Ian Jacobs bets $48.5M on Union Square as vacancy eases
One contrarian keeps buying the block nobody wanted. The vacancy numbers are starting to move his way.
Investor Ian Jacobs has paid $48.5 million for 180 Post Street, a 39,000-square-foot Union Square retail building anchored by Bulgari, his fifth acquisition in the San Francisco district since April 2025 and a continued contrarian bet on its recovery.
Why it matters
Jacobs, described by The Real Deal as a Buffett protege, is assembling Union Square while most capital is still avoiding it, and the vacancy trend is beginning to validate the thesis. When one disciplined buyer is willing to underwrite a distressed urban retail corridor at $1,200 a foot for a luxury-anchored building, it marks a floor forming under pricing that developers and lenders elsewhere can reference. The strategy is a reminder that recovery bets get made at the trough, before the headlines turn, by buyers with patient capital and a specific view on which blocks come back first.
The numbers
Jacobs bought through Silver Gate Property II LLC, an affiliate of his $75 million Project Uris fund launched in 2024 to target downtown San Francisco. The seller, Grosvenor Americas, had held the building 30 years and paid $80 million in 2016. Bulgari holds a long-term lease. Union Square retail vacancy eased from 22.8 percent in the second quarter of 2025 to 20 percent a year later. Jacobs has said he aims to acquire 3 million square feet across the district, following buys at 200 Powell, 111 Ellis, 35-41 Powell, and 118-124 Maiden Lane.
What’s next
Watch whether Jacobs’ accumulation and the tightening vacancy pull other buyers back into Union Square. More at the San Francisco market hub.