Dallas-based investor Douglas MacMahon, who has spent tens of millions of dollars on San Francisco real estate since the pandemic market crash, has purchased another property in Union Square.
An ownership group led by MacMahon, a principal at Moran Capital, scooped up One Union Square, a seven-story commercial building at the corner of Geary and Stockton streets. The group purchased the debt on the building, which was in foreclosure, for $42.5 million earlier this summer, according to public records. It last sold in 2013 for $95.8 million.
Entities linked to MacMahon started a buying spree late last year. First, an investor group bought the four-story Union Square building at 225 Post St., formerly owned by the parent company of Burberry, for at least $17.4 million, the SF Business Times reported. Next came the purchase of 11 retail properties across five buildings in Hayes Valley for $10.9 million, according to The Real Deal.
“My partners and I are long-term investors, and we believe San Francisco in the long-term is a great market for investing in real estate,” MacMahon told The Real Deal at the time, while hinting at more acquisitions to come. He also specified that it was not Moran Capital that was making the purchases but a different partnership group.
MacMahon did not respond to a request for comment.
MacMahon is the latest out-of-state investor keen to pour money into San Francisco lately. In the past few months, real estate heir Ian Jacobs has picked up three buildings along Powell Street through an initiative dubbed Project Uris. His purchases include the green Art Deco building at 200 Powell St., which will soon host Chinese retailer Pop Mart of plushie monster Labubu fame.
MacMahon’s latest acquisition, One Union Square, is at 200-212 Stockton St. and 172-180 Geary St. French-Italian luxury sportswear brand Moncler occupies one ground-floor space, while units previously occupied by Bulgari, Hublot, and Lacoste remain empty.
The buyers plan to retain the building’s management and leasing agents, according to Cushman & Wakefield property manager Sandy Lam. The firm manages a handful of properties around Union Square, which remains pockmarked by vacancies, though leasing momentum has been intensifying.
The Cushman & Wakefield team is “hopeful” about the new management and the building’s future, Lam said. “It’s only going to get better from here.”