An empty shopping mall that was once the crown jewel of downtown San Francisco is again seeking a buyer after a prior deal to sell the desolate property imploded this year.
Sellers are likely to offload the 1.5 million-square-foot San Francisco Centre, which booted its few remaining tenants last year, at a pitiful fraction of its former worth — no more than $130 million, compared to a valuation of $1.2 billion a decade ago, per the WSJ.
The entrance to the San Francisco Centre shopping mall, featuring a large circular metal sculpture on a granite facade, in San Francisco. Gado via Getty Images
The mall is taking bids again after a prior deal to buy the retail property collapsed at the last minute. Gado via Getty Images
The ornate nine-level complex, known for its rare spiral escalators and 102-foot diameter glass-and-steel dome, once housed a Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, a nine-screen movie theater and a posh day spa in additional to several floors of retail atop a BART station at the center of downtown.
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It was one of the top shopping destinations in California before the pandemic hollowed out the area, replacing commuters and tourists with open drug use and petty crime.
The downtown Westfield Centre shopping center is seen in a city landscape photo circa 2009. Getty Images
The interior of the San Francisco Centre mall, once a beacon for posh retail shopping. Gado via Getty Images
Now the deal mall has become a glaring symbol of collapse in the once-bustling shopping district.
Nordstrom and Bloomingdales announced the closures of their San Francisco Centre locations in 2023 as foot traffic in the area struggled to recover. Soon after, the mall’s owner, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, stopped paying its loan and turned the property over the lenders.
A $130 million deal to offload to property to Presidio Bay and Prado Group fell apart in July after the developers determined that the mall, which sits on land owned by San Francisco Unified School District, would be too costly to redevelop.
A proposed housing and entertainment facility designed by a UC Berkeley group for the deserted Westfield San Francisco Centre mall. UC Berkeley
A proposal for a new downtown soccer stadium, designed to replace the former Westfield Mall in San Francisco.
The property costs millions of dollars per year just to maintain, per the WSJ, and is expected to run out of cash within months.
Meanwhile, developers and others have floated wild ideas to repurpose the cavernous former shopping mecca.
One possible bidder, Urban Land Development, is reportedly eyeing a massive sports complex at the site that could include volleyball, soccer and basketball facilities. Architectural firm Gensler proposed a massive soccer stadium at the mall.
Design students at Stanford and UC Berkeley “reimagined” the mall as a mixed-use development that blends housing with entertainment amenities such as a trampoline park and go-kart track, alongside green space, a food court, a concert venue and immersive art, the SF Chronicle reported.
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