News

The long-neglected office building at Sixth and Market that houses Burning Man has sold for nearly $17 million, another example of institutional capital pouring into the Mid-Market neighborhood.

SF Investment LLC, a joint venture between Seattle-based Columbia Pacific Advisors and San Francisco-based Long Market Property Partners, has closed on the acquisition of 995 Market St. The price was just under $200 a square foot.

“We are excited to be purchasing this asset, especially in the midst of all the positive developments taking place in Mid-Market,” said Justin Shapiro, a partner with Long Market Property Partners.

The brokers were Kyle Kovac, Daniel Cressman and Mike Taquino of Newmark Knight Frank Cornish & Carey Commercial.

The buyer plans to immediately start a capital improvement program that includes renovating the interiors to appeal to creative and high-tech tenants, according to Kovac, who said, “995 Market St. represents one of the few remaining truly value-added investment prospects left in downtown San Francisco. The buyer was able to acquire the asset at a very attractive basis,” said Kovac.

More than $1 billion in capital has poured into Mid-Market, a neighborhood that has struggled with crime and vacant storefronts for decades. There are currently about 2,000 new residential units under construction in the neighborhood as well as new corporate headquarters for Yammer, Dolby, Twitter and Square.

“We are seeing tangible evidence of the Mid-Market transformation almost weekly with high-profile tenants, landlords and developers all committing to the neighborhood,” said Kovac. The building at 995 Market is about half-vacant. The anchor tenant is Black Rock City, the corporation behind the Burning Man Festival, which has 20,000 square feet.