S.F.’s Bank of America building for sale

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

SUN NEWS SERVICES

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a deal that could bring as much as $1 billion, the Bank of America building in downtown San Francisco has been put up for sale.

The owners of the 52-story building, Shorenstein Co. and Bank of America, hope to take advantage of the hot Bay Area real estate market.

The 779-foot-tall, 1.5 million-square-foot skyscraper houses high-class tenants such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. It takes up a city block in the Financial District.

Shorenstein officials said they may refinance, sell, or arrange a joint venture to own the complex of the main building and two adjacent properties. But the most likely course, they say, will be to sell all three buildings.

Real estate industry analysts say the sale could be the most expensive office transaction in San Francisco history. They expect it to fetch much more than the $400 per square foot the bank paid when it bought a 50 percent share in the building in 1992. The average Financial District rent is about $80 per square foot.

Separately, Bank of America Corp. filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell $3 billion in debt securities, a regulatory filing said.

The S-3 filing allows the bank to register the debt securities in advance and sell them when market conditions are favorable or when financing needs arise. Terms of the securities, which the company calls InterNotes will be announced at the time of the sale.

Banc of America Securities LLC and Incapital LLC will underwrite the securities sale.

The company, which is the parent of Bank of America and the former NationsBank, plans to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, which can include possible acquisitions, repayment of debts and repurchase of outstanding securities, today's filing said.

Last month, Bank of America sold $1 billion in 6-year notes with a yield of 7.231 percent.