BXP Hired to Restart Stalled SF Development Project

The long-stalled Oceanwide development project in downtown San Francisco is getting a new lease on life. Boston developer BXP Inc. has been hired as an adviser to help restart construction on the site, which has been idle since 2019 due to capital shortages and the pandemic. The company will work with the San Francisco Recovery Fund (SFRF) on technical aspects of the project, including building systems, design, leasing, and office market dynamics.

SFRF acquired the development site from Haitong International Equity Investment Management of Hong Kong for $60M in January, after it was foreclosed on in 2021. The original lender had purchased the site at a foreclosure auction for $100M, which is an 86% discount from the $713.5M owed by Oceanwide Holdings. BXP co-developed the nearby Salesforce Tower in 2018 and has unique insight into the San Francisco office market.

SFRF will redesign the original mixed-use tower plan to focus on pure office space, taking advantage of the city's ongoing office resurgence. The city's office tenants leased 870K SF more than they vacated in the second quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of positive net absorption since 2019.