Controversial plans to build an exclusive bar and club in one of Mill Valley’s oldest buildings have crumbled amid high costs and red tape.
Treehouse MV was billed as a hip members club and “third space” in a historic Marin County building. The project, funded by Mike Natenshon and Adam Lynch, the founders of clothing company Marine Layer, was supposed to have a restaurant, bar, and roof garden and host regular community events.
Some Mill Valley residents opposed the plan, saying that it would reduce the town’s already limited parking and set aside more space intended exclusively for the wealthy. Yet Natenshon and Lynch won the go-ahead from city planners last fall.
But new plans show that instead of a private club, the pair are now turning the more than century-old, two-story classical revival building at 60 Throckmorton Ave. into a Marine Layer clothing store, office space, and meeting area.
Neither Lynch nor Natenshon responded to requests for comment, but in a project status update submitted last week to the city of Mill Valley, the partners blamed the changes on higher-than-expected costs. Bids for construction alone were as much as $6 million due to permitting requirements, they noted. Their original total estimate for the project was $4 million.
Marine Layer, a private clothing company based in San Francisco but with a distinct Marin County aesthetic, is estimated to have annual revenue of more than $69 million, according to business tracker Growjo.
“In order to keep the project moving forward and develop the property into a community improving asset, the Treehouse Group is proposing to adjust our plan to reduce capital costs, simplify the operating structure, and achieve a quicker activation of the property,” the report says.
A 3,600-square-foot mezzanine space that was to be used for the club’s events and meetings will serve instead as private offices for Marine Layer and T.W. Ryan Architecture, the firm that created the initial designs. The space will not be open to the public.
The street level, which has no windows at eye height, will be a Marine Layer store offering a “smaller, curated selection of our clothing line, as well as provide dedicated space for local, emerging brands,” according to the report.
The remaining 3,200 square feet will be a membership-only coworking space.
Built in 1911, the building at one point housed a local telephone exchange and, most recently, a Bank of America branch. The bank closed in 2021 and was leased by Nateshon and Lynch, childhood friends from Massachusettes who live in Mill Valley. The building is listed on the Mill Valley Historic Resources Inventory.
The proposal for the private club was unanimously approved by the city’s planning commission in October 2023 despite a petition in opposition signed by nearly 800 residents. The petition cited parking and traffic issues, the club’s exclusive nature, and the effect on local businesses as reasons for the project to be halted.
The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce supported the project, writing that the property had “few serious prospects” from banks and retailers.
The Marine Layer store that has now taken shape was not part of the original proposal. Documents submitted last week to the Planning and Building Department said “the storefront is not ideal for retail,” and the owners anticipate low foot traffic, with 40-60 customers on weekdays and “maybe double” on the weekends.
Evan Woolf, a small-business owner in downtown Mill Valley, said she was surprised to hear the building is being converted to a store instead of a private club, which she supported. Woolf owns two clothing stores down the street from the building; at one, the beach-themed The Local, Woolf sells Marine Layer clothing.
“It’s definitely a bummer they are opening a Marine Layer, because we do really well with that stuff,” she said. She added that she thinks Mill Valley is saturated with retail.
Former Mayor Ken Wachtel last year unsuccessfully appealed the club’s approval to the City Council on the grounds that it would be exclusionary. (Membership was expected to cost $150-$300 per month). When informed of the changes to the project, Wachtel guffawed.
“I hope their Marine Layer store is successful and that it brings in a lot of customers,” he said. “I never thought that was an appropriate place for the private club they were proposing. Their position was that making an exclusive club was going to increase the vitality and number of people coming to the town, but an exclusive club does the exact opposite.”
Lynch and Natenshon wrote in the filing that they hope to get updated entitlements before the end of the year and start construction on the store and coworking space in early 2025.