The Metreon, the mall with San Francisco’s only IMAX movie theater and downtown’s only Target, is on the market.
As opposed to the San Francisco Centre across the street, which has been bleeding tenants as a symbol of urban retail’s decline, the 312,000-square-foot Metreon is nearly 92% leased.
Opened in 1999, the Metreon was initially envisioned as a kind of interactive theme park with arcades, toy stores, and a play area meant to resemble “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.
Sony, the original developer, gave up on the effort and sold the property in 2006 to the Westfield Group and real estate company Forest City Enterprises, which turned it into a traditional shopping center.
Metreon’s anchors, Target and AMC, comprise 60% of the property’s income. The remainder of the tenants are food and beverage businesses, including Super Duper Burger, Lemonade, and Chipotle, with lease terms averaging eight years.
According to real estate brokerage JLL, which is marketing the property, Nick the Greek and Heytea recently signed leases at the mall, and a brokerage team at Lockehouse is working to bring in West Coast Sourdough and East Brother Beer Company.
The Metreon is owned by Miami-based private equity firm Starwood Capital Group, which acquired it in 2012 as part of a $1.15 billion purchase of a portfolio of eight buildings. The seller then was the Westfield Group, which owned the San Francisco Centre for decades before ceding control of the mall to lenders in 2023.
Workers at the Metreon’s Target location recently reported that the store has been plagued by thefts, leading to merchandise being locked up behind plastic barriers.