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☆ PSG should take action over homophobic chants says French Sports Minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

During the 4-0 win over their rivals at the Parc des Princes, PSG supporters in the Boulogne kop were heard celebrating with homophobic chants aimed at Marseille and a lot of the home crowd clapped along. "It is unthinkable to remain deaf to such hateful and homophobic chants in our stands," Oudea Castera said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "Yesterday, these chants spoiled the party at the Parc. "I invite PSG to lodge a complaint to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice so that they can be removed from the stadiums." Oudea Castera added that the matter was now in the hands of French soccer's governing body LFP.

Persons: Sergio Rico, Benoit Tessier, Paris St Germain, Amelie Oudea Castera, Oudea Castera, Julien Pretot, Aadi Nair, Ken Ferris Organizations: Soccer Football, Paris St Germain, Clermont, de Princes, Rights, Ligue, Olympique de Marseille, France's, Parc des Princes, PSG, Thomson Locations: de, Paris, France, Parc des, Boulogne, Marseille

☆ Kolo Muani and Ramos score maiden PSG goals in win over Marseille
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Julien Pretot | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

PARIS, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Randal Kolo Muani and Goncalo Ramos scored their first goals for Paris St Germain as the French champions crushed bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille 4-0 in Ligue 1 on Sunday. Kolo Muani and Ramos, with a brace, added to Achraf Hakimi's early opener to lift PSG up to third in the standings with 11 points from six games, two behind surprise leaders Stade Brestois. Marseille, who have had a rough week off the field amid a feud with their fans, are seventh on nine points. The night ended with PSG fans in the Boulogne kop celebrating with homophobic chants, and a big part of the crowd clapping along. The chants briefly stopped when Ramos scored the fourth goal after being set up by Kolo Muani at the end of a sharp counter-attack.

Persons: Randal Kolo Muani, Goncalo Ramos, Paris St Germain, Kolo Muani, Ramos, Achraf, Kylian Mbappe, We're, Luis Enrique, Marcelino, Pablo Longoria, Frank McCourt, Jacques Abardonado, Enrique, Hakimi, Mbappe, Marcelo Ramos, Bradley Barcola, Pau Lopez's, Muani, Azzedine, Ilian, Ousmane Dembele's, Morgan Guilavogui, Julien Pretot, Clare Fallon Organizations: Paris St, Olympique de Marseille, Ligue, PSG, Stade Brestois, Parc des Princes, Marseille, OM, Vitinha, RC Lens, Toulouse, Sevilla, Champions League, Thomson Locations: Parc des, Provence, France, Marseille, Boulogne

☆ Street Fighter, Resident Evil developer says it plans to tap on synergy between gaming and movies
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Lim Hui Jie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

After two years of absence linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, Paris Games Week is making a comeback in Paris. Tsujimoto pointed that Capcom releases new game titles every year to already existing franchises, such as Street Fighter and Resident Evil, "indicates that we have a strong and high quality catalog." watch nowCapcom is no stranger to the film industry, having seen a live action movie Street Fighter made in 1994 and Resident Evil made into seven films since 1997. "We have experienced the synergistic effects of doing so, whereby movies sell well and games sell well, when a game is made into a movie." We have experienced the synergistic effects of doing so, whereby movies sell well and games sell well, when a game is made into a movie.

Persons: Porte de Versailles, Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Tsujimoto, CNBC's Will, Capcom, Haruhiro, Hisashi Koinuma Organizations: Capcom, Paris Games, Paris, Chesnot, Getty, Marvel, Tokyo, CNBC, Capcom Pictures, Koei Tecmo Games Locations: PARIS, FRANCE, Parc, Paris, France, Chiba, Japan, Hollywood

☆ Google Says Switching Away From Its Search Engine Is Easy. It’s Not.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Brian X. Chen | More About Brian X. Chen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But Google has argued that it’s easy for people to change their search engine — just as simple as putting a box of cereal back on the store shelf. The trial raises questions about how and why we use Google search. And even if we had known, would we have just stuck with Google since its search engine was set as the default? I decided to test how easy or hard it really is to switch to a different search engine. Harry Brignull, a user-experience consultant in Britain, concluded about Google search: “Most people will just stick with it.”

