San Francisco’s Oceanwide Center site may soon have new owners, five years after work on the project stopped and left a large unfinished space in the South of Market area.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, the San Francisco Recovery Fund has made a nonrefundable deposit for the Oceanwide site at 50 First Street. Sources close to the deal say it is expected to value the parcel at about $100 million. The transaction is anticipated to close within two months, but the amount of the deposit was not disclosed.
The Recovery Fund is led by Dan Kingsley, formerly with SKS Partners, and Jay Yang, who previously worked in private equity. The group first signed a contract to buy the development site in September. With this recent deposit, they are now closer to officially owning the property.
Oceanwide Center’s story began when Chinese developer Oceanwide Holdings purchased the site in 2015 for almost $300 million. Their plan included building a mixed-use complex totaling 2 million square feet with one tower reaching 605 feet containing hotel rooms and residences and another tower standing 910 feet tall featuring offices and residential units.
In 2019, Oceanwide Holdings started seeking new funding sources or buyers for its San Francisco project as well as partners or buyers for their Los Angeles development called Oceanwide Plaza. That Los Angeles project remains stalled and covered in graffiti today.
Construction on Oceanwide Center’s shorter tower ended in 2019; work on the taller structure paused later that year as well. By then, only part of the ground-floor concrete structure had been completed.
Several attempts were made by Oceanwide Holdings to form deals with other developers or investors but none succeeded. In 2021, creditors took over control of the property after missed payments on debts totaling $321.5 million. Litigation over unpaid bills continues among stakeholders and there are still about $21 million worth of liens remaining on the property.
###
