PG&E Issues Delay Castro Ice Cream Shop

The owner of a planned ice cream shop in the Castro is eying an opening date in time for Pride weekend in June barring any more delays in PG&E completing work to upgrade service at the former retail space.

The Ice Cream Bar in Cole Valley announced last April it would open its second location where L'Occitane had been at 556 Castro Street. Owner Juliet Pries plans to call it the Castro Fountain and had expected to be open by now.

But as the Bay Area Reporter noted in a story last month, the company has run into build out issues with the roughly 1,100 square foot space. The problem has been in getting PG&E, said Pries, to come out and do a service upgrade at the storefront so it can handle the large kitchen area, bathrooms, and other infrastructure needed for the new eatery.

"The upgrade is to bring more gas and electric into the building because it was retail and I am putting in a restaurant," said Pries, a straight ally who has lived in the Castro for 15 years.

A month after signing her lease in April 2015, Pries submitted her request for the upgrade, expecting it would take no longer than two months. Instead, it is going on more than 10 months.

"They collected an 'engineering advance' of $2,500 four months ago, and still, no work done," Pries explained in an email late last month. "I've sent emails, made phone calls, talked to PG&E managers, and even begged them several times to tell me what I need to do to make this upgrade happen."

The B.A.R. contacted the utility company about Pries' complaints. In response, Matt Nauman, a spokesman for PG&E Corporate Relations, Electric Communications, said the company could not speak about a customer's specific account unless it had their written permission to do so.

"However, I can say that PG&E realizes the importance of great customer service and we apologize that this customer has been dissatisfied with the process so far," wrote Nauman in an emailed reply. "We have talked to the customer today (Monday, February 29), and we have multiple employees from our Electric, Gas and local Customer Care organizations working on this issue."

This week, Monday, March 7, Pries told the B.A.R. she continues to speak with PG&E employees to finalize getting the service upgrades scheduled for the storefront.

"I am in contact with PG&E and getting everything sorted out," she said, adding that up until now, "I would send them updates and get no response. I was going in circles. I would get a promise that things were being worked on, then there would be a long wait and then someone would say they needed something else."

Castro/Upper Market Community Benefits District Executive Director Andrea Aiello told the B.A.R. hearing about Pries' difficulty in getting the Castro location open is "very frustrating," especially since the neighborhood has been working to fill the Castro's many vacant storefronts with locally-owned small businesses.

"Our whole philosophy is to support small businesses and get them to move in. Whether it is city regulations or PG&E or water issues, there just seems to be so many obstacles," said Aiello.

At one point, recalled Pries, she was told she could be required to repave all of the 500 block of Castro Street, which was remodeled with expanded sidewalks two years ago, should the needed work require PG&E to rip up the sidewalk or roadway in front of the new location.

"This is how it got so out of hand; nobody would give me a straight answer," she said. "It was hard for me to make plans."

Should she not be open by the end of June, then Pries said, "Oh, God, I better be" when asked if the space could be ready in time for the annual Castro Street Fair the first Sunday of October.

The Castro Fountain plans to be open seven days a week. Pries is looking to hire up to 20 employees, many on a part-time basis, and is unsure what the store hours will be.

After opening she said she would look at applying for a beer and wine license, similar to what she has at the Cole Valley location, which was also delayed in its opening due to PG&E issues as well as city zoning issues.

"Maybe eventually down the road," Pries said about adding alcoholic beverages to the Castro Fountain's menu. "It would have been a bigger issue to tackle in the beginning. I want to be open to sell ice cream."