A shuttered portion of the San Francisco Centre shopping mall is being evaluated for potential conversion into a data center, according to reporting cited from the San Francisco Chronicle. A Maryland-based financial advisory firm, KG Growth Partners, has approached the City of San Francisco about a possible acquisition of part of the property for redevelopment to a technical use.
The section under discussion is located at 845 Market St. and encompasses approximately 350,000 square feet, formerly occupied by Bloomingdale’s. KG Growth Partners is said to be working with an unidentified prospective buyer tied to the possible transaction involving this portion of the mall, which is currently closed.
KG CEO Jared Krieger declined to provide transaction specifics to the Chronicle, noting that the firm does not comment on “live transactions.” However, he outlined the general approach the company takes on similar projects, emphasizing that it does not aim to develop “a conventional suburban server farm.” Instead, he described a model focused on conversion of existing urban buildings.
Under this concept, Krieger said, the ground floor and other public-facing levels of a building are kept active and open to the public, while technical uses such as data center infrastructure are concentrated on upper floors and back-of-house space. He framed this strategy as a way to align digital infrastructure with existing urban fabric rather than displacing street-level activity.
Krieger also pointed to the broader context for this type of reuse, noting that downtown San Francisco has a vacancy problem in exactly the kind of building targeted for this potential conversion. In his view, reusing space with a combination of public and technical functions offers more benefit to the surrounding block than what he described as a “dark box” alternative.
As of the Chronicle’s latest reporting, no permit applications have been submitted to the City of San Francisco for the contemplated project at 845 Market St. Details on timing, capital structure, and the identity of the potential buyer have not been disclosed, and the initiative remains at an exploratory stage.
