Argenta (One Polk): 10/22/08 (www.SocketSite.com)
A plugged-in reader pings us with a question and then offers an answer before we even have a chance to respond: Argenta (One Polk) has been listed with Cushman & Wakefield to be sold as an apartment building.
And while we don’t yet have the number, according to another source the list price will be a challenge to pencil out considering the potential rents for the location. Keep in mind that the listing doesn’t necessarily rule out the possibility of moving forward with the sale of individual units. And as always, details when we (or you) have them.
Argenta (1 Polk) Update: Now Coming First Quarter 2009 [SocketSite]
Argenta (1 Polk) Update: The Scaffolding Starts To Get Stripped [SocketSite]
Argenta (1 Polk): Ground Breaking [SocketSite]

20 thoughts on “The Scoop: Argenta (1 Polk) On The Market As An Apartment Building”
  1. I drove by this building last evening and the ground level is really attractive at night. I’m not a fan of the “Argenta” label, but whatever. I wonder what these units will go for? This is quite exciting as we need “middle class” renters in the area, along with Trinity Plaza.

  2. Nice looking building. Rents will likely be set at market rates so “middle-class renters” will probably be priced out. Wonder who will buy this building – SF Academy of Art College? LOL

  3. When they cheapened the exterior from the nearly all-glass original renderings we should have begun to expect this.

  4. weird decision. this thing won’t cashflow at anything much more than $500/sq ft. and as condos it would probably be closer to $800/sq ft (well, at least last year it would.)
    so, is the value proposition to buy ‘n hold at a neg cash flow, and hope to sell off as condos in a few years?
    do REIT’s even buy bldg’s w/neg cashflow and hold for appreciation? i don’t think it’s in their business model.
    would some wealthy commercial RE investor want to try this? commercial RE money is awfully tight now. this may be an out of the box deal.

  5. Good lord, the condo market must be getting just a wee bit soft!
    ^That. And the rental market is absolutely through the roof insane right now.
    No one who has a choice should be looking to sign a lease right now. Wait six months or so.

  6. Surprisingly I like the look of this building. Fits in nicely with the neighborhood. Should be a decent place to rent in the Mid Market Area. I prefer this building over Soma Grand, Symphony Towers or The Hayes.
    Condo owners must be happy that all new the supply will turn into rentals and not compete for sales.

  7. fantastic. We can thank the horrible market for something….much needed rental stock. The developer can’t be happy, but…

  8. The condo market at this location right now is probably dead. flatlined. nothing they can do about it, unless they want to underprice soma grand by 150 per sf.
    no one is buying rentals at negative cash flow now. theres no chance of that.
    if you were aggresive you would underwrite it at $ 3.50 psf rents — downtown rents – so for a 750 sf 1 br thats $ 2500 per month.
    after exps thats $20,000 NOI for the apartment — sell at a 6% cap rate, thats $350,000 per unit. it wont be too far from that if they really want to sell it now.
    but…i would think the construction loan is higher than that, and the condos could be “liquidated” for over that price. so not so sure it will sell empty as a rental, unless debt and equity ready for a large w/o.
    check in 2 months.

  9. Good analysis Louis. But with cap rates rising, 6% may be too low. So what’s going to get built when construction costs per square foot exceed what buyers will pay for a finished unit and can’t be justified by what renters will pay for a rental unit?

  10. I think this is probably out of the scope as far as finances go for Archstone, but with Fox Plaza next door I would expect them to be one of the major players.
    As far as rental prices go… comp it to next door.
    0/1: 1865
    1/1: 2100
    2/1: 3050
    So I am sure these will be going for a lot more than that!

  11. You should know that the Moderator of this website is deleting comments which make fun of the persistent irrational exuberance of the San Francisco real estate market. I’ve experienced this at least twice. Most recently, he de-linked a link I put under a phrase in my post earlier in this thread. Originally, the end of the post led to a hot-linked cartoon of Nelson Muntz of “The Simpsons,” saying his trademark “Ha-ha!”
    My guess is that the Moderator is about to see much of the income from this website (to me, an imitation of Curbed) simply evaporate, and he’s getting a little touchy, as anyone would be. I feel your pain, Moderator!
    The pathetic naivete of the real estate shills and hucksters on this site deserves to result in their bankruptcy. See you on the steps of City Hall, suckers!
    [Editor’s Note: You have got to be kidding. And if linking to a Simpsons style “Ha-ha!” is the best you’ve got with regard to satirizing the local irrational exuberance, you’re simply in the wrong place. Use analytics (correctly) and we’ll probably bump you to the front page.]

  12. Am I at the right place? I never thought I would see somebody claim Socketsite is a “shill” for the real estate industrial complex. In fact, between the Bear Blogs, and those that do shill, I find this is the most neutral site regarding the state of real estate in San Francisco.

  13. When will the individual units be released to the rental market? Or will they wait a period of time to see if a buyer materializes?

  14. Apartment buildings which have a condo map in hand sell for a premium over a typical apartment buildings due to the option of selling the individual condo units later at a slower rate while their is rental income for the units not being sold. However, last time I checked it was still way more profitable to sell the condos in SF than sell it as an apartment building. Anyway, this will cash flow at a pretty high sales price with enough of a downpayment from the buyer, but the real bar they need to jump over is getting a sales price higher than the outstanding construction loan.

  15. look for this to be bank owned soon enough. Whichever bank financed this probably had a hand in suggesting it be listed. They want to get paid. I’m sure there have been several extensions – but the outlook being as poor as it is, there is a short fuze.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *