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The private business college has had discussions about acquiring the Contemporary Jewish Museum’s building, which comes with restrictions on use.
Weeks after selling its downtown campus, Golden Gate University is in talks to buy the former Contemporary Jewish Museum building, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
The sources say the university and museum are in negotiations over the city landmark at 736 Mission St. The CJM listed the building, designed by starchitect Daniel Libeskind, for sale this year in a bid to sustain operations amid falling revenue and attendance.
However, restrictions dating back to CJM’s acquisition of the building in 1994 limit the site to cultural or institutional uses, narrowing the pool of prospective buyers.
GGU President Brent White declined to comment on any discussions but said the school has evaluated roughly 20 properties for a new campus.
“We’re looking for our future downtown home,” White told The Standard. “We are in early conversations around multiple different possibilities. We don’t yet have an agreement in place with anyone.”
The 63,000-square-foot property CJM once occupied has gallery space, an auditorium, classrooms, offices, retail space, and a cafe. In 2024, the museum announced it would close for at least one year and cut its staff from 30 to 11 because of its fiscal issues. It has not reopened.
Kerry King, the museum’s director, told The Standard at the time of the closure announcement that attendance had fallen by 50% since the pandemic and that the nonprofit was dealing with $27 million in debt from a renovation of the building that was completed in 2008. Contributions fell steadily from $4 million in 2020 to $1.3 million in 2024, according to tax filings.
The museum announced this year that it would seek a buyer for the building while it “re-envisions the organization’s future.” CJM does not hold a permanent collection, allowing for flexibility as it seeks a new home.
Higher education has become a centerpiece of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s strategy to revive downtown, where office vacancies remain high and foot traffic has yet to fully recover. His administration has courted Vanderbilt and other universities as a way to fill empty buildings and bring students, faculty, and daytime activity to the area.
The nonprofit Golden Gate University has been looking for a new campus since it decided last year to leave its longtime home (opens in new tab) at 536 Mission St. The seven-story building was sold to developer Lincoln Property Company for $32 million last month. Lincoln plans to build an office tower in its place.
GGU, which traces its roots in San Francisco to 1853, had been bleeding students and money for several years, including a loss of nearly $11 million in fiscal 2025. (opens in new tab) The university axed its law school’s nationwide Juris Doctor program in 2023, and the law school is now accredited only in California (opens in new tab). Since 2021, its general accreditation has had a “notice of concern,” (opens in new tab) which will be reevaluated in several years. (opens in new tab)
The university hired White last fall to rethink its broader strategy in the post-pandemic era. Under his tenure, GGU has leaned into both hybrid and fully online classes, taught in multiple languages, including Mandarin and Spanish. It has also launched a school of emerging technology (opens in new tab) to train AI specialists and teach AI skills to those in other professions. It has a hub in Singapore and will also take advantage of its location in the heart of the AI industry. Enrollment in the university is about 20,000 students worldwide.
Despite its struggles, White said GGU is bullish about its next chapter downtown: “We’re doing well and are excited about the future.”
Representatives for CJM and its brokers at Newmark did not respond to requests for comment.
The Office of Economic & Workforce Development said it was aware of the CJM property being marketed for sale but did not disclose any further detail.
“We look forward to seeing the next chapter for this important downtown property and its reactivation under a future owner,” a spokesperson said.
In a February interview outlining GGU’s “new direction,” White told The Standard that the campus had become too large for the school’s needs but that it was committed to staying downtown.
“We’re looking for a space where students can come and gather, whether to work on a project or for those campus weekends,” White said. “It’s important to have a sense of connection to a place, to a city, to fellow students.”
Universities have found a welcome home in the former digs of Bay Area cultural institutions. Last October, the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco — which, like the Contemporary Jewish Museum, does not have a permanent collection — announced that it would leave its temporary home in the Cube, a former bank building on Montgomery Street, and become a “nomadic” institution, clearing the way for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School to take over the space.
In January, California College of the Arts announced it would close at the end of the 2026-27 school year and hand its recently expanded San Francisco campus to Vanderbilt University. In 2022, Mills College, a school in Oakland with a historic arts program, merged with Northeastern University, which took over its campus.
The Academy of Art is in the midst of selling off its vast real estate holdings because of declining enrollment and financial struggles. The for-profit art university over the last year has marketed more than a dozen properties and recently sold a church in Russian Hill (opens in new tab) and an office near Fisherman’s Wharf and is in the process of offloading its former administrative office at 150 Hayes St., which is slated to be converted to housing by developer Emerald Fund.
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