Published by FOX Business | July 15, 2023
Post Brothers CEO Michael Pestronk outlines why he believes San Francisco provides a huge opportunity for investment despite economic and social struggles.
While dozens of businesses have joined an exodus from San Francisco, one property developer says the California city is ripe with “opportunities.”
“We’re looking for opportunities in San Francisco,” Post Brother CEO Michael Pestronk said. “For all this noise, do you know how many non-performing office buildings have traded in San Francisco in the last year? Zero. You know how many vacant office buildings are available today to buy that are ready for conversion? Zero.”
Pestronk acknowledged that The Golden City has witnessed “terrible stories” of businesses leaving, including shopping center giant Westfield and Park Hotels & Resorts. He claimed, however, that it is only a “temporary issue.”
“There were a series of terrible stories in the last week about San Francisco, about the biggest hotels shutting down, the biggest mall shutting down,” he said.
“If you look at the Wall Street Journal story about the hotels, the most relevant things in that story are the beginning and the end. At the beginning, they discuss how [in] New York, L.A. and other major cities, the hotel markets are thriving and doing great. And at the end, the head of the hotel workers union for that hotel says effectively the next buyer is going to make a killing here. And that’s what we think, we think this is a temporary issue.”
Shopping center giant Westfield confirmed to FOX Business Monday that it is walking away from its San Francisco Centre mall, becoming the latest major company to leave the California city amid rampant crime problems.
The company and partner Brookfield Properties earlier this month stopped making payments on a $558 million loan securing the San Francisco Centre property.
