One of downtown San Diego’s most recognizable addresses is headed to the virtual auction block. The iconic six-story Spreckels Building, along with its 1,463-seat theater, has been listed for a lender-driven online auction, putting one of the city’s best-known landmarks up for grabs. The auction posting gives would-be buyers only a short window to bid and comes after more than five years of the theater sitting dark since the pandemic closed its doors in 2020. Local leaders and preservation advocates say the sale could determine whether the block returns to live performance or is reshaped into housing or hotel space.
Auction set for March with $5M opening bid
As reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, the building was posted on RI Marketplace with a 48-hour bidding window beginning March 23, 2026, at 9 a.m. and a $5 million starting bid. The paper says the listing is lender-driven, meaning a lender has taken control after financing could not be refinanced and is seeking to recover its debt. The auction notice flags the theater component as the primary obstacle for prospective buyers.
What the listing says about the property
Broker materials and commercial listings describe a full city-block, six-story asset that combines street-level retail, a large performance house and five upper floors of largely vacant office space. Property listings on LoopNet and other commercial databases list roughly 127,490 square feet of vacant office space, about 40,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 134 subterranean parking stalls, with existing retail and parking generating an estimated $750,000 a year in income. The offering memorandum also notes that floors two through six can be converted to residential, educational or hotel uses, giving buyers multiple reuse options.
How it got here
The Spreckels Building was purchased in April 2021 by a joint venture led by Taconic Capital Advisors and Triangle Capital Group for about $26.5 million, according to trade reporting. That acquisition included an $18 million bridge loan that industry coverage shows was provided by Thorofare Capital and later became a factor in the lender-driven sale. Marketwide headwinds for office properties, including higher borrowing costs and weak tenant demand, have left owners of large downtown assets scrambling to refinance or reposition their holdings…