Adding the well-known restaurant is part of an effort to reposition the Metreon, a 350,000-sf entertainment and retail complex that has had some trouble hanging onto retail shop tenants. Westfield and Forest City bought the property in February 2006 for approximately $66 million. Sony developed the four-story center in 1999 for closer to $86 million, according to published reports. The seller was a JV of Sony Corp. of America and Millennium Partners.

In luring a brand as well known as Tavern on the Green, Westfield and Forest City are attempting to do what Sony could not: create a place that will not only attract but also retain shop retailers. Three years after it opened several stores closed, including Microsoft and Discovery Channel, prompting Sony to open its own stores in the center and also to operate other companies' stores for them. A high-end restaurant called Montage also didn't last long, all while the movie theater and the food court did and continue to do well, a sign that the Metreon's clientele did not have much disposable income.

Westfield and Forest City declined to comment on their effort to reinvigorate the property, citing the need to first gain approvals from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, which owns the land beneath the Metreon. Design changes reportedly will include moving entrances and adding signs and glass storefronts to try and draw more traffic to the retail shops.