A 10-story office tower anchored by Delta Dental has changed hands in downtown Oakland for roughly half of what its previous owner paid for it seven years ago. Libertas Companies, a real estate investment firm, acquired 1333 Broadway for $58.1 million, picking up the 244,000-square-foot building next to the 12th Street BART station at a steep discount to its pre-pandemic value.
The Real Deal, which first reported the deal, reported that the property sold for $58.1 million. Previous owner Swift Real Estate Partners had paid $115 million for the property back in 2019, according to the same report. The building includes a ground-floor Walgreens beneath nine floors of office space, with Delta Dental occupying more than half of the tower.
A Bet on Oakland's Recovery
The outlet reports on Libertas's purchase. The firm operates as a value-add commercial real estate investor that donates 25 percent of its profits to charitable causes, according to Libertas Companies. The acquisition changes ownership of the building.
That uncertainty comes amid broader concerns about downtown Oakland's office market, a trend that has left even occupied buildings like 1333 Broadway financially exposed as major leases approach expiration.
Recent Investment Despite Distress
Not every signal at the building has been bleak. The report also discusses activity at 1333 Broadway.
Part of a Broader Downtown Reckoning
The 1333 Broadway sale lands amid a wave of distressed commercial transactions reshaping downtown Oakland's office corridor. Hoodline previously reported on the Clorox tower handover, in which Heitman Capital Management took control of the 535,000-square-foot headquarters building at 1221 Broadway via a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure. Hoodline has also covered downtown Oakland's office market.
The broader pattern is one of distress across downtown Oakland's office market, even as out-of-state buyers like Libertas move in on bets that the market has overcorrected.
A Ballot Measure Aimed at Foreclosures
Oakland voters will weigh in this November on Measure FF, a ballot measure designed to eliminate an exemption that currently allows banks and institutional lenders to avoid paying the city's real property transfer tax when they take ownership of foreclosed properties, according to Open Disclosure Oakland. The proposal concerns transfer taxes when lenders seize collateral.
Under the existing Measure X transfer tax structure approved by Oakland voters in November 2018, commercial and residential property transfers valued over $5 million are taxed at the city's highest rate of 2.5 percent, per Ballotpedia. Municipal revenue estimates suggest that closing the foreclosure exemption through Measure FF could bring in between $4 million and $13 million annually for the city. Whether the 1333 Broadway transaction would be covered by Measure FF is not established here.
