Last month, while driving through Lower Nob Hill, Anthony Niboli noticed an empty storefront on the corner of Polk and Post Street.
He and business partner Ronald Rodriguez were looking for a place to open a wine bar and Niboli thought the building’s nondescript exterior wall would be the perfect canvas for a mural. But when the pair asked around about the space, they were warned away.
The 1101 Polk St. location has housed at least five other establishments in the last 15 years, according to permits filed with the San Francisco Planning Department. Three have opened and closed since 2021, when sandwich shop Eleven O One shuttered after a decade in the space…