SAN FRANCISCO—420 Taylor St. Partners this week sold the 78,000sf 420 Taylor St. office building in the Union Square submarket to the New York-based Seven Equity in an off-market transaction. The purchase price was $45m and the transaction closed September 30, 2016.
The seller is a joint venture of Optimum Asset Management, a Luxemburg-based Institutional Real Estate Fund, PRES Real Estate based in Orange County, and Seal Rock Investments of San Francisco. Optimum/Seal Rock had purchased the property for $27.25m in 2013. Yoav Ben-Shushan and Richard Gumbiner of Starboard TCN assisted the buyer.
A major tech tenant has signed a lease to occupy the entire office space by the end of the year, furthering the transformation of San Francisco’s urban core to better support the tech economy. The retail parking is master-leased to California Parking. The location borders the burgeoning mid-market/tenderloin area.
The building was built in 1941 as the headquarters of the NBC radio affiliate “KNBR” and was the first air-conditioned building in San Francisco. It originally had a “secret entrance” directly from the neighboring Clift hotel, so that stars could enter the studio sans paparazzi; this door actually still exists today though it is not used. On the front, a mural depicts radio waves uniting cultures around the world.
The building has several unique features, including a large sheltered roof deck, creative interiors featuring exposed concrete walls, and an internal atrium that lets filtered light into the interior throughout the building core. The building has been seismically retrofitted and life safety systems, lighting, and HVAC are all upgraded.
