2 am daily. So that might make for a neat new late-night activity in the Outer Mission.

Related: Filipino Grocer Island Pacific Market Wants to Move in on Vacant Outer Mission Space [SFist]

Image: Touchstone Climbing via Facebook