Golden Gate University sells campus as 46-story tower is proposed in its place

A 46-story skyscraper is slated to replace Golden Gate University in downtown San Francisco as the school moves out of its space amid steep financial troubles. 

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The private university’s campus at 546 Mission St. was sold on Friday to Lincoln Property Company for $31.6 million, the university confirmed to the San Francisco Chronicle. Golden Gate University did not respond to SFGATE’s requests for comment. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

According to records with San Francisco Planning, developers have proposed demolishing the university’s seven-story, 236,680-square-foot campus and replacing it with either a 700-foot-tall building with just offices or a 650-foot-tall tower that would include offices and residential units. The project was under review by the city’s planning department as of Sept. 3.  

Classes at the 8,000-student university had already been relocated for the start of the fall semester to Golden Gate University’s Academic Village at UC Law San Francisco and to its Lake Merced satellite campus at San Francisco State University, according to a June news release from the school. The university has operated in San Francisco for more than 170 years, originally at 220 Golden Gate Ave. before moving to its Mission Street location in the 1960s. 

The sale comes after the developer gave the university a $21.9 million loan last year to help pay off its debt, according to the Chronicle. The university has struggled to stay afloat for years, almost facing bankruptcy in 2023 and axing its law program in 2024.

Texas-headquartered Lincoln Property Company did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment. 

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According to an Aug. 29, 2025, letter from the university to the city’s planning department, school officials have been looking to relocate the school to a smaller space because of the detrimental financial impact from the pandemic. The main campus was first listed for sale in 2022, the San Francisco Business Times reported, but by 2025, the university pivoted to looking for developer partnerships instead. 

A hearing for the demolition and redevelopment of the property is scheduled for Thursday with San Francisco Planning, city documents show. If approved, the project’s construction will start within 18 months.

Golden Gate University isn’t the only school to struggle with operating a downtown campus. City College of San Francisco closed its nine-story downtown campus this spring and relocated classes amid a $2 million loss in state funding tied to low enrollment, SFGATE previously reported.