San Francisco is infamous for its number of empty offices, now hovering at 37 percent, with investors fleeing the sector. But not Nancy Pelosi and her husband Paul.
The well-heeled former House Speaker and her spouse sank between $250,000 and $500,000 in a joint venture acquiring and managing an Art Deco office building at 631 Howard Street, in SoMa, the San Francisco Standard reported, citing a recent financial disclosure.
The five-story, 108,800-square-foot office building was purchased by businessman Greg Flynn and locally based Ellis Partners for $36.4 million, or $335 per square foot. The seller was Dallas-based Invesco Real Estate.
“Truth is, the investment markets are still out on San Francisco properties,” an unidentified real estate broker with knowledge of Flynn and Pelosi told the Standard “Normally, [Flynn] would have gone in with a capital partner and a bank. But these days, you cobble together what you can.
“The 1 percent [with money] can make these sorts of moves right now.”
Last year, Paul Pelosi invested in another of Flynn’s real estate deals, putting between $500,000 and $1 million in a limited liability company that was “acquiring and restoring a luxury hotel” in San Francisco, according to the congresswoman’s last annual financial disclosure.
During the same month as the Pelosi disclosure, Flynn Properties and Texas-based Highgate bought the historic 135-room Huntington Hotel at 1075 California Street, on Nob Hill. The joint venture acquired the 12-story hotel after purchasing its $56.2 million mortgage from Deutsche Bank.
Flynn’s group aims to position the Huntington as the city’s most sought-after luxury hotel, restoring it to the status of its earliest days. It’s slated to reopen next year.
The Pelosis’ stakes in the properties, the latest in a tranche of commercial real estate holdings in San Francisco, represent an investment by a civic leader during a severe market downturn, according to the Standard.
Local investors like Pelosi, whose net worth is estimated in nine figures, have been the engine of recent commercial deals in San Francisco as traditional lenders have pulled back from commercial transactions.
Under her disclosures, the properties are listed as owned by Paul Pelosi. An unidentified spokesperson for the congresswoman declined to comment.
Paul Pelosi, brutally assaulted in his Pacific Heights home in 2022, is known for his investments, according to the newspaper. They include an ill-fated attempt to launch a professional football league and well-timed trades in tech stocks such as Nvidia and Microsoft.
His commercial real estate holdings include a storefront at 25 Point Lobos, south of the Presidio, that contains a Walgreens pharmacy, according to his wife’s financial disclosure last year.
The property is assessed at $5.8 million, and Pelosi reported it generates between $100,000 and $1 million a year in rent, the Standard reported.
Other Pelosi properties in San Francisco include a three-story commercial building at 45 Belden Place, which generates another $100,000 to $1 million a year in rental income.
The Pelosis also own a vineyard in Napa Valley, the Auberge du Soleil luxury resort in Rutherford and an undeveloped housing tract in Sacramento, according to the Standard.
— Dana Bartholomew
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