SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- From a day spa to a soccer stadium, San Francisco Mayor London Breed says the city has been looking at a number of options for the future of the San Francisco Centre.
From the LEGO store to Nordstrom, what was once the city’s biggest mall has lost a number of big-name stores over the past year. The former Westfield Mall got a new management in the fall.
Now, the best option seems to be turning the property into UC Campus.
“I can’t speak to the details around the negotiations and the conversations being had, I can only say that there’s real interest in the University of California’s desire to look at downtown as an option for campus, housing and a number of things," Breed said.
The University of California confirmed that their president’s office has been exploring the possibility of a presence in downtown San Francisco. Mayor Breed says a campus won’t just help to solve a lack of student housing, but also help the world of Artificial Intelligence.
“San Francisco is the AI capital of the world, many of the talent that comes out of San Francisco, the engineering talent coming out of the Bay Area from places like UC Berkeley,” Breed said.
According to Tech Expert Ahmed Banafa, the top 20 AI companies in the world are based in San Francisco. The San Jose State Professor says those companies will only benefit from having a UC Campus close by.
“This is good, this is really going to elevate the image of San Francisco where it’s not just a place where you can find a job. You can start at zero and then you can find that job in AI,” Banafa said.
A possibility for new graduates and new research.
Banafa says there’s a need for more AI research space in the Bay Area. In his opinion, San Francisco Centre would provide just that.
“Minimizing the distance and time between the college and the research and the companies in San Francisco, it's going to benefit that," Banafa said. "It’s going to benefit that. It’s going to make the cycle shorter and make the communication much easier.”
KRON4 reached out to Mall management for comment but did not hear back.
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