SAN FRANCISCO—Airbnb's corporate headquarters,a 445,000-square-foot, class-A office building located at 888Brannan St. in San Francisco's South of Market submarket has beenacquired by TIAA-CREF, a financial servicesorganization and manager of institutional tax-exempt real estateassets. In a joint venture with partner, Norges BankInvestment Management, manager of the NorwegianGovernment Pension Fund Global, Norges Bank has acquired a49.9% stake while TIAA-CREF will own a 50.1% interest and managethe property on behalf of the partnership.

The five-story building was constructed in 1918 and was a formergift center and jewelry mart that underwent a $70 millionrenovation prior to becoming Airbnb's headquarters. The surroundingneighborhood and redeveloped office buildings have been heavilysought-after by technology and creative tenants due to the appealof large floor plates ranging from 60,000 to 100,000 square feetand creative build-outs, as well as proximity to BART, Muni andCaltrain.

Rich Kimble, head of western regionacquisitions for TIAA-CREF, tells GlobeSt.com: “We like this assetfor a number of reasons including the fact that the previous ownersdid a great job with the new build-out–the high ceilings and lightare a draw, and the style of the property appeals to creativetenants. The large floor plates are unique–properties like this arehard to find and new development of this format can't easily bebuilt in San Francisco. We like the submarket and feel that it willonly get stronger over time with new residential and retail beingdeveloped in the neighborhood.