What We Know About the AI Plan for San Francisco's Vacant Mall

Three hundred fifty thousand square feet of empty Bloomingdale's floor space in downtown San Francisco is now the subject of an AI datacenter inquiry, according to emails reviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle and reported Tuesday by The Guardian. The space has sat behind boarded windows since January 2026, one of the last visible scars of the pandemic-era "doom loop" that emptied downtown retail.

Maryland-based KG Growth Partners asked city officials in June about datacenter permitting for the site on behalf of an unnamed prospective buyer, the Chronicle reported. KG Growth Partners chief executive Jared Krieger confirmed the inquiry to the Guardian but said no permit application has been filed because the firm does not yet know whether its client has won the bid to purchase the property.

What exactly is being proposed?

Not a server farm, according to Krieger. He told the Guardian the plan is not a "traditional server-based datacenter" but a "cohesive, community-based AI exhibit." The Chronicle reported the concept includes converting the former Bloomingdale's footprint into an "AI-controlled living space" with a rooftop garden. Krieger said by email that "living space" does not mean residential units; he described the project instead as "a living exhibit of how AI technology can interact with community and public spaces," with large portions of the building remaining open to the public.

Why did this surface now?

The inquiry came to light through emails KG Growth Partners sent San Francisco officials in June, which the Chronicle obtained and the Guardian cited in its October 20 report. The timing matters: the property has been shuttered since January, and city officials and developers have spent the intervening months weighing alternatives for one of downtown's most visible vacant buildings.

What other plans have been floated for the mall?

The AI exhibit concept is the latest in a string of proposals, not the first. The Guardian's reporting notes earlier ideas included a multi-level sports complex, housing, and conventional retail tenants. None of those plans has resulted in a signed lease or confirmed reopening date, and the KG Growth Partners inquiry does not resolve which, if any, concept will move forward, since the firm itself says it does not know if its client will secure the property.

By the numbers

• 350,000 square feet — size of the former Bloomingdale's space inside San Francisco Centre now under AI-exhibit consideration, per the Chronicle's reporting cited by the Guardian.
• January 2026 — month the mall's windows were boarded up, per the Guardian.
• June 2026 — month KG Growth Partners contacted city officials about datacenter permits, per emails cited by the Chronicle.

Timeline

• January 2026: San Francisco Centre's windows are boarded up.
• June 2026: KG Growth Partners emails city officials asking about datacenter permitting on behalf of an undisclosed buyer.
• October 20, 2026: The Guardian publishes the emails and Krieger's comments, confirming the inquiry but noting no permit application has been filed.

What to watch

• Whether KG Growth Partners' unnamed client actually wins the bid to purchase the property — Krieger said that outcome is still unknown.
• Whether any formal permit application for a datacenter or AI exhibit use is filed with San Francisco planning officials.
• Whether competing proposals — the sports complex, housing, or retail concepts — advance first.
• How the project, if it proceeds, would be financed, given broader scrutiny of AI infrastructure debt. An HTT News Markets Desk report this week noted the Financial Times has compared AI-datacenter financing risk to the dynamics that preceded Silicon Valley Bank's collapse, a backdrop that could shape lender appetite for unconventional projects like a mall-based AI exhibit.

Glossary

Datacenter: A facility housing computer servers and related equipment, typically used to run cloud computing or AI workloads. Krieger said the San Francisco Centre proposal would not be a traditional server-based version of this.

The proposal remains preliminary. No permit has been submitted, the buyer has not been named, and the sale itself has not closed, according to Krieger's account to the Guardian. For a building that has stood boarded up since January, the AI exhibit idea is one more entry on a list of unrealized plans rather than a confirmed path to reopening.

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