The Swig Co. Lands $190M Refi for San Francisco Asset

The revamped 633 Folsom. Photo courtesy of JLL

The Swig Co. has obtained a $190 million refinancing package for its recently renovated office property in San Francisco’s SoMa submarket. JLL Capital Markets worked on behalf of the borrower to secure the fixed-rate, seven-year loan through Bank of China.

The funds refinance a previous loan of $75 million that U.S. Bank originated in 2018, CommercialEdge data shows.

READ ALSO: Top 5 States for LEED Office Certifications in 2021

The 12-story office building at 633 Folsom St. has been under The Swig Co.’s ownership since its construction in 1967. Currently totaling 271,000 square feet, the property recently underwent a complete renovation and expansion. Redevelopment efforts saw the addition of five floors—or 100,000 square feet— along with a new façade, new building systems and an outdoor plaza. The developer focused on sustainability goals when implementing the Gensler-designed overhaul, aiming to achieve LEED Gold and WELL Building Silver certifications.

Software company Asana occupies the entire building, which will serve as its new San Francisco headquarters. The first floor has a 1,100-square-foot retail component, occupied by R&B Café. Tenants have access to the highly-amenitized neighborhood, with plenty of shopping and dining destinations within walking distance. Public transit options and interstates 80 and 280 are situated within a 3-mile radius.

The JLL Capital Markets debt team that secured the transaction on behalf of The Swig. Co. comprised Senior Managing Director Bruce Ganong, Associate Lillian Roos and Analyst Spencer Bergthold.

Urban office locations’ continuous transformation

The Swig Co. owns five other office buildings in urban San Francisco submarkets, operating a total footprint of more than 1 million square feet. The largest of these is The Mills Building, constructed in 1900 and offering 439,000 square feet of office space in the city’s CBD.

Office vacancy in the metro’s core submarkets remained relatively unchanged over the past two months, as the pandemic continues to exert its influence on the market. In SoMa, office vacancy reached 16.7 percent in August, CommercialEdge data shows. The CBD fared somewhat better at 14.0 percent, while overall, San Francisco’s office vacancy stood at 15.4 percent.

Sales activity reached a high point in July, with $1.7 billion generated. Investors focused on stabilized buildings, usually tech or life science campuses, with most of this value generated by large single-asset transactions that also saw the average price per square foot reach $723 (in year-to-date sales through July).