{"id":28187,"date":"2023-08-29T12:30:39","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T19:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28187"},"modified":"2023-08-29T12:30:40","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T19:30:40","slug":"s-f-hotel-investor-makes-big-bet-with-three-reopenings-in-troubled-soma-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/29\/s-f-hotel-investor-makes-big-bet-with-three-reopenings-in-troubled-soma-area\/","title":{"rendered":"S.F. hotel investor makes big bet with three reopenings in troubled SoMa area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/roland-li\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roland Li<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aug. 28, 2023 (SFChronicle.com)<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Your%20friend%20has%20shared%20a%20San%20Francisco%20Chronicle%20link%20with%20you%3A%20&amp;body=S.F.%20hotel%20investor%20makes%20big%20bet%20with%20three%20reopenings%20in%20troubled%20SoMa%20area%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.sfchronicle.com%2Fbayarea%2Farticle%2Fhotels-soma-south-market-18331407.php%3Futm_campaign%3DCMS%2520Sharing%2520Tools%2520(Premium)%26utm_source%3Dshare-by-email%26utm_medium%3Demail%0A%0AThe%20three%20South%20of%20Market%20hotels%20are%20within%20two%20blocks%20of%20the%20San%20Francisco%20Federal...%0A%0AThis%20message%20was%20sent%20via%20San%20Francisco%20Chronicle\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"1-image-24174549\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.hdnux.com\/photos\/01\/34\/15\/77\/24174549\/4\/1200x0.jpg\" alt=\"The sidewalks outside the former Carriage Inn Best Western at 140 Seventh St. in San Francisco, which is being\u00a0rebranded as Hotel Fiona, are known for attracting drug users.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">1of7The sidewalks outside the former Carriage Inn Best Western at 140 Seventh St. in San Francisco, which is being&nbsp;rebranded as Hotel Fiona, are known for attracting drug users.Roland Li \/ The Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"2-image-24174550\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.hdnux.com\/photos\/01\/34\/15\/77\/24174550\/3\/1200x0.jpg\" alt=\"Americania Hotel at 121 Seventh St. is being\u00a0rebranded as SoMa House.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\" id=\"3-image-24174680\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.hdnux.com\/photos\/01\/34\/16\/01\/24174680\/3\/1200x0.jpg\" alt=\"Four tents are seen outside Good Hotel at 112 Seventh St. in San Francisco. The hotel is being\u00a0rebranded as Hotel Garrett.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A major hotel investor is making a multimillion-dollar bet on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/sf-tourism-hotels-convention-forecast-2024-recover-18299878.php\">San Francisco\u2019s tourism recovery<\/a>&nbsp;with the renovations and rebrandings of four San Francisco hotels, including a cluster of three on troubled Seventh Street in South of Market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related<\/strong>:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/empty-buildings-housing-18307361.php\">These \u2018zombie\u2019 buildings sit empty. Why isn\u2019t San Francisco buying them for affordable housing?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Oxford Capital Group is finishing work on new bathrooms and guest rooms, lobbies and installing new air conditioning systems and furniture. It is also renovating the Hotel Vertigo in Lower Nob Hill, one of the filming locations for the acclaimed 1958 Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The three Seventh Street hotels will start reopening in September, with new bars and restaurants planned next year. They\u2019re all within two blocks of the San Francisco Federal Building, where drug dealers and users congregate daily. Government workers&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/drugs-crime-nancy-pelosi-federal-building-18292237.php\">were told this month<\/a>&nbsp;to work remotely due to safety concerns. On Friday, there were four tents on Mission Street outside one of the hotels, and another five on nearby Minna Street.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Oxford is undeterred and believes the new hotels will help revitalize the area adjacent to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/mid-market-neighborhood-projects-18307702.php\">long-struggling Mid-Market district<\/a>, even as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/s-f-hotel-owner-city-recovery-to-take-7-years-18279484.php\">other real estate owners<\/a>&nbsp;and retailers in the area flee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to take back Seventh Street,\u201d said George Jordan, president of Oxford Hotels &amp; Resorts, Oxford Capital\u2019s hotel operator subsidiary. \u201cWe know exactly what we\u2019re up against. We know what we\u2019re getting into. We\u2019re not wearing rose-colored glasses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSan Francisco has been through fires, earthquakes, the dot-com burst, Y2K and the pandemic. It\u2019ll get through fentanyl,\u201d he said. \u201cI think San Francisco\u2019s on the nadir and we\u2019re on the way back up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hotels\u2019 rebrandings and new features include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The 152-room Americania Hotel at 121 Seventh St. will reopen as SoMa House in September. New amenities include a fitness center, heated outdoor pool and courtyard. A new&nbsp;sports-themed gastropub called SoMa Social is set to open in early 2024, with further plans to add a rooftop space.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The 121-room Good Hotel at 112 Seventh St. will reopen as the Hotel Garrett in September. A 3,500-square-foot restaurant and bar will open in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The 48-room Carriage Inn Best Western at 140 Seventh St. will reopen as the Hotel Fiona in September.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The 110-room Hotel Vertigo at 940 Sutter St. in Nob Hill will reopen as the Hotel Julian in mid-October. Though the hotel is shedding its Vertigo name, a two-story wine bar named&nbsp;Carlotta\u2019s, after one of the movie\u2019s characters, is set to open in early 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Daily room rates in September range from $179 to $429 across the SoMa hotels, according to their websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco Business Times&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/sanfrancisco\/news\/2023\/08\/24\/oxford-hotels-san-francisco-soma-fiona-garrett.html\">first reported<\/a>&nbsp;the planned reopenings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/files.sfchronicle.com\/sfc-graphics-engineering\/2022\/sfnext\/SFNextlogo_final.png\" alt=\"SF Next logo\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/projects\/2022\/fixing-san-francisco-problems\/sfnext-about-the-project\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SFNext<\/a>&nbsp;is Chronicle coverage devoted to the city\u2019s most vexing problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>To become involved:<\/strong>&nbsp;Send feedback, ideas and suggestions to&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:sfnext@SFChronicle.com\">sfnext@SFChronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reopening of the three South of Market hotels will restore around 100 union hotel jobs. The Hotel Julian will add around 40 additional non-union jobs when it reopens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oxford bought the four hotels from local owners in 2019 as San Francisco enjoyed a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/business\/article\/SF-tourism-hits-record-in-2019-but-coronavirus-15089546.php\">record-breaking year of tourism.