08.05.2025 Vornado looks to sell Chicago and San Francisco office buildings, doubling down on New York
Vornado Realty Trust is looking to sell a large office building in Chicago plus three office towers in San Francisco, CEO Steven Roth told analysts today. Those transactions, if struck, would leave the developer with a portfolio almost entirely in New York.
One of the properties, the Merchandise Mart, a sprawling 3.7 million square-foot building, is the largest in Vornado’s 26 million square-foot portfolio but is 22% vacant, a reflection of ongoing challenges for Chicago’s office market. The other property on the sale block, 555 California St. in San Francisco, is a three-building complex holding 1.8 million square feet with an 8% vacancy rate – low in a city where the average is 36%. The building is 70%-owned by Vornado; the rest belongs to President Donald Trump’s Trump Organization.
“Those two assets we will sell for the right price at the right timing,” Roth said on a conference call Tuesday. “They’re not sacred.”