Persons: I’m, Ted Selker, Harry Brignull, ” Organizations: Google, IBM, Xerox PARC Locations: Britain

☆ Mojave wants to make air conditioning more sustainable. Check out the 12-slide pitch deck it used to raise a $12.5 million seed round.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A startup making air conditioning systems more efficient has just raised a $12.5 million seed round co-led by VC funds At One Ventures and Fifth Wall, which invests in real estate tech. California-based Mojave has developed an air conditioning system that uses 50% less energy and 20% less refrigerant than existing systems, it claims. A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system's footprint is mainly split between the energy used to control the temperature and what it takes to remove humidity, the research found. The "big breakthrough" was finding a way to cool the desiccant with cool air, Farese said. The startup is tackling the outdoor air system (DOAS) market, which refers to systems that precondition air coming into a building from outside.

Persons: Philip Farese, Farese, DOAS Organizations: One Ventures, Palo Alto Research, PARC, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Xerox PARC, Xerox Ventures, Starlight Ventures Locations: California, Mojave

☆ Mbappe to be available against Nice, says Luis Enrique
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sept 14 (Reuters) - Paris St Germain striker Kylian Mbappe should be available against Nice in Ligue 1 on Friday after sitting out a friendly against Germany earlier this week, coach Luis Enrique said on Thursday. "We will analyse him tomorrow to find out what is going on," Luis Enrique told a press conference on Thursday. We will discuss tomorrow to find out if he will be ready (for Nice). However, we've been working together for two months, so they already know the instructions," Luis Enrique said. "Nice are a very hard-working team with a young coach, but with experience.

Persons: Kylian, Luis Enrique, Mbappe, Didier Deschamps, Manuel, Ugarte, we've, Marco Verratti, Anita Kobylinska, Pritha Sarkar Organizations: Paris St Germain, Nice, Germany, PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Champions League, Olympique de Marseille, Parc des Princes, Qatari, Al, Ligue, AS Monaco, Thomson Locations: Paris, Ligue, Nice, France, Germany, Spanish, Parc des, Arabi, Marseille, Gdansk

☆ Sam Altman thinks Silicon Valley has lost its culture of innovation
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI's Sam Altman thinks Silicon Valley no longer has an innovation culture. "Before OpenAI, what was the last really great scientific breakthrough that came out of a Silicon Valley company?" Get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley — delivered daily. "There used to be great research that happened in companies in Silicon Valley, Xerox PARC being the obvious example. To this, Altman responded by saying Silicon Valley did have a product innovation culture, but he felt it missed the mark on groundbreaking research.

Persons: OpenAI's Sam Altman, Sam Altman, Altman, Nicolai Tangen, I'm, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, Horowitz, Matt Miller, Altman's OpenAI, ChatGPT, OpenAI Organizations: Service, Xerox PARC, Norges Bank Investment, Sequoia Capital, Biosciences Locations: Wall, Silicon, Silicon Valley, China, California, OpenAI

REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq Acquire Licensing RightsPARIS, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Paris will ban pony rides for children in its public parks from 2025 following a campaign by animal rights activists who argue that the ponies are not well treated. Pony rides have been a popular feature in Paris parks like Champ de Mars, Parc Monceau and Parc du Luxembourg for decades, mostly on the weekends and during school holidays. It just turns ponies into entertainment objects," Paris Animaux Zoopolis (PAZ) activist Amandine Sansivens said. Stephane Michaud, director of AnimaPoney - which operated pony rides in several Paris parks but has now closed half of these - said his ponies work only about 150 days per year. They love the contact with the ponies," said Celine Papouin, whose daughter confidently sat astride a pony in Parc Monceau.

