The 10-story office tower at 550 Kearny Street in San Francisco's Financial District is back on the market, and its owner is looking for a hefty payday. The roughly 196,438-square-foot building, tied to a distressed mortgage that Kairos picked up in May 2024, is now being marketed at nearly twice what the firm paid for that debt. It is a remarkably fast turn for an office asset that effectively traded hands through a loan purchase less than two years ago.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, the offering hit the market today, with brokers pitching the entire building and floating a price described as almost double Kairos’ 2024 outlay. Local industry watchers had already flagged the move in late April, noting both the unusual size of the listing and its prime Financial District address.
Kairos, led by Carl Chang, paid $35.4 million in May 2024 to acquire an $89.9 million mortgage loan tied to 550 Kearny, positioning the investor to take control if the previous ownership group could not refinance, as reported by The Real Deal. The tower last traded in 2017 for about $113 million, a price that underlines how sharply downtown San Francisco office values have swung since the previous cycle.
Building details and availability
The property totals roughly 196,438 square feet spread over ten stories and currently offers multiple plug-and-play creative floors available for sublease, according to its listing on CBRE. Several full floors are being marketed with short-term agreements that run through late July 2026, a setup that could appeal to a buyer looking for near-term cash flow improvement rather than a long, drawn-out lease-up.
Why it’s back on the market
Buyers and brokers say a modest rebound in downtown leasing has given sellers cover to push pricing on value-add office plays a bit harder. A city debt-offering packet summarizing market research notes a decline in San Francisco’s office vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2026 and cites CBRE analysis pointing to artificial intelligence-driven tenant demand as a potential spark for renewed leasing activity. SFO's offering documents pull together that narrative and mirror the pitch brokers are making when they shop large Financial District office properties.
Whether anyone bites on 550 Kearny at a price near double Kairos’ debt purchase is the real stress test. The listing will show if investor appetite has truly shifted away from pure opportunistic debt buys and back toward writing bigger checks for full-on ownership of San Francisco office towers.
