Yesterday, we discussed Oakland. Today, across the bridge ...
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How San Francisco's Westfield turned into a ghost mall: The dying center where 75 PERCENT of units are empty and more stores are closing - as shoppers describe 'dodgy' area overrun with homeless who left them 'scared'
The San Francisco Center, once a thriving mall home to the largest Nordstrom in America, is a shell of its former self after a string of high-profile departures
Staff and shoppers in the mall, where five more stores closed in January, told DailyMail.com that crime and falling foot traffic is ruining the palatial building
The mall lost $1bn in value last year amid the city's failure to recover from covid*
The mall's cavernous, marble-floored atrium is eerily quiet. There's not a single shopper in sight and a litany of abandoned stores lay mostly empty, but for a few leftover cardboard boxes or fading signs which serve as a reminder of the former occupants.
This is not a scene from a post-apocalyptic TV show. And it's not a so-called 'dead mall' in some forgotten corner of America.
This is the palatial San Francisco Center on a Friday afternoon in mid-January, when just a few years ago the luxurious complex would have been heaving with shoppers reveling in after-Christmas sales.
Today, this former retail jewel at the heart of one of America's most iconic cities is literally a shell of its former self.
Businesses have left in droves – this month alone, five have closed or announced they plan to – and occupancy is at a measly 25 percent. Footfall has plunged by half since last year and, as shops and customers have departed, the homeless have moved in and drug-taking and crime have risen.
Democrats have completely controlled San Francisco since 1964, when the last Republican mayor left office. Pal Nancy and I visited in 1979 and it was still beautiful, so it’s taken the progressives some time to bring their vision to full bloom, but by golly, they’ve done it.
*The trouble with socialism is that, sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money”. Margaret Thatcher.
And also, other people’s property to tax:
Nordstrom's closure in August was arguably the most damaging. The retailer once occupied 350,000 feet of the San Francisco Center across five floors – making it the largest Nordstrom in America.
Two months earlier in June, Westfield announced it would give up ownership of the mall, which once bore its name, and turn over the property to its lender. A cutting statement blamed the 'deteriorating situation in downtown San Francisco' and 'unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees'.
The rapid decline has caused the San Francisco Center to lose $1 billion in value since 2016 and the 1.45 million-square-foot mall is now worth only $290 million.
