TIAA Sells Off Stakes in San Francisco Office Buildings

Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America is lightening its San Francisco office load.

The annuity and investment company is reportedly planning to put 88 Kearney Street in Downtown San Francisco on the market for around $60 million, after selling off its stakes in two other office buildings in the city, according to a report from the San Francisco Business Times.

Kearny Street is a 234,000-square-foot building TIAA bought in 1999 for $65.7 million, according to the Business Times. That’s about the same price it has tapped CBRE to market the property for, according to the report citing anonymous sources.

The listing follows TIAA’s sale of its majority, 50.1 percent, stakes in the 615,000-square-foot office at 405 Howard Street and a 445,000-square-foot building at 888 Brannan Street to joint venture partner Norges Bank Investment Management. The Brannan Street property is home to Airbnb headquarters.

The pair of San Francisco buildings were part of an eight-office purchase by Norges Bank for $976.8 million, the company said in an announcement on the deal last week.

The portfolio transaction includes almost 3.7 million square feet of space and also involved two Boston buildings at 501 Boylston Street and 33 Arch Street, in addition to four buildings in Washington, D.C. The D.C. properties included 800 17th Street, 1101 Pennsylvania Avenue, Franklin Square and 25 Massachusetts Avenue.

Norges purchased the buildings from TIAA subsidiaries.

“In a period of heightened dislocation in the office sector, we see this as an opportune moment to invest,” Norges’ Per Løken said in a statement last week.

Løken went on to say Norges’ investments show the company’s belief that “well-located, high-quality office buildings” hold long-term value for investors.

— Kari Hamanaka