100 First Plaza

100 First Plaza
San Francisco, California

Property Address:
100 First St.,
San Francisco, CA 94105

With no prior experience in San Francisco, BPG entered the San Francisco market in 1983 with the intent of developing a major office building, 100 First Plaza, a 500,000-square-foot, 27-story building. The site, adjacent to the TransBay Terminal, was assembled within a 60-day period in mid-1983. During predevelopment, the project was hit with the uncertain and new provisions of the pending San Francisco Downtown Plan, which delayed the approval process and complicated development. Despite these challenges, before construction began, BPG preleased 50% of the project to Delta Dental. Based on this lease, the project finally won city approval and BPG arranged to fund the construction costs. The construction loan was unique, involving issuing Commercial Paper by Morgan Stanley, and resulted in borrowing costs significantly lower than traditional bank financing. The project was completed on budget and when finished in 1988 was near 90% leased. The asset was sold in 1999 before the “Dotcom” downturn.