<\/a>&nbsp;The pandemic crushed the industry, but Oxford was able to fill three of the hotels for almost three years by enrolling in the city\u2019s shelter-in-place program for the homeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But tenants damaged the hotels during the shelter program, leading Oxford and other owners to file&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/homeless-hotels-damage-claims-17811848.php\">millions of dollars in claims against the city.<\/a>&nbsp;The city approved a nearly&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sfgov.legistar.com\/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=6004314&amp;GUID=B29BA695-B038-43BB-9269-C3830603611E\">$3.4 million payout<\/a>&nbsp;in April to settle damages at Hotel Vertigo, and Oxford said all claims have been resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hotels have been closed for around nine months during renovations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oxford believes the Seventh Street hotels will benefit from easy access to the Civic Center BART Station and from being three blocks from conventions at&nbsp;Moscone Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The openings also come as few San Francisco hotel owners are investing in their properties. Only one other new hotel is scheduled to open this year, the former Le Meridien, which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/jay-hotel-opening-downtown-18272955.php\">will now be called the Jay.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re growing. We\u2019re investing in our hotels,\u201d&nbsp; said Sar Peruri, chief operating officer of Oxford Capital Group. \u201cWe\u2019ll be differentiated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.hdnux.com\/photos\/01\/26\/15\/14\/23626031\/6\/ratio3x2_640.jpg\" alt=\"SF Next calendar logo depicts a diverse group of people interacting with a billboard-sized calendar\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Get Involved calendar<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Search for public meetings on top San Francisco issues so you can add your voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/projects\/san-francisco-meetings-calendar\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Calendar<\/a>&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLScB1kAjkYHjp5qwU4Wh5Ap0tYl0__-sUys5Djaq9ZXM-DQi4g\/viewform\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Submit an event<\/a>&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/projects\/2022\/fixing-san-francisco-problems\/sfnext-about-the-project\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">More coverage<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco tourism has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/sf-tourism-hotels-convention-forecast-2024-recover-18299878.php\">continued to bounce back in 2023<\/a>, but a full return to pre-pandemic levels isn\u2019t expected for a few years, according to the city\u2019s tourism bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oxford purchased five additional Bay Area hotels in 2020, including the King George Hotel, Hotel Griffon and the Inn at Union Square in San Francisco. Business has been improving and the hotels are profitable, though they aren\u2019t back to pre-pandemic levels and San Francisco still lags other U.S. cities, Jordan said. Still, he\u2019s encouraged by positive market trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 40,000-person Dreamforce conference is returning next month just as Oxford\u2019s hotels start reopening, followed by the high-profile Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But convention activity is projected to drop in 2024, with confirmed convention hotel room bookings down more than a third compared to this year. That\u2019s a major reason that another hotel investor, Park Hotels &amp; Resorts, is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/s-f-hotel-owner-city-recovery-to-take-7-years-18279484.php\">walking away from ownership<\/a>&nbsp;of two of the city\u2019s biggest hotels, Parc 55 and Hilton San Francisco Union Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oxford met recently with San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, who detailed public safety efforts in the SoMa area, and the company said it feels supported by local officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is going to be a joint public-private effort,\u201d said Peruri. \u201cThe moment that we\u2019re open \u2026 what that\u2019s going to do is immediately increase foot traffic and energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reach Roland Li: roland.li@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rolandlisf<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/roland-li\/\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Written By <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/author\/roland-li\/\" target=\"_blank\">Roland  Li<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rolandlisf\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Roland Li covers commercial real estate for the business desk, focusing on the Bay Area office and retail sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was previously a reporter at San Francisco Business Times, where he won one award from the California News Publishers Association and three from the National Association of Real Estate Editors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is the author of \u201cGood Luck Have Fun: The Rise of eSports,&#8221; a 2016 book on the history of the competitive video game industry. Before moving to the Bay Area in 2015, he studied and worked in New York. He freelanced for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other local publications. His hobbies include swimming and urban photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/img\/logos\/black\/logo.svg\" alt=\"San Francisco Chronicle Homepage - Site Logo\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/img\/core\/hearst_newspapers_logo.svg\" alt=\"HEARST newspapers logo\">\u00a92023 Hearst Communications, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Roland Li Aug. 28, 2023 (SFChronicle.com) A major hotel investor is making a multimillion-dollar bet on&nbsp;San Francisco\u2019s tourism recovery&nbsp;with the renovations and rebrandings of four San Francisco hotels, including a cluster of three on troubled Seventh Street in South of Market. Oxford Capital Group is finishing work on new bathrooms&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/08\/29\/s-f-hotel-investor-makes-big-bet-with-three-reopenings-in-troubled-soma-area\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1001],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28187"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28187"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28188,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28187\/revisions\/28188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}