https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2025/05/14/redco-208-utah-shorenstein.html
Story Highlights
Redco has negotiated a $25 million loan acquisition for Shorenstein's 208 Utah
The deal values 78,740-square-foot building at $15 million, enabling Redco's takeover.
Shorenstein faces distress across 6-7 million square feet of office space.
Capital One has a buyer for a loan backed by Shorenstein’s 208 Utah St., positioning the Showplace Square building to trade hands.
San Francisco-based investor Redco is in talks to acquire a $25 million loan backed by the office and industrial building, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter. The pending deal is expected to value the 78,740-square-foot 208 Utah at around $190 per square foot, or $15 million.
The deal, if closed, would tee up Redco to take 208 Utah off Shorenstein’s hands, either through foreclosure or a deed-in-lieu process, sometimes called a friendly foreclosure. Marketing materials for the loan obtained by the Business Times early this year advertised the opportunity to acquire the building itself, suggesting Capital One expected Shorenstein to cooperate with prospective buyers.
Capital One did not respond to a request for comment; Shorenstein declined to comment.
Redco has emerged as one of the most active buyers in San Francisco’s postpandemic downtown, snapping up beloved downtown Irish Bar Harrington’s; 400 Montgomery St., a 86,230-square-foot office building; and 300 California St., a 119,000-square-foot office building, all roughly within a three-block stretch of the Financial District.
Now 208 Utah could become the first San Francisco asset shed by Shorenstein in light of lender pressure. The Business Times reported in January that 2.7 million square feet of office properties owned by the San Francisco-based investor had been sold at losses or lost to foreclosure over the last year.
Shorenstein's national portfolio at the start of this year included between 6 million and 7 million square feet of additional office space in some form of distress; that pool includes assets subject to some form of lender control and buildings that, facing lender pressure, are not expected to remain in Shorenstein’s portfolio in the long term.
Among the troubled properties is 45 Fremont St., a 620,000-square-foot downtown San Francisco office tower Shorenstein has owned for decades. The Business Times reported last month Shorenstein and partner Blackstone tapped real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured to market the building for sale at the urging of their lenders.
"If you would have told me five or six years ago that we would be walking away from multiple properties, I would probably be a lot more stressed about it," CEO Brandon Shorenstein told the Wall Street Journal of the firm's losses. "But unfortunately that's just where the state of the business is today."
Shorenstein had 13.6 million square feet of space under management as of the close of last year, though that figure does not include several legacy investments in San Francisco. The Shorenstein family trust acquired 208 Utah in 2012 for $25.68 million and refinanced with the $25 million loan from Capital One in 2019.
Redco, if it closes the 208 Utah deal, will acquire a largely empty building. Strava’s 34,000-square-foot headquarters lease in the building expires next month; it has already relocated to a new home base in Meta’s old offices at 181 Fremont St.