![\"WmPenn](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/WmPenn-Maloneys-fullweb.jpg\")
<\/a>Maloney\u2019s Tavern is the building\u2019s anchor tenant. The building is designated as historical on the San Diego Register and the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n
The recent transaction was brokered by Jim Neil, Eric Comer and Merrick Matricardi of the Commercial Broker Richard Ellis (CBRE) multifamily team that represented the seller, Penn LLC. Gregg Seaman of Viewpoint Equities was the managing member. Maxxam Enterprises represented themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the stunning architecture and its location in the heart of the Gaslamp address, the William Penn attracted over a dozen strong offers even with the corner retail vacant, which had previously been occupied by Starbucks,\u201d said CBRE in a\u00a0statement. \u201cThe residential units were 100 percent occupied at the time of sale. Maxxam came in with a strong and aggressive offer to get the deal done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe William Penn Building will continue to operate the building in its current form,\u201d said the property\u2019s manager, Gotham Management.<\/p>\n
The building has a long and storied history, having been owned \u2014 or leased \u2014 by some of San Diego\u2019s more prominent citizens.<\/p>\n
The Penn Building started out as a\u00a0hotel, which was part of Horton\u2019s addition to the \u201cnew San Diego.\u201d\u00a0Five stories tall, with a deli and tailor shop on the ground floor, the building\u2019s existing structure replaced a two-story office block, the \u201cYoung block,\u201d in 1913.<\/p>\n
It was once owned by General William Starkey Rosecrans, who purchased it from A.E. Horton in 1867. Rosecrans was a Union commander during the Civil War, succeeded in his post by Ulysses S. Grant.\u00a0From 1881 to 1885 Rosecrans also represented California in Congress.<\/p>\n
The Penn building was later sold to John Nelson Young in 1875, an undertaker and furniture dealer, who was County Coroner in 1872.<\/p>\n
The original William Penn Building was torn down in 1912 and rebuilt with the present, multi-story structure designed by German transplant Eugene M. Hoffman, who did a lot of work for the Spreckels family.<\/p>\n
At various times the pioneering Spreckels family owned all of North Island, the San Diego-Coronado Ferry System, Union-Tribune Publishing Co., San Diego Electric Railway, San Diego & Arizona Railway and Belmont Park in Mission Beach.<\/p>\n
The Spreckels family also built several Downtown buildings including the Union Building in 1908, the Spreckels Theatre and office building, which opened in 1913, the San Diego Hotel and the Golden West Hotel. Spreckels employed thousands of people and, at one time, paid 10 percent of all the property taxes in San Diego County.<\/p>\n
The reconstituted William Penn Building cost more than $8,000 to build in 1913 dollars.<\/p>\n
When the building was finished, it was referred to as an \u201cornament to San Diego.\u201d Made of wood and brick, the exterior of the building had been finished in dark sandstone with light trimmings.<\/p>\n
Among the first renters in the building was Judge Moses A. Luce, another Civil War veteran who had fought at Gettysburg and Bull Run. He had been a law school classmate of President McKinley.<\/p>\n
The first floor of the newly reconstituted Penn building was divided into a grocery store on the southern half, and a dry goods and crockery store in the northern half. Residing in the building were numerous business professionals including attorneys, engineers, surveyors, real estate agents, physicians and a photography studio. There was also an independent meat market downstairs.<\/p>\n
The hotel\u2019s entrance is in the center of the F Street side of the building. The deli is on the corner of Fifth Avenue and F Street. There are two stores on the Fifth Avenue side of the building, one vacant, one a tailor shop.<\/p>\n
The property\u2019s broker, CBRE Group, Inc. is a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles. It is the world\u2019s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm (in terms of 2014 revenue).\u00a0 The company has more than 52,000 employees (excluding affiliates), and serves real estate owners, investors and occupiers through more than 370 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide.<\/p>\n