San Francisco's descent into a city where overall quality of life has severely degraded due to its "progressive" policies has claimed yet another famous area of the city.
Westfield has given up on the city's biggest shopping center to its lender, citing declining sales and foot traffic, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The move comes after Nordstrom said they were not going to continue their lease, which ends in August.
“For more than 20 years, Westfield has proudly and successfully operated San Francisco Centre, investing significantly over that time in the vitality of the property. Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward,” Westfield said.
Westfield had previously blamed crime for Nordstrom deciding to leave the mall.
The Chronicle noted Westfield pulling out of San Francisco is only the latest in other top brands deciding it is no longer worth doing business in the city:
Park Hotels & Resorts stopped payments on a $725 million mortgage tied to the nearby Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels, two of the largest in the city, and plans to surrender them as well. Next to Westfield mall, Old Navy is also closing in a few weeks, and the April fatal shooting of Banko Brown by a Walgreens security guard on the same block underscored the crime and public safety challenges in the area.
The security situation at the Westfield mall had been discussed in emails from executives.
“We urgently need to discuss Westfield,” wrote Sami Archondo, vice president of retail at Ted Baker, in an October email to other top executives at the clothing store chain. https://t.co/dFVKvUY07B
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) June 15, 2023
It is not just large companies who are feeling the consequences of care-free criminals. Eli Steele, a filmmaker, detailed how expensive camera equipment was stolen from the SUV he was renting within in minutes of parking. When he went to a police station to file report, nearly everyone who was in the lobby was there to report car thefts as well.