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San Francisco building, once city’s punk mecca, up for auction
Bids on 435 Broadway, which once housed Mabuhay Gardens, to start at $2.15 million
A punk show at Mabuhay Gardens (1978) and 435 Broadway (Getty, Google Maps)
What could be more punk than to have a San Francisco building that was once the epicenter of the West Coast punk scene hit the auction block, yet have the listing make no mention of its history?
Bidding for the 12,000-square-foot building at 435 Broadway, which was home to Mabuhay Gardens, will begin June 6, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The opening price is $2.15 million, with Sotheby’s International overseeing the auction, the outlet said.
For about a decade beginning in the mid-1970s, the venue hosted numerous burgeoning bands that went on to stardom, including Dead Kennedys, The Police and Blondie. Comedians such as Robin Williams and Whoopie Goldberg also performed there.
The building also served as home to the On Broadway Theater.
The listing makes no mention of the building’s historic past, but it did get the attention of at least one person who performed at San Francisco’s answer to New York’s CBGB.
“Attention rich people!” former Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra wrote on Twitter, according to the Chronicle. “This building up for sale is the former home of both Mabuhay Gardens downstairs and the On Broadway upstairs! In other words, MAXIMUM PUNK HISTORY and a lot more!!”
After Mabuhay closed in 1987, the building served as a venue for a number of clubs and lounges.
The building isn’t the only one for sale in San Francisco.
Last month, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group listed the 22-story office tower at 350 California Street, which was once valued at $300 million, but now expected to generate offers at about 80 percent less.
The building was valued at $300 million in 2019. Bids are expected to come in from $60 million, commercial real-estate brokers say.
Before the pandemic, California Street was home to some of the world’s most valuable commercial real estate. Now, in the era of remote work, the city’s office vacancy has jumped to a record 32.7 percent, more than seven times the rate before the pandemic.
Some of the city’s most noted corporate tenants, from Salesforce to Meta Platforms, have sublet offices, flooding the market with square footage.
— Ted Glanzer