S.F. office tower that was sold at a steep discount lands first new tenant

Some five months later, the longtime home of the Union Bank at 350 California St. has landed its first new tenant.

The Swig Co. and SKS Partners — the joint venture that acquired 350 California St. for $61 million at the end of August — announced Tuesday that it has signed a long-term lease with affordable housing developer Bridge Housing, which is planning to relocate its headquarters to the building.

“The San Francisco market’s reset creates a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits, growth companies and other mid-size users to solidify their place in the city’s office ecosystem,” said Paul Stein, managing partner of SKS. “This is good for tenants and landlords as well as the long-term outlook for our local economy moving forward.” 

Bridge was founded in San Francisco in 1983 and is currently headquartered two blocks over from 350 California, at 600 California St.

In a statement provided to the Chronicle, Bridge CEO and President Ken Lombard described 350 California as a “first-rate building with extensive amenities that will provide a comfortable, healthy and productive environment for the BRIDGE Housing team as we pursue our affordable housing mission.

“We look forward to beginning a new chapter of our long legacy in San Francisco in our new corporate home,” Lombard said.

The developer did not immediately respond to a message seeking additional comment, and it is unclear what motivated the relocation at this time.

According to 350 California’s new owners, Bridge will move its headquarters to the building’s 16th floor, which spans about 16,105 square feet.

“One of the reasons we like the building, and a motivating factor for us as an investor, is that we believe the 16,000-square-foot floor plates hit a sweet spot sought by the widest range of tenants in the current market and for the foreseeable future,” said Connor Kidd, Swig’s CEO.

The tower itself encompasses roughly 300,000 leasable square feet, a third of which is still occupied by its previous owner, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

MUFG acquired a stake in what was Union Bank starting in the 1990s before selling its operations to U.S. Bancorp last year. The global financial group first listed 350 California for sale in 2020, and at that time sought $250 million for the building. 

But like most other buildings in San Francisco, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent rise in office vacancy in San Francisco has caused building values to plummet. In the months leading up to the pandemic, the city recorded a vacancy rate in the single digits — by year-end 2023, vacancy spiked to 35.9%. 

MUFG selected Swig and SKS as the building’s buyer in May, and at the time agreed to a short-term lease back of some of its office space. 

The building’s high-profile sale came as two other office towers traded in what is known as fire sales to local buyers with “patient capital” — in other words, investors who aren’t expecting a quick profit, but instead are looking further down the road.

And in September, Peninsula-based investor Roger Fields picked up the 355,000-square-foot 550 California St. property that once housed Wells Fargo Bank for just over $40 million, or $114 per square foot — less than half of what it was worth nearly two decades ago.