Singapore’s Mapletree Clinches San Francisco Office Bldg

USA – Sources revealed that Singapore-based Mapletree Investments has made a formal offer to acquire the Uptown Station office building in Oakland within San Francisco, California and the seller has accepted the offer, according to a recent report from The Registry.

The property investment firm, which is controlled by Singapore’s Temasek, is said to be in the process of buying the 4-storey office block for around US$420 million. However, the deal has not been concluded and the final selling price has yet to be announced.

Located at 1955 Broadway in Oakland’s revived Uptown neighbourhood the 396,808 sq ft property was supposed to be the main headquarters of Uber. But the ride sharing giant sold the property in 2017 to Los Angeles-based CIM Group for US$180 million (about US$505 psf) without ever having occupied it.

Built in 1929, the recently renovated office building in the San Francisco Bay Area was then fully leased by CIM to online payment processing firm Square.

Then in February 2020, Blackstone agreed to buy the Uptown Station for US$405 million (US$1,020 psf). But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York-based investment firm withdrew from the deal and forfeited a non-refundable deposit of US$20 million.

Thereafter, CIM Group relisted the commercial property in January with an asking price of nearly US$420 million, with the San Francisco branch of Knight Frank Newmark advising the seller.

If it manages to offload the office building at that price, it would translate to a capitalisation rate of 5 percent based on the asset’s present net operating income. It would also represent a psf price of US$1,058, which will be the highest for an office complex in Oakland.

The current record holder is France’s AXA Investment Management, which acquired 180 Grand in Oakland for US$632 psf in 2019.