Barker-Prudential JV Buys 739,000-SF Tower

SAN FRANCISCO-Barker Pacific Group and Prudential Real Estate Investors have formed a joint venture to assume ownership of the 739,000-square-foot class-A One Sansome Street tower, also known as Citigroup Center, with plans to enhance management services and make significant improvements to the public areas of the building, the JV says. BPG, which is acting as the property manager, took ownership of the property in a joint venture with Pru after former owner Broadway Partners turned the building back over to its lender—Prudental.

The 43-story building, recently certified as LEED Gold, is 75% leased, leaving 148,000 square-feet of space available for new tenants. BPG and PREI say that they "plan to bring new life to the building's conservatory space, long enjoyed by many in the financial office district." Initially, the owners also plan to renovate and update the building’s lobby. BPG has already begun issuing proposals to prospective tenants and expects to secure several multi-floor leases to occupy the vacant space in the 10 upper floors of the building.

Michael Barker, BPG managing director, noted that the company has developed and owned commercial office property in Downtown San Francisco for nearly 25 years. It sold 500 Sansome in 1999 and its first ground-up development, 100 First Plaza, in 2000, but it still owns and manages 1235 Mission St.

Barker Pacific Group has retained the CB Richard Ellis team of Meade Boutwell, Phil Tippett, Jak Churton and Cori Caso-English of CBRE's San Francisco office to manage the leasing of the One Sansome building. Construction on the high-rise began in 1983 and incorporated portions of the Holbrook Building that housed the Anglo and London Paris National Bank, which occupied the site from 1910-1981.

Former owner Broadway Partners acquired One Sansome in May 2007 as part of a 24-building portfolio that it bought from Beacon Capital for $5 billion, and in early 2008 Broadway placed the property on the market, according to a GlobeSt.com report at the time. The report said that the building was encumbered with a $250-million, five-year, interest only (6.1%) mortgage maturing in-mid 2012.