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The exterior cube of the Contemporary Jewish Museum is one of the building’s most striking features. The downtown San Francisco property is now listed for sale.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u00a0in San Francisco on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. The museum announced a year-long closure in order to sort finances.<\/p>\n
Minh Connors\/The Chronicle<\/p>\n
There is nothing in San Francisco like downtown\u2019s\u00a0Contemporary Jewish Museum<\/a>: Its audacious iridescent dark blue tilted cube protrudes from the 1907 brick of a former PG&E substation that anchors the institution near Third and Mission streets, juxtaposing modern architectural ambition and industrial history.\u00a0<\/p>\n So trying to figure out what the place is worth may be more a question of art than science.<\/p>\n The 63,000-square-foot property at 736 Mission St. officially hit the market Wednesday, listed by real estate brokerage Newmark with no asking price.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In another market, the building might fetch $100 million. Today, in a downtown cultural district still recovering from the pandemic \u2014 with depressed real estate values, weakened foot traffic and strained arts funding \u2014 the buyer pool shrinks to a narrow question: Who can take on a large, vacant cultural space and make it work?<\/p>\n The property, which is San Francisco historic landmark No. 87, also comes with a restrictive covenant dating back to its transfer from the city\u2019s former Redevelopment Agency under the Yerba Buena redevelopment plan, limiting its use to cultural or institutional purposes. This means no offices, housing or hotel \u2014 not that converting to any of those uses would be easy.<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is not like selling an office building where you can say, \u2018Well, these are the 20 people that are out there looking for this asset right now,\u2019\u201d said veteran commercial broker Mark Geisreiter, of Newmark. While it is “difficult to point to that exact right user today,” Geisreiter said he is confident the perfect buyer will emerge.<\/p>\n “We are going to let the market figure out where the market values it,” he said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Contemporary Jewish Museum (bottom) is listed for sale, but has restrictions on how the new buyer could use the property.<\/p>\n Santiago Mejia\/The Chronicle<\/p>\n The building\u2019s sale is critical to the museum\u2019s survival as a brick-and-mortar institution, said Director Kerry King.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our most significant asset,\u201d King said. \u201cWe need to monetize it to have a future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The goal: Clear roughly $13.5 million in remaining debt from a $47 million construction loan tied to the building\u2019s 2008 renovation and expansion \u2014 financial strain that ultimately forced the museum to lay off 80%<\/a> of its staff and close its doors a year ago. The museum has reduced its debt by roughly 50% after dipping into its unrestricted funds, but its bid to reopen has not materialized.<\/p>\n Paying off lenders won\u2019t be enough. Attendance, which drives grants and philanthropy, has been slipping for years, King said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And right next door sits a stark reminder of what can happen to stagnant arts and culture organizations: The troubled former Mexican Museum space<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 about 50,000 square feet\u00a0\u2014 remains empty, with no clear plan from the city, which owns the space, for activation.<\/p>\n \u201cCOVID was not kind to the arts organizations. And so obviously this is, unfortunately, a reflection of that,\u201d said Geisreiter, of Newmark. The firm\u00a0has said in a statement about the 736 Mission listing that the Jewish museum will transition from the building once its sale closes.<\/p>\n There may be an opportunity for the museum to lease-back a portion of its space under a new owner. But the \u201cbigger goal\u201d is to find the right buyer for the property,\u00a0Geisreiter said, calling it the \u201cmost incredible real estate\u201d he\u2019s ever toured.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery property has got its own unique sets of challenges and opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are certainly some restrictions with the deed, but buildings go through metamorphosis with the cities. Our job is to expose the property to the entire world, and we do think we\u2019re going to get a variety of different users that are interested in it.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan is to put the property in front of \u201clike-minded\u201d cultural organizations, but also entertainment groups and other potential buyers. If one proposal does not fit the \u201cprecise use of the building,\u201d then that will warrant a dialogue with stakeholders \u2014 including the city, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Groups like Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) have pushed a different model: acquiring and stabilizing real estate, then matching it with arts tenants\u00a0\u2014 often multiple\u00a0\u2014 who share space, costs and programming. The approach has helped projects like the Warfield Building nearby on Market Street, where nonprofit arts organizations co-locate in a single, mission-driven hub.<\/p>\n But that model has limits.<\/p>\n \u201cEven with CAST\u2019s approach of wrapping buildings around programs and missions, there is no plug-and-play situation where you can put a new group\u00a0\u2014 or group of tenants and partners\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 to make a space magically work,\u201d said Catherine Nguyen, CAST\u2019s director of communications, adding that there are \u201cno simple solutions between the situations with the Contemporary Jewish Museum and the Mexican Museum.