investigation
Kilroy Realty has invested $579M to redevelop market site in SoMa, with no ROI
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Where have all the flowers gone? For the San Francisco Flower Market, not far.
The city’s Wholesale Flower Market will leave its home of 58 years south of Market and move to 901 Street in Potrero Hill, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The 125,000-square-foot market at 640 Brannan Street will close in a warehouse complex at Sixth and Brannan streets on Dec. 26. It will reopen a week later on a one-acre site in Potrero Hill.
The market employs another three hundred people and supports dozens of small businesses, from San Francisco florists to Central Coast farmers. Of the flower market’s 40 tenants, 27 will move their stalls and thirteen will retire or start their own business.
The San Francisco Flower Market was forced to abandon its 4-acre home since 1956 in downtown SoMa following the redevelopment.
In 2014, Los Angeles-based Kilroy Realty purchased the Flower Market site for $70 million, with plans to build a 2. 2 million square foot campus with 3 buildings ranging from 8 to 18 stories.
After the vendors agreed to save the market, Kilroy agreed to a transitional location and would later accompany him in the development.
The flower vendors only wanted to move once, so Kilroy bought Potrero Hill for $99 million and agreed to build a new market.
Then the office market collapsed during a pandemic shift to remote work and Kilroy was left holding the daisy.
In total, Kilroy spent $579 million to build a 6-acre development in downtown SoMa and a few other acres in Potrero Hill, while also building a new flower market, without knowing when he would recoup his investment, according to the Chronicle. .
The office vacancy in San Francisco is 36.9 percent, according to CBRE, and could get worse before it gets better.
Kilroy’s vice president, Mike Grisso, said in a statement that the company “is pleased to have created a new, state-of-the-art wholesale flower market that will allow the flower industry to thrive in the future. “
The new market covers 216,000 square feet, adding 125,000 square feet for flower vendors and 90,900 square feet for parking for 150 cars and 23 bicycles, according to SFYimby. Its wavy exterior should be painted violet.
The agreement with Kilroy also includes a $20 million grant for taxes and other expenses that will go into effect in the structure of the workplace allowance. If the labor market doesn’t and the lease isn’t built, tenants in the market could simply pay the price, according to the newspaper.
—Dana Barthélemy
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