Che Fico Set Its Reopening Four Months After the Fire. Why Do Other Divisadero Storefronts Stay Dark for Years?

At the corner of Divisadero and McAllister, a window sign still reads "The Best Coffee Made One Cup At A Time!" It belongs to Oasis Cafe, which closed in 2022 after a fire in an apartment upstairs flooded the storefront with water. As of late September, Gazetteer SF reported that a new coffee shop called Cafe MD is coming to 901 Divisadero, with no opening date announced.

Two blocks south, Che Fico scheduled its return for Sunday, October 18, a little more than four months after a June fire closed it. Reservations opened weeks ahead of that date. A block away from Che Fico, The Mill was still closed as of SFist's October 9 food roundup.

All three storefronts are on the same corridor and were all hit by fire, yet their reopening timelines run from about four months to more than four years. The size of the fire doesn't explain the gap. What does is which parts of the building were damaged and who is responsible for paying to restore them.

Where Each Fire-Affected Storefront Stands This Fall

Foghorn and Che Fico, the two fastest to return, had damage limited to a flue, the rear of the building and the roof. The ones still dark have restoration that depends on more than one party, whether that's an insurer, a landlord or the apartments above.

Che Fico's Damage Stopped Short of the Dining Room

The San Francisco Chronicle's July account says the June fire started in an oven flue at Foghorn Taproom and spread next door to Che Fico's roof. A natural foods grocery and a boba shop nearby were evacuated and closed for a time while firefighters worked from the rooftop. Early accounts put the origin elsewhere. Hoodline notes that an SFFD source first pointed to the flue serving Che Fico's grills and wood oven, and an SFFD lieutenant later told the Chronicle the fire began at Foghorn.

Hoodline, citing SFist, reported significant damage to the rear of Che Fico's building and none inside the dining room. According to SFist's June report, Foghorn reopened that same evening.

By mid-August, Gazetteer SF reported, Che Fico was hiring for two positions ahead of reopening. David Nayfeld and Matt Brewer have run the restaurant at 838 Divisadero since March 2018. They also operate a Che Fico in Menlo Park and Che Fico Pizzeria at Chase Center. Hoodline places its roughly four-month closure between two other San Francisco cases. Original Joe's reopened quickly after a kitchen fire, and Mel's Drive-In on Lombard stayed closed for a long stretch.

The Mill's Timeline Depends on Its Insurance Claim

A bartender heading home around 2:30 a.m. on June 29 saw smoke. Firefighters arrived in three minutes, found the fire in the rear of the café, and kept it from spreading to the residential and commercial buildings next door, the Chronicle reported. The building is a brick-front, single-story structure built in 1929.

Nearly four months later, the café is still dark. Gazetteer SF reported that by mid-August, owner Josey Baker said restoration had stalled while the owners dealt with insurance, with cleanup expected in the following weeks. The GoFundMe for the rebuild has raised more than $100,000. Even with that money raised, the restoration schedule has depended on the insurance process.

The two businesses that share the space handled the wait differently. Four Barrel said on the GoFundMe page that it would keep two café managers employed during the rebuild and temporarily lay off its other baristas. Josey Baker Bread moved its baking to the newly opened Saltwater Bake Shop in SoMa and kept supplying its grocery accounts.

A Fire in the Apartment Upstairs Leaves the Storefront Waiting Longest

Oasis Cafe shows what happens when the fire starts somewhere other than the business. Taddesse Haile opened the business at 901 Divisadero in 2007, first as a grocery and later as an Eritrean and Ethiopian restaurant and café. In 2022, a three-alarm fire started in a third-floor apartment above it and displaced 13 residents. The storefront was hit by water, not flames.

The building's two uses recovered at different speeds. Gazetteer SF reported that neighbors expected the café to reopen once they saw the rebuilt apartments upstairs occupied again, but it didn't. Haile learned in 2024 that insurance would not cover all construction-related costs, including electrical, paint and plumbing repairs, and rent terms for the space were still being negotiated. In other words, the apartments were repaired and occupied while the shop below needed its own buildout and its own lease terms. Each piece took time, and the storefront couldn't reopen until all of them were done.

Kava Lounge, next door, was damaged in the same fire and is still vacant. A week after the Oasis fire, another fire at 244 Divisadero near Haight displaced 13 more residents and closed Phuket Thai, a restaurant that had been there 35 years. Gazetteer SF described that building in September as still vacant and in disrepair. The corridor does have a counterexample. Banh Mi Viet also closed after a fire and has since reopened.

What a Closed Anchor Costs the Shops Next Door

These timelines matter to the businesses that stayed open. Kelly Ishikawa owns the Perish Trust, a gift shop for vintage and handmade goods next door to The Mill. In July she told the Chronicle that foot traffic on the block had dropped sharply since the café closed and that she was hosting community events to bring people in. Speaking to the Chronicle, she put it this way:

"It's just a matter of how long it'll take and if we're going to be able to survive that."

In the same article, Kathy Drasky, a longtime resident who runs an Instagram page covering news and events on the Divisadero corridor, said, "We're all impacted by it."

A café that draws a steady morning crowd brings customers to the shops around it. When it closes, the stores nearby lose that traffic for as long as the repairs take, whatever is holding them up.

Where to Spend Time on the Corridor This Fall

The places that are open, or opening soon, are easy to find:

• Che Fico, 838 Divisadero. Scheduled to reopen October 18, with reservations taken through OpenTable.
• Josey Baker Bread, off-site. Loaves are still sold at Bi-Rite Market, Rainbow Grocery, Berkeley Bowl, Mollie Stone's and Falletti Foods.
• The Perish Trust. Next door to The Mill, open throughout the closure.
• Barista Coffee & Brunch, 1799 Fulton. Coming to the former Starbucks that closed in December 2024. Hoodline reported a target of late October or early November. Down the block, the Lucky at 1750 Fulton closed permanently on September 11.

The North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association calendar also has a few dates coming up.

1. Friday, October 23. Fourth-Friday happy hour, bar to be announced.
2. Saturday, October 24. Fourth-Saturday cleanup, noon to 2 p.m., meeting at Hayes and Central.
3. Monday, November 2. Panhandle Runday, a social two-mile run leaving from Matching Half at 7:30 a.m.
4. Thursday, November 19. Community meeting at Brahma Kumaris, 401 Baker Street.

After a fire, the owner of a mixed-use building has to restore more than one income stream. The apartments upstairs, the storefront below, the insurance claim and the commercial lease each come back on their own schedule, and at 901 Divisadero the storefront was still empty after the apartments upstairs were occupied again. If you own an apartment or mixed-use building in San Francisco and want to understand how its tenancies, condition and lease terms affect its value, Bonn Webb Team offers a complimentary, confidential property valuation.