Big Names in Real Estate on How to Revitalize Downtown SF

All eyes were on downtown San Francisco this week as some of the city’s biggest names in real estate and representatives of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office came together to talk about what could be done to draw more workers back to the struggling neighborhood.

“There’s never been an example like this, where there’s been a city that is thriving in so many ways, with a downtown where half of it is empty or for sale,” said Ned Segal, ex-Twitter CFO and the Lurie-appointed chief of housing and economic development, on a panel at the UC-Berkeley Fisher Center for Real Estate-organized event.

The approximately 120-person gathering included speakers from some of the city’s biggest employers, as well as commercial and residential owners and developers like Shorenstein Properties, BXP, The Swig Company, Wilson Meany and Related California. They covered topics ranging from transit to affordability to the importance of neighborhood amenities.

In fact, neighborhood bars, restaurants, coffee shops and parks were the No. 1-preferred amenity in Gensler’s soon-to-be-released global annual workplace survey, according to Ben Tranel, managing director of Gensler’s SF office and principal at the architecture firm.

“There’s still some work to be done in San Francisco to get that sort of vibrant culture back in a big way,” said Eric Chan, chief business and strategy officer for Gap.

He added that overall there just isn’t enough foot traffic downtown and until there is, “there’s always going to be a little bit of apprehension about where we are.”

Full court press to revive Steph Curry HQ

A coalition including Luire is said to be working on salvaging Warriors star Steph Curry’s plan to build a 24,000-square-foot headquarters for his Thirty Ink firm five blocks south of Chase Center, home of the Warriors.

Aside from Lurie, the commission includes the Warriors; Theo Ellington, a former city commissioner who has served as the team’s public affairs director; and Enrique Landa of Associate Capital, according to the San Francisco Standard.

Curry previously announced that the Nor Cal Carpenters Union led by Jacob Adiarte had killed the privately financed project by demanding more union workers fill positions during construction.

In an email, Thirty Ink said that as a private builder it had no obligation to use union labor and accused Local 22 of turning down a deal that would have employed a 40 percent union workforce, making it “untenable” to build the project in San Francisco.

In the aftermath of Thirty Ink’s announcement, Lurie reportedly made personal calls to company executives and stakeholders. Among the strategies being discussed are finding a new general contractor, donating labor, or starting a partnership to relaunch the project and alleviate Thirty Ink’s cost burden.

Landa, whose Potrero Power Station redevelopment has been one of the few major projects to push through the city’s recent construction slowdown, has been functioning as a go-between.

Forge Development could convert former Wells Fargo HQ

In more development news, Forge Development Partners is poised to buy the 409,000-square-foot downtown San Francisco headquarters of Wells Fargo for around $54 million, or about $135 per square foot, with potential plans to convert it into homes, according to San Francisco Business Times, citing unidentified sources.

In December, the bank listed the 13-story building, and had previously said it would move its hub to 333 Market Street, where the firm two years ago renewed its lease for 622,300 square feet through 2032.

Forge is known for its office-to-home conversions. It bought the Humboldt Bank Building at 785 Market Street for $70 million, and is in the process of converting it into 120 apartments, the only conversion project in the city currently moving forward.

Former Grocery Outlet exec sells SF co-op for $16M

In residential news, the city saw its biggest co-op or condo sale of the year when the former CEO of Grocery Outlet sold his Pacific Heights co-op for $15.5 million, furnishings included.

MacGregor Read and his wife Mary first listed Apartment 3 in 2000 Washington for $18 million in September last year, two years after Read retired from the Emeryville-based discount chain his grandfather James Read founded in 1946.

After a fall price cut to $16 million, the 5,000-square-foot three bedroom home with three full and two half baths in one of the city’s premier co-op buildings went off the market for the holidays. It relisted in early February at the same price and the Golden Gate Bridge-view home with three-car parking found a buyer about six weeks later. The sale closed on April 11 for $15 million, or about $2,800 per square foot, according to the transfer tax, but listing agent Joseph Lucier of Sotheby’s International Realty – San Francisco Brokerage said the price was $15.5 million, including the furnishings.

He did not comment further on the sale, nor did Vincent Armando of Armando Investment, who represented the buyers, NE Lafayette Trust.

There have been a few other notable trades in that market over the last six months. A three-bedroom, three-bathroom unit at 1 Steuart Lane sold for over $3,000 per square foot in November and the penthouse at The Avery sold for $11 million at the very end of last year.