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBoth are complex and not easily solved without marshaling a lot of resources,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n With the Jewish museum and its neighbor both in limbo\u00a0\u2014 as well as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which is also located in the Yerba Buena cultural district, freezing its popular Free First Thursday program<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the stakes extend beyond a single vacant space. The cultural district itself is at risk.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWith all the recent losses to San Francisco\u2019s arts scene, there is a real concern about what sort of change this will bring to such an important location and cultural corridor,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cWe need more, not fewer partners, standing. We stand to risk a lot more arts institutions absent strong civic and cultural infrastructure and investment.\u201d<\/p>\n The Contemporary Jewish Museum is on San Francisco\u2019s list of landmarks.<\/p>\n Amy Osborne\/Special To The Chronicle<\/p>\n The city\u2019s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, or OEWD, won’t have a role in selecting a new steward for the museum property, but is willing to meet with potential buyers. The department recognizes the property as a key site in the\u00a0Yerba Buena neighborhood, which it said has been a focus of its recent downtown revitalization efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n King, the museum\u2019s director, said her wish for the area going forward is for it to develop an even \u201cstronger sense\u201d of identity as an arts and culture hub.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe weathered the pandemic with temporary infusions of investment, but what\u2019s been missing for a while is a long-term vision for sustaining arts and culture in San Francisco,\u201d said Sunny Angulo, executive director of Propel, a civic group advancing community-driven solutions to improve quality of life in the city. Angulo is concerned about placing the focus heavily on public space\u00a0activations, rather than supporting grassroots arts organizations in an expensive city. She also worries about a \u201clack of community input into who will lead\u201d its vision for the arts and culture sector.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Mayor Daniel Lurie\u2019s office said the administration is \u201cfocused on creating the conditions for downtown\u2019s recovery\u00a0\u2014 drawing people from across industries back to the heart of our city,\u201d and will \u201ccontinue ensuring arts and cultural institutions remain a part of our recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA thriving arts scene is critical to San Francisco\u2019s economic resurgence. The work we\u2019ve been doing to drive new business and foot-traffic to the neighborhood is building momentum,\u201d said OEWD Director Anne Taupier, adding that \u201cstrengthening Yerba Buena\u2019s reputation as a cultural hub\u201d drives downtown\u2019s comeback.<\/p>\n There are signs the neighborhood overall is recovering.<\/p>\n Scott Rowitz, executive director of the Yerba Buena Partnership, said the neighborhood is experiencing strong economic growth, with 30 new leases signed in the past year and foot traffic is up: There were 4.6 million visits to the neighborhood in the past 90 days, up 15.5% over the same period last year, according to Placer.ai.\u00a0<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts said the venue has seen steady growth in interest, with weekly attendance to recent shows double that of prior comparable exhibitions.<\/p>\n The neighborhood has seen the closure of multiple chain stores\u00a0\u2014 CVS, Specialties, Walgreens, Peets, and Starbucks\u00a0\u2014 but those spaces are being filled mostly by locally-owned mom and pop businesses like Street Taco, Whole Cakes, Chapter Cocktail Lounge, Bruno\u2019s Italian Taste, Elaichi and Zasta; all of which are opening between March and June. The past year saw the arrival of Oink & Oscar at Yerba Buena Lane, Jane on Third at SFMOMA, and Brother Beer Co. and West Coast Sourdough at Metreon.<\/p>\n But leases signed by bakeries and AI companies won\u2019t necessarily make it easier to find a cultural group with the deep-pockets and ambition to take on the Jewish museum\u2019s former home.<\/p>\n Rowitz said the momentum in the neighborhood could help.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of folks are putting an anchor down here and we don\u2019t have anything else like that property,\u201d he said. Even since the museum closed the building has continued to rent out spaces about twice a month to private groups ranging from weddings to bar mitzvahs to corporate retreats to receptions for companies in town for conventions. \u201cFor the right entity that has the interest in arts, culture, entertainment sphere it\u2019s a perfect opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n Geisreiter, the Newmark broker, said he is encouraged by new investors planning to revitalize the three largest commercial anchors in and around the Yerba Buena area: The now-shuttered former Westfield mall at 865 Market St<\/a>., the nearly vacant office tower<\/a> at 415 Natoma St. and the Metreon mall<\/a> that abuts the Yerba Buena Gardens.<\/p>\n He said that those projects, along with the Jewish museum building\u2019s sale, will become the \u201cfour horsemen of the renaissance of that neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cName another little sub-market with major investors that are placing huge bets within a four square block radius,\u201d Geisreiter said. \u201cIt tells you a lot about their confidence in finding tenants and people that want to live there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The exterior cube of the Contemporary Jewish Museum is one of the building’s most striking features. 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