SF Landlord Sues Getaround for Unpaid Lease Termination Fees

A San Francisco office landlord has accused Getaround of reneging on a $3.6 million deal to terminate its headquarters lease.

Locally based Brick & Timber Collective has sued the car-sharing platform, alleging Getaround violated an agreement that allowed early termination at the property owner’s five-story hub at 55 Green Street, in the Northern Waterfront, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Early last year, Getaround reached a negotiated settlement to buy out its 10-year lease, which ran through 2029, for $3.6 million, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

As part of the deal, the platform agreed to pay Brick & Timber $1 million up front and another $1.1 million through monthly payments through May 2026, according to the newspaper.

It’s not clear what happened to the remaining $1.5 million.

Brick & Timber said Getaround hasn’t made a payment since January, according to the lawsuit. The company seeks close to $200,000 in damages, plus additional costs and fees.

The collective bought the 45,500-square-foot building in 2018 for $29 million, or $637 per square foot.

Getaround, a former darling of venture capital, leased the building the same year, months after scoring $300 million in funding from Japanese investor Softbank. Then in early 2023, it laid off 10 percent of its workers to position itself for long-term growth and “sustainable profitability.” A year later, it fired founding CEO Sam Zaid.

The car-sharing platform, which went public in 2022 via a New York-based SPAC merger, announced in February it would shutter its U.S. business and lay off “substantially all” of its employees in the country by the end of this year.

It planned to focus on operations in six European countries, including Spain, France and Germany, the firm said. Getaround did not respond to a request for comment from the Business Times.

Over the course of its decade-long lease at 55 Green, Getaround was to have paid Brick & Timber $39.2 million. After it moved out, a handful of new tenants have moved in, an unidentified source told the Business Times.

They include Twelve Labs, an artificial intelligence startup that announced a $30 million funding round at the end of last year. It has a pending deal to expand its footprint in the building.

— Dana Bartholomew