Persons: Paris Animaux Zoopolis, Stephanie Lecocq, Champ de, Zoopolis, PAZ, Amandine Sansivens, Stephane Michaud, Celine Papouin, Geert De Clercq, Jan Harvey Organizations: Paris, REUTERS, Rights, Parc du, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Monceau, Parc, Parc du Luxembourg, Rambouillet, Parc Monceau

Whole Foods temporarily closed one of its San Francisco locations due to rampant shoplifting and continued threats to workers and customers. Park Hotels and Resorts, the investment firm that owns Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels, also recently revealed it would leave the city. A bus drives by the Westfield San Francisco Centre on June 14, 2023 in San Francisco, California. Downtown San Francisco has an estimated 18.4 million square feet of available real estate. While violent crime statistics in San Francisco have remained relatively low in recent years, compared to other major cities, property crimes have risen since 2020, according to San Francisco Police Department data.

Persons: Los Angeles CNN — John Chachas, Governor Newsom, ” Chachas, Chachas, San Francisco “ unlivable, Gavin Newsom, Justin Sullivan, Nordstrom, Thomas Baltimore , Jr, ” What’s Organizations: Los Angeles CNN, London Breed, city’s, San Francisco Chronicle, Chachas, Republican, London, San, Anthropologie, Whole Foods, Westfield, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square, Westfield San Francisco Centre, San Francisco Police Department, University of California Locations: San Francisco, California, Francisco, ”, Nevada, San Francisco’s, Union, San Francisco’s Union, San Francisco , California, Park, San Francisco's, U.S, Canada, Downtown San Francisco

☆ PSG coach Enrique hoping for solution to Mbappe dispute
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Manager Luis Enrique said on Friday he hopes Paris Saint-Germain can find a solution to a dispute with Kylian Mbappe, noting the Ligue 1 club have prior experience in resolving contract issues with the French star. This is not the first time PSG and Mbappe have been involved in a contract standoff. Asked about Mbappe ahead of Saturday's season-opening home match against Lorient, Enrique told reporters: "It's a subject we've come across before and a solution was found between the club and the player. "He's not a PSG player yet, he won't be here tomorrow. Not 100%, but 99% he's a PSG player," Enrique said.

Persons: Luis Enrique, Germain, Kylian Mbappe, Nasser Al, Khelaifi, Mbappe, Enrique, Neymar, Marco Verratti, Ousmane Dembele, Aadi Nair Organizations: Paris Saint, Ligue, Mbappe, PSG, Real Madrid, Lorient, Parc des Princes, Champions League, Thomson Locations: Paris, Parc des, Barcelona, Bengaluru

☆ Pre-Olympics swimming event at risk as storms dirty Seine river
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( America Hernandez | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Paris 2024 Olympics - Training for test swimming event for Paris 2024 - River Seine, Paris, France - August 4, 2023 A tourist boat is pictured on the River Seine beside the Pont Alexandre III bridge REUTERS/Stephanie LecocqPARIS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Participants of this weekend's Open Water Swimming World Cup were barred from a Friday morning training session in Paris' river Seine as heavy rainfall caused water quality to dip below health standards, the French Swimming Federation (FFN) said. The women's 10 kilometre race on Saturday - a qualifying event for marathon swimming at the Paris 2024 Olympics - is still scheduled to go ahead, pending a new river water quality test on Friday evening. "The water quality tests are done regularly, and they are progressively improving," the spokesperson added. International federation World Aquatics did not immediately respond to a request for comment about further backup plans for the races if Seine water quality does not improve this weekend. The city has been working on clean-up efforts to make the Seine swimmable again, as it was during the 1900 Paris Olympics more than a century ago.

