🍁 It's Wednesday. We're getting to that part of the year where it's starting to feel like fall.

🌧️ Today's weather: Rain showers likely with highs in the mid-60s, lows around 50.

🎧 Sounds like: "Long Flight" by Human Tetris.

Today’s newsletter is 897 words — a 3.5-minute read.

The shuttered downtown mall could get a second life hosting an AI data center, a proposal that's raising questions about what the city wants from one of its most important redevelopment sites.

Why it matters: The former San Francisco Centre mall has become a symbol of downtown's struggles since the pandemic.

• What replaces it could help determine whether the surrounding stretch of Market Street becomes a bustling destination again or remains a collection of empty storefronts.

Driving the news: Maryland-based KG Growth Partners is working with an unidentified technology company interested in buying the mall and converting part of it into an AI facility, the SF Chronicle reports.

• Jared Krieger, the company's CEO, told the SF Standard that this "would not be a data center in the traditional sense."
• Instead, the proposal calls for dedicating roughly one-third of the property to technology operations, with the rest reserved for retail, cultural attractions, sports, educational spaces and rooftop greenery, Krierger told the Standard.
• "The model is a conversion that keeps the ground floor and the public-facing levels of the building active and open, with the technical use in the upper floors and back-of-house space," the Chronicle quoted Krieger as saying in an email.
• "Downtown San Francisco has a vacancy problem in exactly this building type, and the premise is that reuse with a mixed public and technical program does more for the block than a dark box does."

Catch up quick: The mall closed in January after years of losing major retailers, including Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, leaving a massive hole in a neighborhood already struggling to attract foot traffic, shoppers and visitors.

• Previous ideas for the property have included housing and sports facilities, but efforts to secure a buyer have fallen through.
• Meanwhile, city leaders have made bringing people back downtown a cornerstone of the city's economic recovery.

Reality check: Nearby businesses worry the project could do little to restore the foot traffic they desperately need. One longtime shop owner told The Guardian her sales have fallen at least 60% since the mall closed.

What's next: The proposal faces several hurdles, including securing the property, city approvals and community support.

• Mayor Daniel Lurie also recently signed a 45-day moratorium on new data centers while officials study their potential effects.

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A celestial light show is reaching its peak this week.

Driving the news: The Orionid meteor shower runs through Nov. 7, peaking tonight into tomorrow morning.

The cool part: The meteors are remnants of Halley's Comet, streaking into Earth's atmosphere at about 148,000 mph.

• Estimates run from three to six meteors an hour up to 20, but catching even one of what NASA calls one of the year's most beautiful meteor showers can be a thrill.

The bottom line: Find a dark spot away from city lights, if possible, and look up after the Moon sets — around 2:16am tomorrow morning, or around 3:30am Thursday if the skies clear. No telescope needed.

Tell a stargazer

🍽️ Fans of the late chef Charles Phan can take home a piece of San Francisco dining history this Saturday when his Slanted Door restaurant group holds a warehouse sale featuring memorabilia from his restaurants. (SF Chronicle)

🗳️ Mayor Lurie has raised $13 million for Propositions D, E and F, which would expand mayoral authority and make it harder to place citizen initiatives on the ballot, while progressive groups have mounted relatively limited opposition. (Mission Local)

🚎 Uniqlo is selling a Muni-themed collection at its flagship store at 801 Market Street, but the struggling agency is not receiving any revenue from the collection. (Mission Local)

✈️ A rare U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane, nicknamed the "Dragon Lady," was spotted flying over the 49ers game in Santa Clara this week. (SFGATE)

🎨 A SF-based parody punk band is fighting back against the city's flood of AI advertisements with profanity-laced guerrilla posters mocking tech companies and billionaire influence in local politics. (SFist)

Last week, we asked if you could identify this little slice of Dutch charm tucked away at the edge of Golden Gate Park.

Completed in 1908, the Murphy Windmill was named after banker Samuel G. Murphy, who helped fund its construction. It's one of two historic windmills in the city.

• At the time, Golden Gate Park was still being transformed from sprawling sand dunes into the lush green space we know today.
• The windmill helped make that possible by pumping groundwater to irrigate the park's landscaping, reducing the city's reliance on expensive water supplies.

💌 Shoutout to reader Melody M., who was the first to guess correctly! She also shared a family connection to the landmark:

• "That's the Murphy Windmill... The building behind it is the Millwright's Cottage or Caretaker's home. My husband, a Murphy who grew up in SF, used to tell everyone that it was his family's Windmill. Ah kids!"
• It may not actually belong to the Murphy family, but we love a good family legend rooted in San Francisco history.

🥢 Nadia is making mentaiko pasta for dinner.

This newsletter was edited by Geoff Ziezulewicz.