SF Property Deals, SFUSD Neighborhood Plan, Union St Cafe & Thao Tour

Major residential and commercial property deals across Russian Hill, Market Street, and Union Square converged Thursday, October 29, 2026, with new data on San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) enrollment, a Charter amendment drafting debate over Proposition A, and cultural launches in Cow Hollow and Chinatown.

Russian Hill's "The OA House" at 1001 Vallejo Lists for $25 Million

In Russian Hill, The San Francisco Standard's Emily Landes reported that 1001 Vallejo, the six-story mansion featured in the second season of the Netflix series The OA and tagged as "The OA House" on Google Maps, has listed at $25 million for the 9,545-square-foot Gothic mansion in Russian Hill—hitting the market for the first time in 20 years.

Completed two months after the April 1906 earthquake, the six-bedroom residence includes six full baths, two half baths, three staircases, an elevator reaching all six levels, and a chandeliered, 90-plus-foot garage with a Formula One-inspired mural and room for at least six cars. Listing agent Gregg Lynn of Sotheby's commissioned a historical record tracing the home's residents: Gold Rush and streetcar magnate Robert Gilmore Hanford and his bride Gabrielle Guittard, art critic and poet Sadakichi Hartmann, City of Paris department store heir Paul Verdier (who bought it in 1919), Stanford professor and 1997 Nobel Prize-winning economist Myron Scholes (who purchased it in 1998), and current owners John Skeen, a retired banking executive, and his wife Donna, who bought the residence for $12 million in 2006 and have moved to Montecito.

Seven Equity Group Moves to Buy SF Centre Mall; 47 Kearny Sells for $150 a Foot

In downtown commercial real estate, two separate transactions highlighted shifting valuations around Market Street and Union Square—headlined by the 1.2 million-square-feet San Francisco Centre Mall valued around $130 million and 47 Kearny Street sold for $4.2 million ($150 per square foot):

• San Francisco Centre Mall: The San Francisco Standard's Kevin V. Nguyen and Jillian D'Onfro reported that New York City firm Seven Equity Group, founded by Ray Falack, has emerged to acquire the vacant 1.2 million-square-feet San Francisco Centre Mall—valued at around $130 million—after a pair of local developers walked away in June from negotiations with bondholders. Sources familiar with the bid said Seven Equity Group intends to keep retail as a key component while developing a distinct "family entertainment" element. Since January 2025, Seven Equity Group has acquired 6 distressed office buildings near the mall (in addition to buying 420 Taylor St. in 2016, where Nextdoor holds a lease through 2029), including 731 Market St.—bought from Jamestown for about a quarter of its prior price, with $1.2 million in planned tenant improvements—and 818 Mission St. Its three most recent transactions spanning four buildings on Mission and Howard streets were financed in part by private New York lender Genesis Global, with minority stakes tied to Nakash Holdings.
• 47 Kearny Street (Union Square): Hoodline's Nina Singh-Hudson reported that an eight-story, 28,660-square-foot office building at 47 Kearny Street (at Post and Kearny streets), which is 89 percent leased, sold for $4.2 million, or about $150 per square foot, in its first trade in at least 40 years. The buyer was Uris Acquisitions, led by Ian Jacobs and Max Raskin (represented by Julie Taylor), which purchased both 47 Kearny Street and the 46,315-square-foot building across the street at 165 Post Street from K & H California LLC (tied to David Gronowski) for a combined $19.6 million. Uris has raised $75 million and spent about $50 million across 7 San Francisco buildings, including 200 Powell Street ($7.4 million), 35 Powell Street ($7.5 million), and 111 Ellis Street ($7.8 million). According to Kidder Mathews, San Francisco's overall office vacancy rate stood at 26.0 percent at the end of the third quarter (down from 31.1 percent a year earlier), with 131,311 square feet of positive net absorption in Union Square, while LVMH entity Louis Vuitton USA Inc. paid $48 million on Oct. 14, 2026 for the 38,400-square-foot building at 220 Post Street.

