Prado Group, Presidio Bay Exit Deal For San Francisco Centre Mall
San Francisco developers Prado Group and Presidio Bay Ventures are walking away from a pending deal to purchase the shuttered San Francisco Centre Mall, sending the 1.5M SF Market Street property back to the sales market.
“After extensive diligence and thoughtful evaluation, we are not currently moving forward with the transaction,” executives with Presidio Bay and Prado Group said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, which first reported the news Wednesday.
The developers didn’t offer a reason for pulling out of the deal. The property will be relisted, the Chronicle reported, citing anonymous sources. CBRE previously listed the mall for sale.
“We are grateful to the sellers, CBRE and Eastdil, the City, [San Francisco Unified School District], our consultants, partners, and the many stakeholders who engaged constructively throughout our purchase evaluation process,” Prado and Presidio Bay said in their statement. “We are not at liberty to comment any further at this time.”
The once-prestigious San Francisco Centre has been in financial straits since 2023, when former owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Brookfield Properties handed over the keys.
The massive mall’s financial woes stem from a mass exodus of tenants that once included major anchors such as Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom, which exited the city’s largest shopping mall as foot traffic dwindled following pandemic-related work-from-home initiatives and as retailers across the city struggled with a surge in retail theft.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase foreclosed on $558M in debt tied to the property in November, and the mall went dark in February. In March, Presidio Bay and Prado Group emerged as potential buyers, winning out over multiple San Francisco development groups and one national firm. Sources told the Chronicle the winning bid for the 5-acre San Francisco Centre was likely in the $130M range.
Both developers have other projects active in the city. They said in their statement that they still believe in the future of downtown San Francisco, which is in the midst of a recovery after the pandemic ended an office leasing spree that drove thousands of workers downtown every day.
Presidio Bay is developing an office resort concept at 88 Spear St. that is slated to come online by year’s end. It is also seeking to acquire the historic federal building at 301 Battery St.
Prado Group has developed and acquired multiple multifamily and mixed-use retail projects across the city and is advancing a large multifamily project at 3333 California St.
San Francisco’s retail market experienced a modest bounce stemming from a surge in office leasing that has helped reduce overall retail vacancy to 5.6% in the second quarter, according to Kidder Mathews.
That is 0.4% lower than the first quarter and a 90-basis-point reduction from Q2 2025 — the fourth consecutive quarter of declining retail vacancy.
Year-to-date retail absorption totaled 301K SF, up 65.6% from the first half of 2025, Kidder Mathews added.
