A Maryland firm has asked San Francisco what it would take to turn the former Bloomingdale's section of the shuttered San Francisco Centre mall at 845 Market St. into an AI data center, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday, Oct. 19.
Why it matters: The space is about 350,000 square feet, roughly a third of the 1.5 million-square-foot mall, and has sat empty in the middle of downtown's retail core.
What was asked
In June, KG Growth Partners construction consultant Trenton Hartlaub asked the Department of Building Inspection what permits an AI data center would need at the address, according to the Chronicle and The San Francisco Focal.
No permit application had been filed as of Oct. 16, and KG has not named its client.
What the firm says
KG chief executive Jared Krieger told the Chronicle the idea is not "a conventional suburban server farm."
"The model is a conversion that keeps the ground floor and the public-facing levels of the building active and open, with the technical use in the upper floors and back-of-house space," he said. He also described it as an "AI-controlled living space" with a rooftop garden whose produce would go to a nonprofit serving people facing food insecurity.
The hurdles
- Ownership: Macy's owns the Bloomingdale's parcel separately from the rest of the mall, which lenders foreclosed on last November. Sources told the Chronicle a sale of the parcel, valued around $40 million, has not closed.
- Power: It is unclear whether the building has the electrical capacity a data-heavy use needs.
- The moratorium: San Francisco has a 45-day pause on approving new data centers, which SFist notes could be extended up to 22 months.
More on the city's pause: San Francisco's data center moratorium and Oakland's 45-day moratorium.