Former Yelp Offices in San Francisco For Sale

The former Financial District home of Yelp’s headquarters is available for purchase.

A receiver appointed by the San Francisco County Superior Court is shopping the roughly 145,200-square-foot tower at 55 Hawthorne Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported. The unnamed receiver, charged with managing and overseeing the property, listed the building after its owner CIM Group defaulted on a $61.5 million loan backed by the property last year. An asking price has not been disclosed.

Seeking a buyer for the property could help the owner recoup some or all of the debt tied to the structure. The loan was transferred into special servicing in July 2025, giving the receiver the responsibility of working on behalf of lenders to manage distressed debt.

Yelp had been a tenant in the building since 2014 but listed its entire full-building lease up for sublease in recent years, landing subtenants like NerdWallet and Motive. Yelp’s lease expired last July. Following its departure from the building, occupancy dropped to 12 percent, and the loan went into default. In notes to bond holders, the special servicer said it plans to discuss different strategies to settle the debt that are “deemed appropriate to achieve the highest net present value recovery.”

Most of the building’s subtenants left after Yelp’s lease was up. One tenant renewed a one-year lease in the building for 17,000 square feet, though that deal expires this month. Distyl AI occupies one floor in the building, and that lease is slated to expire in February. After Distyl’s departure, the tower will be fully empty unless new tenants sign on.

Los Angeles-based CIM Group acquired the 11-story building in 2016 for $123 million, or roughly $900 per square foot. It took out a $61.5 million acquisition loan to help pay for the purchase, which fell into default as the building began emptying out. The most recent appraisal for the property last year valued the building at $51 million, or about $350 per square foot. CIM Group listed the property for sale in 2024, likely in anticipation of Yelp’s eventual departure.

The south Financial District submarket has grabbed 44 percent of artificial intelligence-related leasing since last year, according to JLL, which is marketing the property. There are currently 268 active requirements in the market averaging 39,600 square feet and totaling more than 8 million square feet of space needed. Across the city, tech firms account for about half of the demand for space, with AI companies alone making up about a quarter of all citywide demand.

— Chris Malone Méndez