University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Grows in San Francisco

President Donald Trump’s alma mater is planting a flag in San Francisco at a property partially owned by his real estate organization.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania signed a long-term lease for the entire 80,000-square-foot “Cube” building at 345 Montgomery Street, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The building is part of the 555 California Street complex owned by Vornado Realty Trust and the Trump Organization.

The business school will lease the Cube for more than a decade and is expected to move into the building in the next year and a half. The institution’s current San Francisco location at 2 Harrison Street, which it shares with Google, has gotten too small after the search engine company grew its footprint in the two-building office property on the Embarcadero earlier this year. The school has had a presence in San Francisco for about 25 years, and for the past decade, Wharton has leased about 35,000 square feet at the Harrison Street building, known as Hills Plaza.

The expansion comes as the school grows its tech-focused offerings, including a new master of business administration degree in artificial intelligence starting this fall. The Trump Organization owns a 30 percent stake in the 1.8-million-square-foot complex, which comprises the 52-story skyscraper at 555 California Street and two adjacent buildings at 315 and 345 Montgomery Street. The Cube rises five stories and will serve as the dedicated building for Wharton’s Bay Area activities. The school will also have its campus next to high-profile financial clients at 555 California like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Dodge & Cox and UBS.

Wharton’s San Francisco satellite campus currently serves approximately 220 students. The Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, which occupied 26,000 square feet of the Cube rent-free, will move out next year.

The school’s growth comes as another top-tier university, Nashville-based Vanderbilt, narrows its search for a place to call home in San Francisco. Vanderbilt has been working with Mayor Daniel Lurie’s office to determine the best path forward for its West Coast outpost.

— Chris Malone Méndez