Persons: Pont Alexandre III, Stephanie Lecocq PARIS, Jacques Chirac, America Hernandez, Geert De Clercq Organizations: Paris, French Swimming Federation, Olympics, Thomson Locations: Seine, Paris, France, Villette, Egypt, Italy

☆ In Switzerland, an artist uses mountain slopes as his canvas
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Denis Balibouse | Thomson Reuters | Award Winning Photographer Based In Switzerland With Over Years Of Experience In Coverage Of Local | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Swiss- French artist SAYPE poses next to his land art painting representing a pet bottle left on the grass as littering in the Parc Bourget in Lausanne, Switzerland, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoVILLARS-SUR-OLLON, Switzerland, July 14 (Reuters) - On mountain slopes in the Swiss village of Villars-sur-Ollon, an artist has used chalk and charcoal to paint two giant frescos of children sketching how they see the vast world around them. Swiss-French artist SAYPE said his frescos -- which at around 3,000 square metres (3,590 square yards) can be seen from the mountaintop and nearby pastures -- symbolize the need to reject uniformity and embrace different perspectives. "The children are on different altitudes, so they are drawing different things," SAYPE said. "Even if they are at different altitudes, the two worlds they are drawing complement each other."

Persons: SAYPE, Denis Balibouse, Frances Kerry Organizations: REUTERS, Cape Town, Thomson Locations: Swiss, Parc Bourget, Lausanne, Switzerland, Villars, Berlin, Paris, Istanbul, Cape

☆ Fact Check-Night video of Zebra and Lions on streets predates 2023 France riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A video compilation claiming to show zoo animals roaming Paris streets is made up of clips that are not recent and is unrelated to the ongoing riots in France in June and July 2023. Social media users shared a compiled video of unrelated footage showing animals roaming city streets at night, with the caption: “It is being reported that in the French riots, numerous zoo animals have been released in France” on Facebook (here) and Twitter (here). However, the videos predate riots in France over the police shooting of a teenager of Algerian and Moroccan descent on June 27 (here). The clip of a sprinting zebra shot from the dashcam of a vehicle could be traced to a tweet published on April 11, 2020 (here). There is no evidence that animals have been released from Paris zoos amid riots in the city in 2023.

Persons: Le Parisien, Saint Denis, Mathieu Descombes, ”, Read Organizations: Paris Zoological, des, Social, Facebook, Twitter, Chennevières, Parc Zoologique de, ” Reuters, Reuters Locations: Paris, France, de, Algerian, Saint Denis, Parc Zoologique de Paris, Ile

☆ Lionel Messi admits to ‘difficult adaptation’ in France after moving to Paris Saint-Germain
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( George Ramsay | Homero De La Fuente | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Lionel Messi struggled to adapt to a new environment at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) after moving to the French club in 2021, the Argentine forward said in an interview with beIN Sports aired this week. Messi won two league titles during his time at PSG, scoring 21 goals and recording 20 assists in all competitions over the past season. “The truth is, it was a very difficult adaptation, much more than I expected,” Messi told beIN about his move to PSG two years ago. Paris Saint-Germain Football/Getty ImagesEarlier this month, Messi announced that he would be moving to MLS club Inter Miami and is reportedly set to make his debut in the United States in July. “I think that from the beginning, it was something very nice, like the reception, which I said many times,” Messi added.

Persons: Lionel Messi, Germain, Messi, ” Messi, beIN, Kylian, I’d, ” Organizations: CNN, Paris Saint, PSG, beIN Sports, Champions League, Parc des Princes, Germain Football, MLS, Inter Miami, Barcelona, Paris, ” CNN Locations: Paris, Argentine, Saudi Arabia, Parc des, United States, France

☆ San Francisco mayor proposes tearing down Westfield Mall
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —San Francisco’s mayor Thursday proposed remaking the city’s struggling downtown by tearing down abandoned retail space, including the city’s Westfield mall, and building new structures to reshape the struggling city. A Westfield Mall could become something completely different than what it currently is,” she said. Earlier this month, Westfield said it planned to surrender its mall, the San Francisco Centre, back to its lender. The mall operator cited the “challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic.”Shoppers walk through the Westfield San Francisco Centre on April 13, 2022 in San Francisco, California. So, let’s make some adjustments to do everything we can to reimagine what parts of San Francisco can be,” Breed said.

