Michael Shvo

Could Michael Shvo be the driving force behind a Downtown San Francisco rebound?

We ask because Shvo sure seems to be trying his best. He purchased the Transamerica Pyramid at 600 Montgomery Street in 2020 at what seemed like the worst possible moment … but it was one of the city’s icons, and the property was ripe for reinvention. Under his care, it bloomed thanks to the $450 million Shvo has sown into the tower and a new design from Sir Norman Foster. It is being rededicated in September, and has already drawn praise as one of the vehicles transforming a San Francisco that’s been battered by crime, vandalism and a lackluster tech sector. 

The tower’s also been getting tenants and renewals. In April, the law firm BakerHostetler renewed its full-floor lease, which is extremely important in a city where the office vacancy rate is 36.6 percent as per CBRE.

However, it could be argued that San Francisco is too small a town for a man of Shvo’s mammoth ambitions. The Armani T-shirt-clad real estate rebel has practically gone berserk in South Florida. 

Hand in hand with a premier architect (Peter Marino), Shvo is reimagining Miami Beach’s historic Raleigh hotel as a 60-key hotel and 44-unit condo. Shvo has priced these units, too, at a dizzying $4,000 to $12,000 per square foot. With Norman Foster (again) Shvo is also doing a ground-up, mixed-use office/retail/condo building called The Alton just off Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road.

Of course, Florida is the new flavor of the month. What about the classics?

The Coca-Cola Building in New York (now known by its address 711 Fifth Avenue) came under Shvo’s wing in 2020 (he paid $950 million for it!), not to mention the Mandarin Oriental Residences at 685 Fifth Avenue, and the Aman New York at the Crown Building. He also put down a marker in Chicago when he bought the Big Red skyscraper.

And, while San Francisco has gotten a lot of attention, the Transamerica Pyramid is hardly the only project Shvo has in California — he’s been hard at work on the Mandarin Oriental Residences in Beverly Hills off Rodeo Drive.

San Francisco … Miami … New York … Chicago … Los Angeles …

Maybe Michael Shvo is just trying to be the driving force behind luxury’s rebound the world over.