It's been confirmed that two longtime businesses on the 400 block of Castro Street, Castro Coffee Co. and Castro Nail Salon, are being evicted in June by new building managers Another Planet Entertainment (APE).

We heard in March that Castro Coffee and the nail salon were in negotiations to renew their three-year leases, which come up in June, and they suggested to the local merchants' association that they might be getting evicted. The Bay Area Reporter confirms the evictions this week, saying that brothers Ken Khoury, 74, and Riyad Khoury, 78, the operators of the two businesses, are being forced to move out before July 1, when Another Planet takes full control of the spaces.

Another Planet, as we first learned in 2022, is the new operator for the 103-year-old Castro Theatre, and a major renovation is ongoing inside the theater to bring its electrical, sound, and HVAC systems up to modern standards. APE has plans to fill the theater with various programming throughout the year that is likely to include concerts, standup comedy, film festivals, and one-off movie screenings — though the latter will require the installation of temporary, removable seating on the main level, where the old theater seats have been removed in favor of concert venue-style tiered platforms.

APE won't publicly say what its intentions are for the two 300-square-foot spaces that flank the historic entrance of the Castro Theatre, but one use seems fairly obvious, and that's box office space. At the similarly historic Fox Theatre in Oakland, which Another Planet oversaw the renovation of two decades ago, the original glass box office at the main entrance is not in use, while a modern box office was installed at street level around the corner.

The original box office at the Castro, which had been used for selling tickets on movie days until the theater closed, might also be left in place just for show, given that the will-call needs of a concert venue demand a few more windows. (Also, previously, when the Castro would have a film festival or big event going on, organizers typically had to set up folding tables that blocked one or the other of the entrance doors in order to deal with ticketing.)

The Khourys say that they've pleaded with APE either to take only one of their spaces, or to consider using the 209-square-foot space three doors up that was recently vacated by Double Rainbow Ice Cream — and that building is actually owned by the Khourys' younger brother. The Khourys insist that the ice cream shop space is too small for either of their businesses to use.

"These businesses are essential," Ken Khoury tells the Bay Area Reporter. "You take these businesses out, this part of the 400 block would be totally dead. Is this what the city wants? You’re taking a thriving business that serves the community for so long and just basically throwing it out. … I have five employees with dependents. How can I turn my back on them, and tell them to go away?"

Riyad Khoury adds, "We are not like Walgreens. … We have relationships, stories we share together a long time."

The nail salon opened in 2004, while Castro Coffee Co. has been in its space at 427 Castro Street since 1987, though it changed its name in 2009.

The original owners of the Castro Theatre, the Nasser family, descendents of the theater's founders, say that the decision-making over the leases goes out of their hands on July 1 when APE officially takes over as leaseholder of the theater as well as the retail spaces.

A spokesperson for Another Planet, publicist David Perry, sidestepped the issue in a comment to the BAR, saying, "We are not party to any negotiations between the Nassers and any of their tenants. We have one focus, which is restoring, renovating, and upgrading the Castro Theatre to make a safe and sustainable venue as soon as possible for the LGBTQ, film, cultural, and greater Castro and entertainment community."

The Castro Theatre had been scheduled to reopen in time for Pride this year, but we now know that the reopening has been delayed until the late fall, or beyond.

Photo via Google Street View