Having sold for $4.6 million in February, the two-story Western SoMa building at the corner of Folsom and Langton Streets, which was home to the BrainWash cafe and laundromat for nearly three decades, has since been painted and remodeled, with four office suites (three of which are vacant) over an open 4,000-square-foot retail space, four new bathrooms and a newly poured slab floor.
As we first reported earlier this year, the 4,000-square-foot Folsom Street parcel upon which the 1122-1126 Folsom Street building currently sits is zoned for development up to 65 feet in height, the highest height to which the adjacent new development at 99 Rausch, which has been fingered for the demise of BrainWash, now rises. But the building, which was built in 1923, has been identified as a potential historic resource and contributor to the Western SoMa Light Industrial and Residential Historic District.
And with all that in mind, the property is now back on the market with a $6.088 million price tag, positioned as an “Investment / Development Site.”
UPDATE (8/12/21): Having failed to trade when listed for $6.088 million in late 2018, the former Brainwash building, which has been further remodeled and improved, with built-in kitchenettes and coffee bars, custom work stations, and new lighting and finishes, including swings, is now back on the market with a $5.75 million price tag.
Hmm, a $1.4M premium for a new coat of paint, new concrete floor, and some remodeled bathrooms barely 6 months later and in a market where prices are flattening out or slightly declining. Seems like a bit of a stretch…
Can’t blame a girl for trying!
This makes me sad that a wonderful location like that will likely remain vacant and empty while this seller waits for a buyer. I had hoped that the building was sold to an owner-user in which case some interesting business could contribute to the neighborhood. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
I hope this isn’t going to end up with some developer that lets the building languish in limbo while they pursue development entitlements for the next 4 years (seemingly the City standard duration for any development).
We need a tax on empty storefronts. Landlord greed is ruining out neighborhoods.
I seriously think the City should explore, in appropriate cases, making it a developer’s requirement to subsidize neighboring businesses with cash payments as part of its impact abatement. As I recall the earlier reporting of Brainwash’s economies, it would not have required too great of assistance to have gotten it through the construction of 99 Rausch.
I’ve thought about that too. It’s also not hard to verify these claims with tax receipts.
UPDATE: Having failed to trade when listed for $6.088 million in late 2018, the former Brainwash building, which has been further remodeled and improved, with built-in kitchenettes and coffee bars, custom work stations, and new lighting and finishes, including swings, as newly pictured above, is now back on the market with a $5.75 million price tag.