Help Me Solve This SFO Lounge Mystery…

Reader David brought something interesting to my attention. I figured I’d be able to get to the bottom of this quite easily, but I’m stuck… so I’ll open it up to the OMAAT community. As I always say, collectively y’all know just about everything, and I suspect this won’t be any different.

Is a second Centurion Lounge opening at SFO, or…?

David shared a couple of pictures that he snapped at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in recent days. Specifically, this is from Terminal 2, in the D Gates. Upon entering the concourse, there’s what looks like a lounge space there, but it’s not yet open.

On the exterior, there’s a public notice of application to sell alcoholic beverages, which was posted on March 10, 2025. The applicant is “Compass Group USA Inc,” and next to it, it says “American Express Travel Related Services Company.” It’s also noted that this is for a “premises to premises transfer.”

Compass Group USA Inc is a food service and support company, which partners with all kinds of airport lounge operators, ranging from American Express, to Capital One, to United.

Logically, David asked me if I knew of a second Amex Centurion Lounge opening at the airport, as the existing one is located in a completely different part of the airport.

Does anyone know what’s going on here?

I figured I’d be able to answer David’s question, given that very little stays secret when it comes to airport projects. Airport commission meetings are always published, so I reviewed the recent ones for SFO. Maybe I’m just bad at searching these documents, but I don’t see anything from the past several meetings regarding a potential lounge in this space.

That either means that I’m missing something obvious, that something was announced a long time ago and I just haven’t been keeping track, or… well, I’m not sure what other explanation there could be?

I must admit, I don’t pass through SFO all that often nowadays. Based on the location and the exterior of the space, is that the former American Admirals Club, before it moved to Terminal 1?

So, dear OMAAT readers, this is the time to show off how smart you are, and prove your superior knowledge.