Union Square just landed another deep-pocketed believer in its comeback story. Ian Jacobs, an heir to the Reichmann real estate empire, has purchased a two-story retail building at 118-124 Maiden Lane for a bit more than $3.1 million. The roughly 4,100-square-foot spot, a longtime home for tech pop-ups and small retailers, reopened in March as Camera West after its previous run as consumer-tech shop b8ta. The deal is the latest piece in Jacobs' ongoing downtown San Francisco buying streak under his Project Uris banner.
According to The Real Deal, seller Tilton-Maiden Lane Partners handed the property to 120 Maiden LLC, a Delaware entity formed by Max Raskin, co-founder and managing director of Uris Acquisitions. The outlet reports the sale price edged past $3.1 million and notes that Uris Acquisitions, described in filings as a roughly $75 million investment vehicle, has been quietly stitching together downtown parcels in hopes of assembling millions of square feet. Instead of one splashy blockbuster acquisition, the strategy leans on a series of small, targeted buys.
Project Uris takes its name from the old Uris Buildings Corporation and is pitched as a long-term value play, aiming to collect up to 3 million square feet in downtown San Francisco, according to The San Francisco Standard. The Standard notes that Jacobs, a former Berkshire researcher and member of the Reichmann family, has been actively shopping Union Square since 2025, picking up properties at discounts compared with pre-pandemic pricing. City officials and neighborhood boosters have pointed to selective reopenings as early hints of stabilization, even while big-name anchors remain an open question.
What 118-124 Maiden Lane Brings To The Block
Per The Real Deal, the newly acquired building spans about 4,135 square feet across its ground, mezzanine and second floors. It previously housed b8ta before Camera West set up shop in March. Official neighborhood records list Tilton-Maiden Lane Partners as the parcel owner, and the Union Square Business Improvement District assessment roll lists 118-124 Maiden Lane in its inventory. Structured through 120 Maiden LLC, the purchase fits Project Uris' playbook of compact, street-front retail where even moderate foot traffic can still move the needle.
Slow Retail Comeback, One Storefront At A Time
The San Francisco Standard has tracked a wave of returns and fresh faces in the district, from Nintendo and Shoe Palace to a renewed storefront presence for The RealReal, and it notes Suitsupply's auction purchase of the Grace Building as part of the same drip-drip recovery. Those arrivals hint at pockets of demand along high-traffic stretches like Maiden Lane and Powell Street, even as larger department stores and some office tenants stay in limbo. For neighborhood merchants and property owners, Jacobs' deals amount to a wager that a patchwork of pop-ups, specialty shops and long-term holds can gradually rebuild downtown energy.
For market watchers, Jacobs' steady buying looks less like a quick flip and more like a long-game conviction play on San Francisco's core. As TheStreet reported, Jacobs frames these acquisitions as decade-long bets and had other Union Square properties, including a separate building at 111 Ellis, in various stages of escrow last year. If that pace continues, expect Project Uris to keep cherry-picking street-level parcels where a slowly revived retail mix could eventually make the math work.
