What's Happening at the Odd Fellows Building?

Odd Fellows Building at 26 Seventh Street [Photo: Google Maps]

From a Curbed reader:

Virtually all of the ground floor commercial tenants have moved out of the Odd Fellows building in front of the Civic Center BART/MUNI station on the corner of 7th. It is the building that had a few Asian "restaurants," a Payday Loans, a barber shop, and a liquor store. Clearly, there must be plans for the ground floor if all of the tenants are being relocated. Do you have any idea what's going in there? Our reader was indeed correct - the ground floor tenants have been moved out. The 1909 building was designed by G.A. Dodge as a meeting hall for the Odd Fellows Fraternal Order, who occupied the upper three floors while the first three floors were leased out. The Odd Fellows arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush and were housed on the site in previous buildings since the 1880s. In 1917, the store fronts were remodeled by architect Earl Bertz.

Building permits from June 2012 indicate that the ground floor will be occupied by CVS, who needed permits to remodel the interior and alter the store front facades. The entrance will be located at the corner where the cash checking business used to be, though it's unclear if the pharmacy will take up the entire ground floor retail space.