Shuttered San Francisco Centre mall considered for AI data center project

The shuttered San Francisco Centre mall is being considered for an AI data center project, as first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The downtown mall has been boarded up since January, according to The Guardian. Maryland-based development firm KG Growth Partners asked San Francisco officials in June about permits for a data center on behalf of an unidentified potential buyer.

Jared Krieger, chief executive of KG Growth Partners, said the firm has not applied for permits because it does not know whether its client has won the bid to purchase the mall.

The proposal is described as a cohesive, community-based AI exhibit rather than a traditional server-based data center. It would turn the 350,000 sq ft space formerly leased by Bloomingdale's into an AI-controlled living space with a rooftop garden, though the living space would not include actual residences.

The plan also calls for culture, design, retail, sports and education spaces, along with a rooftop park. The data center itself would occupy the upper floors of the mall along with back-of-house space, with an AI exhibit and offices also proposed for the vacant property, according to KRON4.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has signed a measure imposing a 45-day moratorium, a temporary pause, on data center development to give the planning department time to research impacts on communities.