Planned NFT-Based Private Club in San Francisco Stalled by Uncompleted Permitting Steps (sfgate.com) 39
Remember that entrepreneur planning an ostentatious NFT-based restaurant/members-only club in San Francisco? Seven months later it's still "an empty husk of a building, hindered by construction delays and unfulfilled crypto dreams," reports SFGate:
Last August, Joshua Sigel held a "groundbreaking" 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 of the proposed Japanese fine dining restaurant would begin in less than two months, once some permitting issues were resolved, with a targeted opening date of September or October of 2023.
Sigel maintained that he'd soon be offering 3,275 Sho Club NFT (non-fungible token) memberships — first via a private sale, then a larger public sale in late September — which would serve as the backbone of Sho Restaurant's clientele. (Sigel is the CEO of Sho Group, which encapsulates 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 "Fire" NFT memberships; priced at $300,000 each. The NFTs are basically membership cards for the restaurant, spruced up with Web3 jargon.... Each membership tier comes with increasingly luxurious benefits, though restaurant reservations would also be available for nonmembers.
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 inside the shell of the building that's supposed to become a restaurant; I saw an empty space that looks almost exactly the same as it did in August. The mock-up design photos that journalists looked at during the "groundbreaking" in August remain strewn about on the floor. Permits for Sho Restaurant haven't been issued, the result of Sho Restaurant designers not yet responding to a number of San Francisco Department of Building Inspection notes, among a host of permitting steps that haven't been completed. Sho Club social media accounts have been radio silent since late September....
Sho Club appears to have sold around 100 NFT memberships, rather than 3,275, as Sigel originally projected. I repeatedly reached out to Sigel, to Sho Club, and its public relations representatives. No one replied to my questions.
Sigel maintained that he'd soon be offering 3,275 Sho Club NFT (non-fungible token) memberships — first via a private sale, then a larger public sale in late September — which would serve as the backbone of Sho Restaurant's clientele. (Sigel is the CEO of Sho Group, which encapsulates 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 "Fire" NFT memberships; priced at $300,000 each. The NFTs are basically membership cards for the restaurant, spruced up with Web3 jargon.... Each membership tier comes with increasingly luxurious benefits, though restaurant reservations would also be available for nonmembers.
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 inside the shell of the building that's supposed to become a restaurant; I saw an empty space that looks almost exactly the same as it did in August. The mock-up design photos that journalists looked at during the "groundbreaking" in August remain strewn about on the floor. Permits for Sho Restaurant haven't been issued, the result of Sho Restaurant designers not yet responding to a number of San Francisco Department of Building Inspection notes, among a host of permitting steps that haven't been completed. Sho Club social media accounts have been radio silent since late September....
Sho Club appears to have sold around 100 NFT memberships, rather than 3,275, as Sigel originally projected. I repeatedly reached out to Sigel, to Sho Club, and its public relations representatives. No one replied to my questions.
It says something about Web3 failures... (Score:5, Informative)
... when this story has been up on Slashdot for almost half an hour and this is the first post. There's often complaining that posts are not "News for Nerds" because the story isn't nerdy enough. Yet another failed Web3 project seems to not be newsworthy enough.
Re: It says something about Web3 failures... (Score:4, Funny)
Web3 is old news honestly. This club should rebrand itself as an âoeAI-poweredâ establishment where you can talk with chatbot bartenders or something. Might get some more attention if nothing else.
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This club should rebrand itself as an âoeAI-poweredâ establishment where you can talk with chatbot bartenders or something.
That's a good idea. NFTs are so yesterday.
Given a choice between having a conversation with ChatGPT or paying $7500 for an NFT, I'll take the conversation.
Re: (Score:2)
You prefer to be taken via a confidence scheme rather than through fear of missing out?
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We have the world wide web, the dark web, web3 is really the grift web.
Re: (Score:2)
âoeAI-poweredâ
Today a friend of mine remarked that, with the good weather, he saw more and more people "walking their phones". I pointed out, "at least the iphones don't shit on the sidewalk", unlike their canine counterparts.
However, as we see here, they do shit onto Slashdot :-(
It's very simple (Score:3, Insightful)
Sho Club appears to have sold around 100 NFT memberships, rather than 3,275, as Sigel originally projected. I repeatedly reached out to Sigel, to Sho Club, and its public relations representatives. No one replied to my questions.
Their scam didn't work out. Nothing to talk about. They have moved on to something else.
Re:It says something about Web3 failures... (Score:4, Insightful)
... when this story has been up on Slashdot for almost half an hour and this is the first post. There's often complaining that posts are not "News for Nerds" because the story isn't nerdy enough. Yet another failed Web3 project seems to not be newsworthy enough.