SFUSD's 2028–29 Neighborhood School Overhaul & Proposition A Charter Language

In public education, a San Francisco Standard analysis by Ezra Wallach examined the SFUSD Board of Education's plan for April board approval for 2028-29 school year across 58 neighborhood elementary schools, replacing the district's 2011 enrollment lottery with guaranteed neighborhood elementary school seats:

• Demographic & Enrollment Shifts: Currently, 57% of SFUSD schools have a single racial group exceeding 45% of students, and at 26 of the 58 neighborhood elementary schools, the largest student racial group differs from the surrounding neighborhood. Under pure neighborhood assignment, the number of elementary schools where one racial group makes up at least 60% of students would drop from 20 to 6.
• Projected Gains & Losses: Scaling SFUSD's 2016 residence counts by the 16% K-5 enrollment decline since then shows southeastern schools gaining the most students—led by G.W. Carver (from 101 projected students to 780, +679 or +672%), Visitacion Valley (199 to 700, +501), and Charles Drew (218 to 706, +488)—while west-side and central schools would shrink most, led by Gordon Lau (605 to 268, -337) and West Portal (605 to 299, -306).
• Funding & Middle School Attrition: Two-thirds of the $8.9 million raised by parent groups went to 18 schools where fewer than a third of students are low-income, while district per-student budgets average a $9,300 median and reach roughly $20,000 at small Bayview schools such as Malcolm X Academy ($20,351) and Carver. Preliminary California Department of Education figures show SFUSD's class of 3,749 fifth graders last fall dropped to 3,279 sixth graders this fall—a loss of 470 students (12.5%). Superintendent Maria Su has stated that school closures to address roughly 14,000 empty seats will not be considered before the 2029-30 school year.

Separately in City Hall politics, 48 Hills founder Tim Redmond reported that Proposition A—sponsored by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, vetted by City Attorney David Chiu's office, and backed by Mayor Daniel Lurie—includes the 1990 language of Charter Section 2.101 allowing a supervisor who served two successive four-year terms to run again after waiting at least four years, which could undo the June lifetime two-term limit authored by Supervisor Bilal Mahmood and allow former Supervisor Aaron Peskin to file for District 3 in the 2028 election.

Cow Hollow's Franko & Friends Expands Evening Hours; Thao Nguyen Drops "Show Me"

Rounding out Thursday's neighborhood culture coverage are Franko & Friends at 2055-B Union St. (5 to 10 p.m. Wed-Sun) and Thao Nguyen at The Independent on Nov. 8:

• Franko & Friends (2055-B Union St., Cow Hollow): As reported by The San Francisco Standard's Madeline Taub, owner Iryna Nevozhai—who moved to California from Ukraine a decade ago and opened Franko & Co. in Sausalito in 2024—is expanding hours at her two-month-old Cow Hollow cafe starting Friday. Named after Ukrainian writer, human rights activist, and philosopher Ivan Franko and featuring wall murals by Ukrainian American artist Valentyna Zasutska, the cafe serves Hedge Coffee and protein-focused brunch items such as Ukrainian syrniki daily from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will now serve Ukrainian, European, and Californian wines alongside light bites such as spreads and caviar Wednesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m.
• Thao Nguyen Releases Show Me: Oakland-based indie rock musician Thao Nguyen—recording simply as Thao 18 years after Thao & the Get Down Stay Down's debut album We Brave Bee Stings and All—is releasing her new album Show Me, co-produced with Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner of Tune-Yards and featuring Neko Case. Speaking with The San Francisco Standard reporter Sara Deseran at Imperial Palace in San Francisco's Chinatown, where she filmed the dance video for lead single "Sick of the Times" featuring the Linda Lindas, Nguyen discussed her stage musical adaptation of Ken Liu's The Paper Menagerie (written with playwright Lloyd Suh and directed by Chay Yew), her weekly Monday dinners with cookbook author Samin Nosrat, Sarah Rich, and Alexis Madrigal, and her upcoming tour kicking off Tuesday in Los Angeles before headlining The Independent in San Francisco on Nov. 8.