Pull to refresh
Logo
Inner Sunset sandwich shop expands to former Twitter HQ food hall

Inner Sunset sandwich shop expands to former Twitter HQ food hall

Built World San Francisco, CA local

Irving Subs will open a second location in The Market at 1355 Market St. by the end of 2026

Today: Irving Subs signs lease at The Market

Overview

Updated 2 hours ago

A 10-year-old Inner Sunset sandwich shop is crossing town to the ground floor of the former Twitter headquarters. Owner Crystina Lee signed a lease this month for a 400-square-foot space in The Market at 1355 Market St., with plans to open by the end of the year.

The Market has held its tenants while Saluhall, a food hall four blocks away, has struggled with turnover, and Lee says the wider Mid-Market neighborhood is on the upswing. Her small-bet expansion is a test of whether downtown San Francisco's post-exodus recovery is real.

Why it matters

The former Twitter HQ's food hall keeps filling up, a real-time test of whether downtown San Francisco's recovery is holding.

Questions about this story

Free account needed to ask — your question is kept and asked for you right after sign-up. Answers are public.

No questions yet — be the first to ask.

Key Indicators

400 sq ft
New Irving Subs space at The Market
Roughly the size of the original 12th Avenue spot, says owner Crystina Lee.
6
Vendors at The Market
Businesses in the food hall after its early-2025 rebrand from a grocery store.
4 mi
Route from original shop
Inner Sunset to Mid-Market, across town from Irving Subs' first location.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

Sign up to generate historical perspectives on this story.

People Involved

Organizations Involved

Timeline

October 2012 September 2026

7 events Latest: Today
Tap a bar to jump to that date
  1. Irving Subs signs lease at The Market

    Today Lease

    Lee signs a lease for a 400-square-foot space, taking over the former deli counter.

  2. The Market rebrands as a food hall

    Opening

    The upscale grocery closes, rebranding as a weekday lunch and happy hour hub.

  3. X vacates 1355 Market St.

    Move

    X finishes moving out, leaving the former Twitter HQ largely empty.

  4. Musk renames Twitter to X, announces Texas move

    Corporate Decision

    Musk rebrands the company as X and says it will leave San Francisco.

  5. Elon Musk completes Twitter acquisition

    Acquisition

    Musk takes Twitter private for $44 billion, starting a chaotic transition.

  6. Irving Subs opens in the Inner Sunset

    Opening

    Neighborhood sandwich shop starts on 12th Avenue, building a following on Dutch crunch.

  7. Twitter moves into 1355 Market St.

    Move

    Twitter anchors Mid-Market after a payroll tax break keeps the company in San Francisco.

Scenarios

1

Irving Subs opens its Mid-Market location by end of 2026

Likely Resolves by Feb 28, 2027

Discussed by: Astrid Kane, The San Francisco Standard

Lee signed the lease in September 2026 and plans to open by the end of the year, taking over the former supermarket's deli counter. The menu stays the same, with everything on bread from Alameda's Semifreddi's. A build-out or permit delay could push the opening into early 2027.

2

The Market adds a seventh vendor as the recovery holds

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: The Standard's comparison of The Market with Saluhall

The Market has kept its roughly six vendors while Saluhall, four blocks away, has lost tenants. If weekday foot traffic from the surrounding offices holds up, more small food businesses will sign on and the food hall stays full. If traffic stalls, the current vendors may start to thin out.

3

Mid-Market momentum reverses and a tenant departs

Unlikely Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: The Standard's reporting on Saluhall's turnover and The Market's own grocery failure

The Market itself replaced an upscale grocery that closed in early 2025, and the food hall four blocks away has struggled. If the weekday crowd from the former Twitter tower and nearby offices doesn't materialize, one of The Market's six vendors could close. That would undercut the recovery narrative Lee and others describe.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

Opened 2003

San Francisco Ferry Building restoration (2003)

The Ferry Building sat underused for decades after automobile ferries stopped running in the 1950s. Restored and reopened in 2003 as a food market, it became one of the city's most successful destinations.

Then

Artisanal food vendors filled the ground floor; office tenants followed upstairs.

Now

It became the city's template for food-hall-led revitalization of a landmark building.

Why this matters now

The Market is trying a scaled-down version of the same play in a building that lost its biggest tenant.

June 2011

Twitter's 2011 payroll tax break (2011)

In June 2011, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved a six-year payroll tax exemption to keep Twitter from moving to Brisbane, a suburb south of the city. The company signed on at 1355 Market St., and the deal was billed as the anchor that would revive the gritty Mid-Market corridor.

Then

Tech firms and startups followed Twitter; rents climbed and Mid-Market boomed through the 2010s.

Now

After the 2020 pandemic and Musk's 2023 move of X's engineering base to Texas, the same block emptied, leaving the building to a new tenant mix.

Why this matters now

Same building, same bet — this time on food halls and small vendors instead of a single tech anchor.

Sources

(1)

More from San Francisco, CA

Openings, permits and council decisions in San Francisco, CA, in your inbox every Monday.