Planned NFT-based private club in San Francisco stalled by incomplete permitting steps

Remember that entrepreneur planning a flashy NFT-based restaurant/members club in San Francisco? Seven months later, it remains “an empty shell of a building, hampered by construction delays and unfulfilled crypto dreams,” reports SFGate:

Last August, Joshua Sigel held a “ground breaking” event at what he said would be the future home of Sho Restaurant, located atop Salesforce Park in San Francisco. He told the gathered media that construction on the proposed gourmet Japanese restaurant would begin in less than two months, once some permitting issues were resolved, with a targeted opening date of September or October 2023.

Sigel claimed that he would soon offer 3,275 Sho Club NFT (non-fungible token) memberships—first via a private sale, then a larger public sale in late September—that would serve as the backbone of Sho Restaurant’s clientele. (Sigel is CEO of Sho Group, which includes Sho Restaurant and Sho Club.) There were to be 2,878 “Earth” NFT memberships, priced at $7,500 each; 377 “Water” NFT memberships, priced at $15,000 each; and 20 “Four” NFT memberships; priced at $300,000 each. The NFTs are basically restaurant membership cards, dressed up in Web3 jargon… Each tier of membership comes with increasingly luxurious benefits, although restaurant reservations will also be available to non-members.

Seven months later, things don’t seem to be going very well for Sho Club or for Sho Restaurant. I recently walked over to Salesforce Park and peered into the shell of the building that will become a restaurant; I saw an empty space that looks almost exactly like it did in August. The mock-up design images that journalists looked at during the August “groundbreaking” remain strewn around the floor. Permits for Sho Restaurant have not been issued, a result of Sho Restaurant designers not yet responding to a series of memos from the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection, among a number of permit steps that have not been completed. Show Club Social Media accounts been silent on the radio since the end of September….

Sho Club appears to have sold about 100 NFT memberships, rather than the 3,275 that Sigel originally suggested. I reached out repeatedly to Sigel, Sho Club and its public relations representatives. No one answered my questions.