A plugged-in tipster reports that the sale of the commercial retail condo at 2120 Union Street closed escrow on Friday with a reported contract price of $843,700 ($623 per square foot), asking $1,199,000 in June. According to our tipster it took five counter offers to get the deal done with no other parties competing.
In terms of what’s coming, the buyer “will be turning this space into an art gallery with rotating exhibits from independent artists so this space will help infuse more creativity into Cow Hollow. It will open sometime early next year after the space is remodeled.”
I remember reading about this place a while ago: “McCarty was born and raised in 2120 Union St., and in 2004 she took out a $1.5 million loan to renovate the building and create two 1,500-square-foot retail spaces.” http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/03/23/story13.html
And some additional backstory to connect with the Union Square thread last week: Driven by slow sales, high rents and a yearning for experimentation, San Francisco’s art gallery owners are leaving traditional art districts like Union Square for unique spaces and new neighborhoods.
EBG- that’s only going to work for galleries with established clientele. [The buyer], who paid serious coin, has balls (sic). No way a gallery of local artists is going to pay the mortgage or rent. I smell sugar daddy here giving wifey-wifey some play money for a ‘projects.’ (ok, to be gender fair, or pro wife giving stay at home hubbie-bubbie a new ‘project.’). In addition the original owner, who borrowed $1.5 mil for the project is also going to loose her ass off on this transaction. Guess there’s a lotta money floating around union street!
Yeah, going from owning a SFH on Union street free and clear to owning 1 commercial unit with a $700k mortgage (and no tenant) can not be a good feeling (especially in the current retail market). Brutal.
Hipster is right, there is lots of money floating around Union street. In the past few weeks there have been a slew of new leases signed. And with the rents as they are, seems to be almost impossible to conceive of a legitimate business that could turn a profit (or even avoid substantial losses). Not sure how many more “boutiques” are needed that all seem to be selling the same products at inflated prices.
Maybe not a bad way to generate some tax losses while keeping your significant other (or child) occupied though. Someday…