Persons: London Breed, Breed’s, it’s, Breed, ”, Justin Sullivan, ” Breed Organizations: CNN, Westfield, ”, London, Bloomberg’s Technology, San Francisco Centre, Westfield San Francisco Centre, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square, San Francisco, San Locations: Francisco’s, San Francisco, San Francisco , California, city’s, ”

☆ Kylian Mbappé scores French record 54th goal of the season
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Kylian Mbappé scored his 54th goal of the season for club and country in France’s 1-0 win over Greece in Euro 2024 qualifying, setting a new French goalscoring record. The previous record was 53 goals in a single season set by the late striker Just Fontaine during the 1957-58 campaign. Mbappé scored the winning goal from the penalty spot 10 minutes into the second half after Antoine Griezmann was fouled by Konstantinos Mavropanos, maintaining France’s perfect qualifying record with four wins from four matches. “The only regret I have is to not be able to play safe because we had chances to score the second goal,” France head coach Didier Deschamps told uefa.com. France, yet to concede a goal in qualifying, continues its campaign against the Republic of Ireland at the Parc des Princes in September.

Persons: Kylian Mbappé, Just Fontaine, Germain, Erling Haaland’s, Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Odysseas Vlachodimos, Mavropanos, Randal Kolo Muani, ”, Didier Deschamps, “, Olivier Giroud’s, Les, Harry Kane, England’s, Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, Kalvin Phillips Organizations: CNN, Paris Saint, Manchester City, don’t, France, Les Bleus, Parc des Princes, Three Lions, Arsenal, Bukayo Locations: Greece, Paris, Norway, Cyprus, ” France, Germany, France, Republic of Ireland, Parc des, England, North Macedonia, Ukraine

☆ Empty offices, abandoned malls, concerns over crime: Why San Francisco, the Golden City, is losing its luster
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Al Yoon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Days later, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and coowner Brookfield gave the San Francisco City Centre back to their lenders after the exit of retailers left the mall just over half occupied. Whatever is going on in San Francisco, we are not interested in being part of that any longer." Fear of crime taints the cityCrime, or the fear of it, often creeps into conversations about San Francisco, too. "I ask, what's the driver" of the San Francisco office vacancies, Scavone told Insider. He continued: "Is it because downtown San Francisco is somewhat of a difficult commute from suburbs in Marin County or the East Bay?"

Persons: Manus Clancy, Trepp, —, Brookfield, Clancy, Salesforce, Jeff Burg, he's, Burg, we're, Thomas Baltimore, hasn't, Elon Musk, Bob Lee, Frank Scavone, Scavone Organizations: Service, San Francisco, California, Hilton San Francisco, Square, Parc, San Francisco City Centre, San, Krea, Union, Census, LinkedIn, Park Hotels, Resorts, Westfield, ABC, San Francisco Travel Association, Elon, Foods, The New York Times, McKinsey & Co, downtown Locations: San Francisco, San, San Francisco Chronicle, Westfield, Real, Francisco, New York, cubicles, Boston , Chicago, Houston, Miami, San Francisco's Hayes Valley, Manhattan, Tenderloin, —, downtown San Francisco, Marin County

☆ Kylian Mbappé: What next for French superstar as questions over his PSG future rumble on?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

On Thursday when questioned about his PSG future, he told reporters that Macron has no influence on his career. I’ve already answered, I’ve said that my objective is to stay at PSG, that’s my only option at the moment. Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi and Neymar were unable to guide PSG to Champions League glory. Every team in the world would undoubtedly love to sign Mbappé, but his list of realistic suitors will be rather short. Regardless of the final outcome, love it or hate it this saga looks set to rumble on for the foreseeable future.

