CIM Group’s Central Tower Heading for Foreclosure

CIM Group’s Central Tower in San Francisco is heading toward foreclosure, joining the Los Angeles-based firm’s growing list of distressed Bay Area properties.

Lenders are moving forward with foreclosure proceedings at the two-building property at 703 Market Street and 30 Third Street, the San Francisco Business Times reported. A San Francisco Superior Court judge placed the historic buildings in the hands of a receiver in May after CIM Group faced default on a $98 million loan tied to the building.

The distress began after Unity Software, the property’s largest tenant, left the roughly 165,000-square-foot complex when its lease expired in August 2025. The video game software company had already shrunk its footprint from 86,000 square feet to 53,000 square feet, leaving the building close to one-third occupied. The following month, CIM’s loan was transferred to special servicing.

CIM told lenders it would be unable to keep making monthly payments without a loan modification or forbearance. The firm defaulted on the loan last fall. Now, the receiver is working with the special servicer on a leasing strategy, while lenders anticipate taking ownership of the property by the fourth quarter of this year or selling it to recover some or all of the debt.

Central Tower is the second CIM-owned office property to face foreclosure after losing a major tenant. Lenders also sued over a loan backed by 55 Hawthorne Street, a 145,183-square-foot office building in the Financial District. That property was placed into receivership in November and is now up for sale. In recent days across the Bay, CIM defaulted on another loan tied to Kaiser Permanente’s headquarters building at 1 Kaiser Plaza in Oakland. Both 55 Hawthorne and 1 Kaiser Plaza have seen their values plummet as tenants left and the owners faced fiduciary woes.

CIM bought Central Tower in 2013 for approximately $50 million and spent roughly $47.5 million renovating it. The investor refinanced the property in 2019 with the $98 million loan after boosting occupancy to 98.5 percent from 87 percent. The property, formerly known as the Call Building, dates back to 1898 and was once the tallest building west of Chicago.

— Chris Malone Méndez