San Francisco's dying downtown mall loses its FIFTH store in a month: Madewell exit follows recent Adidas, J. Crew, Lucky Brand and Aldo closings, with 75% empty shopping center's value plunging from $1.2BN to $290M in eight years

Madewell has announced they are backing out of the beleaguered San Francisco Centre, making them the fifth store to depart in the last month  The company follows the likes of Adidas, J. Crew, Lucky Brand and Aldo who have all either left or are set to leave the mall this week It comes after the shopping mall lost a staggering $1 billion in value since 2016, as the city battles rampant homelessness and escalating crime

San Francisco’s dying downtown mall has lost its fifth store in a month, after Madewell announced plans to flee the ailing shopping center.

The clothing and accessories store said on their website that they would be closing the location inside on Monday.

Madewell follows its sister brand J. Crew, as well as Adidas, Lucky Brand and Aldo who have all closed or plan to in the coming days.

The shopping mall – which now sits 75 percent empty – has lost a staggering $1 billion in value since 2016, as the beleaguered city battles rampant homelessness and escalating criminal activity. Comparable malls usually run at an average of 93% occupancy.

Nordstrom had been the mall’s anchor tenant and occupied a 312,000-foot, multi-floor space in the mall. It’s closure in August 2023 sent shock-waves through the large, upmarket shopping center which was previously owned by Westfield.

The mall still contains a large Bloomingdales – but all eyes are now on that retail giant to see whether it shuts up shop too.

The clothing and accessories store said on their website that they would be closing the location inside the mall, seen here, on Monday

Shoppers leave the Westfield San Francisco Centre on April 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California

Since then, retail stores have been quick to vacate the failing mall with companies citing weak sales, shrinking foot traffic and notoriously-bad levels of crime and drug taking in downtown San Francisco.

The mall is located in the troubled Union Square area in the center of downtown, which has witnessed businesses and tourists fleeing since the pandemic. San Francisco’s tech-based economy means many locals continue to work from home – with downtown now overrun with the homeless, drug abusers and associated crime.

Pictures and video taken inside the once vibrant mall show it depleted of life, with shuttered stores and little to no customers.

Its owners Westfield and partner Brookfield Properties lost control of the 5-million-square-foot retail and office complex to lenders in June last year, defaulting on a $558 million loans.

‘For more than 20 years, Westfield has proudly and successfully operated San Francisco Centre, investing significantly over that time in the vitality of the property,’ the company said at the time.

‘Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward.’

Gregg Williams of Trident Pacific, a real estate company in Orange County, was appointed as the receiver with the ability to collect rent and sell or liquidate the property.

Westfield and Brookfield who stopped making mortgage payments last year, is now worth only $290 million, which is 75 percent less than seven years ago

The property’s lenders have since then advised the receiver to sell the mall in order to pay off the debt, according to the Real Deal.

It opened in 1988 with Nordstrom, then doubled in size in 2006 with a large, glitzy extension that included Bloomingdale’s as its anchor.

The collapse of the mall aligns with a wider disaster affecting retailers throughout that part of the city.

Nearly 100 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent.

One of the high-profile closures includes the accounting firm KPMG, as it’s set to move out of its $400 million namesake building.

The consulting and accounting giant first leased space in the 25-story office tower when the building opened in 2002. Its name hangs above the entry to the skyscraper where the company currently occupies more than 100,000 square feet.

KPMG originally took 90,000 square feet at 55 Second St. in a 10-year contract, marking the second-largest office deal of 2003.

It has since grown its footprint to span nearly one-third of the 380,000-square-foot building, leading to it being widely known as ‘The KPMG Building.’

The company is now considering ending its two-decade-long relationship with the building, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. It’s the latest tenant looking to exit the downtown area.

Homeless people are pictured in San Francisco, California, the United States, Dec. 23, 2023

The mall is located in the troubled Union Square area in the center of downtown, which has witnessed businesses and tourists fleeing since the pandemic

In the first five months of 2023, preliminary reports show there were 346 overdose deaths in the city – an increase of more than 40 percent from the same period in 2022.

Economists have warned the city is spiraling into an ‘urban doom loop’ – a vicious circle of interconnected trends and forces that send cities into economic and social ruin.

High theft has proved a problem in the area recently, with a Walgreens in the city center resolving to chaining their freezers to stop shoplifters.

Retail stalwart Old Navy announced they would be shuttering their flagship store in the area last month.

Anthropologie and Office Depot have also made the same decisions.

These stores joined the growing list of stores that have abandoned the coastal city, including H&M, Marshall’s, Gap and Banana Republic.

A disturbing recent report showed 95 retailers in downtown San Francisco have closed since the start of the COVID pandemic, a decline of more than 50 percent.

Out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city’s Union Square area, just 107 are still operating, a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.