When Ian Jacobs and Max Raskin started eyeing (opens in new tab) San Francisco real estate in 2023, Union Square was still reeling from its pandemic-era decimation. Retailers had abandoned the area en masse, while theft and other safety issues plagued those that remained and hampered foot traffic.
Jacobs, a Warren Buffet protégé and heir to the Reichmann real estate dynasty, (opens in new tab) took inspiration from his family’s playbook in New York City in the late 1970s, when their company bought low on a portfolio of buildings owned by a firm called Uris that exploded in value when the city bounced back from its own fiscal crisis. Jacobs, who now lives in Miami, teamed up with New York-based Raskin, a crypto-enthusiast professor with a background in law and politics, and the duo set out bargain hunting for San Francisco real estate through an investment vehicle they dubbed “Project Uris.”
Roughly three years later, the team has amassed a mini empire around Union Square. They started on Powell Street, snapping up three properties last year, including a green art deco building where they brought in popular Chinese toy store Pop Mart as a tenant. In May, they picked up a building on Maiden Lane, and in July, one on Grant Avenue. This week, they acquired 165 Post St. and 47 Kearny St. for a combined $19.6 million, bringing Project Uris’ total to seven buildings across five retail corridors…