Including the year's biggest co-op sale in San Francisco, the latest on Steph Curry's new headquarters, and other Bay Area highlights.
Downtown San Francisco took center stage this week as top real estate leaders and representatives from Mayor Daniel Lurie's office gathered to discuss strategies for revitalizing the struggling area and attracting workers.
"We've never seen anything quite like this—a city that's thriving in so many ways, yet has a downtown where half the space is either empty or up for sale," said Ned Segal, former Twitter CFO and Mayor Lurie's chief of housing and economic development, during a panel hosted by UC Berkeley's Fisher Center for Real Estate.
The roughly 120-person event brought together speakers from some of San Francisco's largest employers and major commercial and residential developers such as Shorenstein Properties, BXP, The Swig Company, Wilson Meany, and Related California. Discussions spanned a range of topics, including transit, housing affordability, and the vital role of neighborhood amenities.
According to Ben Tranel, managing director of Gensler's San Francisco office and a principal at the architecture firm, neighborhood bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and parks ranked as the top desired amenity in Gensler's upcoming global workplace survey.
"There's still work to do in SF luxury highrises to bring back that vibrant cultural energy truly," said Eric Chan, chief business and strategy officer at Gap.
Chan noted that foot traffic downtown remains low, and until those changes, "there's always going to be a little bit of apprehension about where we are."
Full-Court Press to Revive Steph Curry's HQ
A coalition that includes Mayor Daniel Lurie is reportedly working to revive Warrior’s star Steph Curry's plans for a 24,000-square-foot headquarters for his media company, Thirty Ink, just five blocks south of Chase Center.
According to the San Francisco Standard, the group includes the Warriors organization, former city commissioner and team public affairs director Theo Ellington, and Associate Capital's Enrique Landa.
Curry had previously announced the project was derailed by the Nor Cal Carpenters Union, led by Jacob Adiarte, which demanded a higher percentage of union labor during construction.
In an email statement, Thirty Ink argued that as a private builder, it wasn't obligated to use union labor and claimed Local 22 rejected a deal that would have employed a 40% union workforce—making the project financially unfeasible in San Francisco luxury real estate market.
In response, Mayor Lurie reportedly personally reached out to executives and stakeholders. Possible solutions include securing a new general contractor, donating labor, or launching a public-private partnership to ease the project's financial burden and get it back on track.
Enrique Landa—whose Potrero Power Station redevelopment stands out as one of the few major projects to advance amid San Francisco's recent construction slowdown—has been serving as a key intermediary in the effort.
Forge Development Eyes Conversion of Former Wells Fargo HQ
In other development news, Forge Development Partners is set to purchase Wells Fargo's 409,000-square-foot Downtown SF luxury apartments headquarters for approximately $54 million, or around $135 per square foot. According to the San Francisco Business Times, the company is reportedly considering converting the space into residential units, citing anonymous sources.
In December, the bank listed the 13-story building and previously announced plans to shift its hub to 333 Market Street, where it renewed its lease for 622,300 square feet through 2032.
Luxury real estate San Francisco Development Partners, known for its office-to-residential conversions, previously acquired the Humboldt Bank Building at 785 Market Street for $70 million. Luxe Places is currently transforming the building into 120 apartments, making it the only office-to-home conversion project in the city still underway.
Former Grocery Outlet Executive Sells SF Co-op for $16M
Live in downtown San Francisco witnessed its biggest co-op sale of the year when former Grocery Outlet CEO MacGregor Read sold his Pacific Heights co-op for $15.5 million, furnishings included.
Read and his wife, Mary, listed the 5,000-square-foot unit at 2000 Washington Street for $18 million in September of last year, two years after Read retired from the discount chain founded by his grandfather, James Read, in 1946. After a price reduction to $16 million, the three-bedroom, three-full-and-two-half-bath home in one of the city's top co-op buildings was temporarily taken off the market for the holidays. It was relisted in early February at the same price, and six weeks later, the Golden Gate Bridge-view property with three-car parking found a buyer.
According to transfer tax records, the sale closed on April 11 for $15 million, or roughly $2,800 per square foot. However, listing agent Joseph Lucier of Sotheby's International Realty— Broker for SF luxury condos confirmed the final price was $15.5 million, including the furnishings.
Neither MacGregor Read nor Vincent Armando of Armando Investment, who represented the buyers, NE Lafayette Trust, offered further comments on the sale.
During the previous six months, the market has experienced numerous significant deals. The purchase of a three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit at 1 Steuart Lane exceeded $3,000 per square foot in November. A $11 million price tag became last year's final purchase amount for the penthouse at The Avery.
