After Anchor Steam’s abrupt closure announcement this week, company representatives confirmed that the Potrero Hill property that has operated the brewery for more than 40 years, as well as the tasting room across the street, will be for sale.
“It will go public,” Anchor Steam spokesman Sam Singer said via email, adding that the liquidator will decide when and how much to list.
Recent property tax records from PropertyShark suggest the property could be worth close to the $85 million that Tokyo beer giant Sapporo paid in 2017 for the oldest craft brewery in the United States.
Brewery, offices, tasting room and adjoining parking lot on four parcels in Potrero Hill on the corner of Mariposa and De Haro, across from Jackson Park . All plots are zoned for production, distribution and repair areas.
These include 1705 Mariposa, nearly 56,000 square feet over five floors. Since 1979, this has been the company’s winemaking facility. Based on the 2022-2023 property tax returns, that one-third of an acre alone is worth nearly $7 million, with the building worth just over $13 million, for a total market value of $20 million.
The adjoining lot is more than half an acre and includes parking and an L-shaped two-story building built in 1950 with nearly 34,000 square feet. Based on property taxes, the total value of the lot is more than $35 million.
Across the street is 495 DeHaro, a 1960, one-story building on a half-acre with an outdoor patio, Anchor Public Taps tasting room and pop-up taco shop Frank Grizzly’s. Next door at 330 Carolina is a three-quarter acre parking lot with some water tanks and other industrial supplies. Property tax records show the combined value of the two parcels exceeds $23 million.
Anchor Steam has been trying to save its business for years, “but the impact of the pandemic, inflation (especially in San Francisco), and a competitive market left the company with no choice but to make the sad decision to cease operations,” Singh said. said in a statement. Last summer, Anchor Steam, which began in 1896, limited its distribution to California, which accounts for 70 percent of its sales, and canceled its popular Christmas beer for the first time since it launched in 1975.
This week’s closure announcement said the company has stopped brewing but will continue to distribute remaining beer at the end of the month or when supplies run out. Anchor Public Taps will also remain open for the time being to sell remaining stock, including the cancellation of limited Christmas beers that were already on sale.
The city of Sapporo has been trying unsuccessfully to find a buyer for the brewery last year, and there could be interest from the beer industry amid the liquidation process, SFGate reported.
