Metreon

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Metreon at night

Metreon (often colloquially referred to as The Metreon) is an entertainment shopping center, launched on June 16, 1999, the first in a proposed succession of Sony urban centers aggregating dining, gaming, music, exhibitions, shopping, and movies. Located in downtown San Francisco at the corner of 4th St. and Mission St., Metreon is a four story 350,000 square foot (33,000 m²) building, built over the corner of the underground Moscone Center convention center. Sony intended the ambitious US$85 million project not only to be a theme park and gallery for Sony products but an anchor for strengthening a hip image for the Sony brand.

The original attractions included a movie theater including both standard and IMAX screens, a multimedia edutainment presentation involving audio-animatronics and 3-D film based on the famous book The Way Things Work by David Macaulay, a play area for young children based on Maurice Sendak's popular children's book Where the Wild Things Are (sharing a floor with an In the Night Kitchen themed restaurant), and an arcade and bar, the Airtight Garage, based on French comic artist and graphic designer Jean "Möbius" Giraud's graphic novel of the same name and featuring all original games.

Metreon, in partnership with Sony's anime television network, Animax, was host, in October 2001, to an anime festival, in which numerous anime titles were broadcast across its Action Theatre.^[1]

Although enthusiastic — Sony would open two additional centers in Tokyo and Berlin in 1999 — profitability would be elusive for the maiden venture. Despite promising foot traffic of six million in the first year, one million ahead of pre-launch projections, by the summer of 2001, "The Way Things Work" was closed and a major tenant, the Microsoft store exited in late 2001. The other major exhibit, "Where the Wild Things Are", closed sometime after July 2004.

The Airtight Garage's games proved to be unpopular, with the exception of Hyperbowl, a 3D obstacle course bowling game featuring air-supported bowling balls used as trackballs, and they eventually were gradually replaced by other, better-known games, until the arcade was finally closed, then reopened as "Portal One", which preserved the decor, full bar, and Hyperbowl but was otherwise a more typical arcade. The 15 screen Loews (now AMC) following theater was a manifest success, operating as one of the most profitable theaters in the country and claiming a good portion of the Metreon foot traffic. The lease agreement, however, did not apportion ticket or concession sales to Metreon^[1].

By 2002, rumors persisted that Sony wished to pull out of management of the property. In February 2006, Metreon was sold to The Westfield Group, the owner of the nearby San Francisco Centre shopping mall, and Forest City Enterprises, a real estate development company. Several retail spaces, including the former Discovery Channel store, are vacant as of 2006. The first-floor restaurants, which receive considerable lunchtime foot traffic from businesses and the nearby Moscone Convention Center, remain much the same as they did when the complex was first opened.

As a hub for Sony products, the Metreon often hosts special events for the public when new products are released. Consumers flocked to the Metreon for high-demand items such as the PlayStation 2 or PSP.

The Metreon is also home to Walk of Game, which is loosely based on the Walk of Fame — honorees include Shigeru Miyamoto, Nolan Bushnell, StarCraft, Sid Meier, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Halo, and Link from Legend of Zelda.