CIM Group Buys SF Office Asset for Hefty Price Tag

By Veronica Grecu

San Francisco—True to its strategy to expand its office portfolio, CIM Group has recently acquired an 11-story building located in San Francisco’s hot South Financial District.

55 Hawthorne

The Los Angeles-based company purchased the 143,000-square-foot office property at 55 Hawthorne St. from a joint venture between Harvest Properties and Invesco Real Estate for a whopping $123 million. This transaction brings a significant amount of profit to the selling party, which had acquired the asset back in July 2014 for $77 million from DivcoWest.

According to The Registry, JLL’s Erik Hanson, Rob Hielscher and Michel Seife handled the sales listing.

“This stabilized-asset is well-located in a strong San Francisco office market. The area is one which CIM has identified for continued investment,” said Shaul Kuba, co-founder & principal of CIM Group, in prepared remarks.

Originally built in 1970 and renovated in 2013 and 2014, 55 Hawthorne comprises eight stories of creative office space and a 275-stall five-level parking garage, with two underground levels. In fall 2014, shortly after the building changed ownership, Yelp closed a major expansion lease for 102,000 square feet of space, with the right to expand by another 34,000 square feet by 2018. The tenant roster at 55 Hawthorne also includes Dell and Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area.

55 Hawthorne is conveniently located near public transportation, and only one block from the Second Street Technology Corridor and a few blocks from the Transbay neighborhood. The building is also within walking distance to vibrant local amenities, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, which was recently renovated.

CIM Group closed on 55 Hawthorne shortly after acquiring the five-story 340 Townsend building in SoMa for $38.5 million. With these two new acquisitions, the Los Angeles-based company now owns nine office properties in San Francisco, as well as one luxury condominium currently under development in Mission Bay.

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix