National real estate firm Lincoln Property Co. has tapped San Francisco investor Peter Horn as it continues to grow its footprint in the California Bay Area.
Horn is now heading up the Dallas-based company’s ongoing efforts to enlarge its 25 million-square-foot portfolio as senior vice president of acquisitions for the Northern California market, the company said in a press release.
Horn is part of a small club of investors who early on saw the investment potential of the post-COVID-19 collapse of San Francisco's commercial real estate market, deals indicate. He comes to Lincoln from BH Properties, a Los Angeles-based commercial real estate investor that gravitates to properties “with significant vacancy.”
Lincoln has touted its recent efforts to expand its presence in San Francisco and elsewhere in the Bay Area by identifying “high-impact acquisition opportunities,” positioning itself as one of the first major institutional investors to return to betting on San Francisco's commercial real estate market.
The news of Horn’s hiring comes only days after the company announced its latest San Francisco purchase. It bought a five-story office building in the city’s downtown Showplace Square with New York Life Real Estate Investors; sources with knowledge of the purchase of 600 Townsend West confirmed reports that priced the deal at $54.1 million.
The investors trumpeted the acquisition as further evidence of the city’s economic resurgence thanks to the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry and workers finally trickling back to their offices.
In the last year, Lincoln has acquired 353 Sacramento St., a 23-story tower in the Financial District, and 1045 Sansome St., a century-old building in the Northern Waterfront area, as well as an option to purchase and probably redevelop Golden Gate University’s downtown San Francisco campus at 536 Mission St.
Lincoln also plans to develop a 175-unit multifamily project in downtown Santa Cruz early next year.
Horn said in a statement that he was looking forward to helping Lincoln zone in on acquisition and development opportunities in Northern California, “one of the most coveted and compelling real estate markets in the United States.” He added that he was eager to “deepen our presence and continue driving growth in what I believe is a generational investment window.”
Discounted deals
Horn joined BH in early 2024 and launched the firm’s San Francisco office. Before that, he spent a decade as a partner and head of acquisitions at Soma Capital Partners, an investment firm based in the city.
Dallas-based Lincoln’s 25 million-square-foot portfolio includes development projects in the pipeline as well as leased and managed properties in the Bay Area, said the firm in a press release. Horn will help bolster that figure by buying more properties across a variety of sectors including office, multifamily, and research and development.
San Francisco saw its office vacancy rate rise from the lowest among major markets in the nation in 2019 to the highest, as COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, remote work and layoffs among technology companies caused tenants to downsize at record levels.
A gradual recovery is now taking hold, however, with high-profile local investors making discounted deals for offices in downtown San Francisco.