Museum of Illusions Leases Market Street Space

An Instagram-worthy museum is the latest player in downtown San Francisco’s comeback.

The Museum of Illusions signed a lease for 14,300 square feet at 735 Market Street, filling the former Decathlon store that has sat vacant since 2020, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The attraction is expected to open in 2027 after completing roughly $1.6 million in tenant improvements, according to permit filings cited by the Business Times.

The deal lands on a stretch of Market Street that has struggled to backfill large retail spaces since the pandemic hollowed out downtown foot traffic. Neighboring storefronts, including a former CVS Pharmacy at 731 Market Street and a shuttered Walgreens across the street at 740 Market, remain dark years later, despite redevelopment proposals and attempts to subdivide the spaces.

Founded in Croatia in 2015, Museum of Illusions has expanded to nearly 70 locations across more than two dozen countries. The company caters to tourists, families and social-media-minded visitors with immersive exhibits built around optical illusions, perspective tricks and interactive installations. The chain is now controlled by an investor group led by New York-based Brightwood Capital Advisors, which acquired the company earlier this year and is pushing an aggressive U.S. expansion strategy. San Francisco is part of that growth plan, alongside upcoming locations in Sacramento, Miami, London and Birmingham. The Sacramento Museum of Illusions is slated to open in July.

The Market Street corridor has been humming back to life as the Union Square neighborhood sees the return of some old tenants and an influx of new ones breathing new life into the area and attracting shoppers along with them. Foot traffic in the Union Square submarket, which includes 735 Market, increased 9.6 percent year over year, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s quarterly report cited by the Business Times. Vacancies, meanwhile, fell 2.8 percent year over year.

— Chris Malone Méndez