SingleThread Team Throws Around Ideas for Raven Film Center

One local planning process attracting lots of community opinions right now is what the team behind Healdsburg’s fanciest restaurant — SingleThread, she of three Michelin stars — and parent company Vertice Hospitality will do with the Raven film center, which they’ll be leasing for the next quarter century, and the office building they bought around the corner. The hospitality company hosted a community meeting inside the Raven last month to share all their ideas and hear from locals — including some of the 60 neighbors who signed a letter last summer, expressing concern that the “complimentary hospitality experiences” that Vertice was reportedly planning at both sites would be “unaffordable to local residents and foster more hospitality imbalance in Healdsburg.” In the letter, they also requested that Vertice “interact with the immediate residential neighborhood and the Healdsburg community, as early as possible, to share your vision with your neighbors.” So yeah, that happened about a month ago — and it was reportedly “the first of many community gatherings” Vertice has vowed to host on the subject. One attendee, Merrilyn Joyce, now writes about her experience in the Sonoma County Gazette. She says that “standing in the nostalgic red-carpeted theater’s lobby on Feb. 7, 2024, felt like being in a time warp” — and that, while being “greeted with Japanese-inspired popcorn, some amazing cookie concoctions, and a glass of wine,” she thought: “This might be my closest encounter to a Single Thread food experience.” Anyway, here’s what Merrilyn says she learned at the meeting from SingleThread Chef Kyle Connaughton and Vertice CEO Tony Greenburg: “Though they mentioned identifying 70-80 ideas, they only revealed general uses: 150 North St. will have a ‘5-room’ hotel, with possible retail and residential; the movie theater will include both restaurant and retail. Neither elaborated after Greenburg hinted, ‘we had this idea and sort of needed two sites to do it.’ These vague details left many curious for specifics. ‘What was your vision when you first considered acquiring the movie theater lease?’ was answered from different angles. First, Chef Connaughton said it was disturbing looking down across the street upon the shuttered Raven from their Single Thread restaurant and lodgings, especially with homeless camped out around the Raven entrance. When broker Eric Drew offered them a long-term lease, they thought, this is our opportunity to control the property’s destiny, to protect it from outsiders with unknown motives. In other words, ‘If not us, who? If not this, what?’ Briefly, they considered keeping some movie center ‘elements’ until learning of AVFilm Center’s plans. CEO Greenburg took the mic adding, initially they saw an opportunity for wine storage and more office space.” Healdsburg City Councilmember Chris Herrod, who was also at the Raven meeting, writes in his latest newsletter that “this was not an unveiling,” and that Vertice is “still developing their concepts.” However, he writes, “the desire to face the community’s concerns openly is commendable and encouraging.” (Source: Sonoma County Gazette & Chris Herrod via Mailchimp & Healdsburg Tribune & Healdsburg Tribune)