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Seven Equity Group chosen to pursue San Francisco Centre purchase after second auction
New York-based Seven Equity Group was selected as the winning bidder for the vacant downtown mall, but it still must complete a deal with the bondholders who own it. The 1.2-million-square-foot property has been empty since its longtime operators walked away during the pandemic.
New York-based Seven Equity Group has been selected to buy and redevelop San Francisco Centre after a competitive auction this week, according to reports identifying the winning bidder. The sale is not complete: the firm must still close a deal with the mall’s current owners, a group of bondholders.
The auction drew proposals from multiple parties, including one for a sports entertainment complex. A concept involving a variation of a data center was not seriously considered, according to people familiar with the process.
The 1.2-million-square-foot shopping center at Fifth and Market streets was previously owned and operated by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Brookfield Properties. The companies left the property during the pandemic and defaulted on its debt last year. Bondholders later foreclosed on the mall after acquiring the debt from lenders Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Chase.
Those lenders originated a $558 million mortgage to the mall’s former owners in 2016. No purchase price or redevelopment details were announced in the information available about the winning bid.
The property’s future matters to downtown, where a major vacant complex has stood as a visible sign of the disruption to retail and office districts. Seven Equity Group specializes in repositioning distressed retail properties, but what it will propose for San Francisco Centre remains unclear.