Ian Jacobs’ San Francisco Buys Might Signal Recovery

As downtown San Francisco continues its post-pandemic recovery, one real estate scion could lead the way into a new era.

Ian Jacobs, a descendant of the Toronto-based Reichmann real estate empire, has been on a building-buying spree on the Powell Street retail corridor in recent months, potentially sparking hope for a rebound in the Union Square shopping area, CoStar reported.

The story actually dates back to the late 1970s when Reichmann began acquiring office buildings in New York City for bargain-basement prices from the now-defunct Uris Buildings Corporation and turned their financial fortunes around in subsequent years. That company is now the namesake of Jacobs’ Project Uris effort, which has raised funds upward of $75 million with the goal of buying 3 million square feet of property in downtown San Francisco.

Jacobs’ first Project Uris-related purchase was for the Art Deco building at 200 Powell Street in April for $7.4 million. That property was once home to businesses like Skechers. He followed it up last month with the purchase of 111 Ellis Street, a 21-412-square-foot retail building at the corner of Ellis and Powell, for an undisclosed price. He bought another retail building at 35-41 Powell Street earlier this month for $7.1 million.

Mayor Daniel Lurie, along with other building owners, tenants, leasing agents and other local stakeholders, are happy to see moguls like Jacobs, a former Warren Buffett protégé at Berkshire Hathaway, come in as retailers begin making their way back to Powell Street, according to San Francisco Standard. “I’m excited about Ian’s project,” the mayor told Max Raskin, Uris’ managing director, last year.

The retail vacancy rate in the neighborhood in recent months has dropped to 14.7 percent, according to CoStar. It’s a promising sign after the retail vacancy rate rose to about 22 percent earlier this year from 9 percent in 2019. The most recent celebrated forthcoming arrival is Chinese toy store Pop Mart, maker of popular Labubu dolls, which will set up shop at Jacobs’ 200 Powell Street building.

Other brands that have moved into Union Square’s Powell Street corridor this year include Shoe Palace, which opened at Powell and Geary Streets in February and Nintendo with its first West Coast outpost at 331 Powell Street in May. Zara is set to move in at Powell and Post Streets in the coming months. — Chris Malone Méndez