San Francisco Centre Owner Moves to Evict Tenants

San Francisco Centre’s death rattle now includes efforts to evict its remaining tenants.

DBJPM 2016-SFC Emporium, the mortgage trust that owns the almost entirely vacant mall, has filed unlawful detainer complaints against three businesses occupying the Market Street shopping center, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The entity is asking the San Francisco Superior Court to order the removal of the occupants from the 1.2-million-square-foot property.

The court filings are focused on the owners and operators of shoe store Shoe Wiz, Eyebrow Plus beauty salon and Executive Order Bar & Lounge, the San Francisco Standard reported.

The Shoe Wiz store is currently locked with boxes and shelves of merchandise inside, according to the Standard. Eyebrow Plus remains open with plans to close by the end of this month. Executive Order Bar & Grill is also open, though owner John Eric Sanchez hopes to stay as long as he can despite a sharp drop in foot traffic and a $35,000 in monthly rent, he told the San Francisco Chronicle in November.

In November, legal counsel for the mall’s owners served tenants with letters declaring their leases “extinguished” and said they had to vacate. The complaints filed last week kick off a formal eviction process for those that did not leave voluntarily. According to the complaint against Eyebrow Plus, the store was given a three-day notice to leave on Dec. 13; the owner is seeking damages of $201.37 “for each day [the] defendant continues in possession of the premises and through the time of judgment,” plus a declaration of forfeiture and recovery of lawsuit costs.

San Francisco Centre has been in a death spiral since previous owners Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Brookfield Properties abandoned their post in 2023 after stopping payments on $625.6 million worth of debt on the property. Vacancy is at more than 90 percent and foot traffic fell 63.3 percent between 2019 and 2024. The mall sold at a foreclosure auction to the DBJPM 2016-SFC Emporium mortgage trust, which owned the original loan on the property, in November for $133 million. — Chris Malone Méndez