Most of the "web3" stuff I've seen doesn't seem particularly nerdy - it's driven by the self-entitled children of rich people, actors, or other celebrity influencer wanna-bees who don't have much (if any) technical knowledge at all.
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Most of the "web3" stuff I've seen doesn't seem particularly nerdy
To be honest, most of the "web2.0" stuff wasn't either.
it's driven by the self-entitled children of rich people, actors, or other celebrity influencer wanna-bees who don't have much (if any) technical knowledge at all.
And Web2.0 was driven by graphical designer wannabees of which some had only discovered very recently that there are actually differences between online and print media.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
"Cool" concept clubs that start with the idea of excluding customers, and making it difficult to go to, have a long history of failure.
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Where "web3" is a misnomer - just a bunch of NFT / crypto scammers trying to legitimize their grift by pretending it is the future of the web.
Everything crypto is garbage (Score:5, Insightful)
Every single thing crypto is garbage. Not a damn bit of good has come from this time and money scam. The good news is, the general public has largely moved on. The bad news is, there's a sucker born every minute.
"All this crypto stuff, it needed parallel processing, and [Nvidia] is the best, so people just programmed it to use for this purpose. They bought a lot of stuff, and then eventually it collapsed, because it doesn’t bring anything useful for society. AI does,” Kagan told the Guardian.
Re:Everything crypto is garbage (Score:5, Insightful)
It's rug-pull after rug-pull. Nothing but rugs all the way down.
Re: Everything crypto is garbage (Score:1)
Unfortunately, a considerable number of those NFT/Crypto grifters have moved into the AI-space now. Not to say AI will end up like those fads persay, but itâ(TM)s clear these types of parasites arenâ(TM)t going away anytime soon. Iâ(TM)m already seeing the likes of AI-powered roller skates being touted on social media.
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I've said it before...we almost never, ever hear any stories about how things turned out well with crypto and NFTs.
Every story is about a rug pull, over-leveraged 'investments', shady dealings both inside and out, wallets being hacked or plundered (again, from both inside and out) etc etc.
I think the smart thing to do is to stay far, far away from all of this kind of sketchy stuff.
Instead of dinner (Score:5, Funny)
You get an nft of a 3 course meal.
Instead of wine, you get an nft of a dancing grape.
Instead of a building permit, you get the idea...
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Not F'n There (Score:5, Insightful)
NFT stands for Not Fucking There. What did you expect?
NFT didn't sell, so ... (Score:3)
Sho Club appears to have sold around 100 NFT memberships, rather than 3,275, as Sigel originally projected.
There was no reason to build the place if they couldn't sell the NFTs. Maybe if the main pricing was a throw-away, say, $75 instead of $7500, they could have sold a bunch of them, but then, there's no exclusivity, is there?
Right now, downtown "anywhere" isn't big for visiting. Spending $7500 to have a fancy place to take your date won't cut it, unless you're living close by.
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Maybe if the main pricing was a throw-away, say, $75 instead of $7500, they could have sold a bunch of them,
And maybe it was all just a scam to suck money out of some suckers and then *whoopsie* shit happens and it never gets built. I mean, like who knew you needed to get building permits AHEAD OF TIME?? herp derp
So sorry about that, and no, you aren't getting a refund, lol. (That money's already spent, baby!)
And it's on to the next grift...
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In San Francisco 7 months for permits is nothing (Score:5, Informative)
SF (Score:1)
One does not simply get permits in San Francisco, for any business. In fact, some techbro NFT business is probably at the top of the list for getting them
$300k for future lunch? (Score:2)
This is what happens when... (Score:1)
... your NFTs are all stolen by aliens.
I think I saw this episode of Silicon Valley (Score:2)
Unpossible (Score:2)
I can't believe that a restaurant based on NFTs of all things would turn out to not really exist.
Earth, Water, Fire - looks like.. (Score:2)
Meanwhile, just down the street... (Score:3)
...an opportunity exists for two or three hard-working entrepreneurs with a flare for barbecue to set up a food truck with great ribs, chicken, brisket and pulled pork. They can call it "Sho Good Eatin' ", and earn a ton of money from hungry people too smart to spend thousands of dollars on a card telling them how important they are.
What's the problem? (Score:2)
NFTs are vaporware and so is the club.
Great cities exhibit both extremes (Score:2)
What about the metaverse? And AI? (Score:1)
Is the menu written by ChatGPT or, I suppose in this case, Bard?
No? I thought not!
If you gonna base your business on fads, you gotta keep up.