Persons: Kylian Mbappé, Germain, Mbappé, Neymar, ’ Mbappé, “, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, I’ve, – Mbappé, meekly, Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Carl Recine, Erling Haaland, Edinson Cavani, Jude Bellingham, Karim Benzema, It’s, Real, Harry Kane, Frenchman, Kane, scupper, Christophe Simon Organizations: CNN, spurn Real, Paris Saint, PSG, AS Monaco, Real, Twitter, Reuters, Real Madrid, lowball PSG, Champions League, Ligue, Parc des Princes, Qatar Sports Investment, League, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United Locations: spurn Real Madrid, Los, Le, …, France, Paris, Real, Lens, Parc des, Al, Ittihad, Saudi Arabia, AFP

☆ AT&T to shut flagship store in downtown San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. wireless carrier AT&T (T.N) said on Friday it would close its flagship store in downtown San Francisco, deepening the real estate pain in the once-booming tech hub that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Stores in San Francisco have been closing their doors as they try to cut down on real estate space in the face of declining customer visits, occupancy and sales. Earlier this week, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW.PA) said it would transfer its Westfield San Francisco shopping mall to lenders. Nordstrom (JWN.N) said last month it was going to give up its downtown store in the mall. Real estate investment trust Park Hotels & Resorts (PK.N) had also said last week it ceased making payments toward a $725 million mortgage linked to its Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels.

Persons: Powell, Samrhitha, Krishna Chandra Organizations: AT, Westfield San, Nordstrom, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Westfield, Westfield San Francisco, Bengaluru

☆ Artist paints giant plastic bottle in Swiss park in litter protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/5] Swiss- French artist SAYPE poses next to his land art painting representing a pet bottle left on the grass as littering in the Parc Bourget in Lausanne, Switzerland, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseLAUSANNE, Switzerland, June 16 (Reuters) - A Swiss-French artist has painted a giant fresco depicting a crumpled plastic bottle directly onto the grass of a Swiss park with a view to raising awareness about pollution. Saype, 34, used chalk and charcoal for the huge painting which is about the length and width of three tennis courts in Lausanne's Louis-Bourget park on the shores of Lake Geneva. The painting, which is cordoned off, is expected to last for two or three weeks. Reporting by Denis Balibouse; Writing by Emma Farge, Editing by William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: SAYPE, Denis Balibouse, Emma Farge, William Maclean Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Swiss, Parc Bourget, Lausanne, Switzerland, Lausanne's Louis, Bourget, Lake Geneva

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW.PA) said late on Monday it will transfer its Westfield San Francisco shopping mall to lenders. The announcement followed Park Hotels & Resorts (PK.N) statement last week that it ceased making payments toward a $725 million mortgage linked to its Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 hotels. Westfield's decision is the latest blow to San Francisco, the once-booming tech hub that has been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. The potential for difficulties from commercial real estate to flow through to banks is also becoming a bigger worry for investors and regulators. Warren Wachsberger, CEO of Aecom Capital, a real estate investor, said mall owners like Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield are focusing on their best properties.

Persons: Thomas LaSalvia, Warren Wachsberger, we're, Wachsberger, Granth, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Matt Tracy, Sriraj Kalluvila, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Westfield San, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square, downtown, Real Estate Economics, Aecom, Westfield, U.S, Flagship, Nordstrom, Banana Republic, Washington DC, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Westfield, Westfield San Francisco, downtown San Francisco, Bengaluru, New York, Washington

☆ Westfield giving up San Francisco mall amid falling foot traffic
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Shopping mall operator Westfield said it plans to give up control of the San Francisco Centre mall after more than 20 years of operation in another sign of San Francisco’s economic struggles. Last month, a Westfield spokesperson attributed Nordstrom’s closing to “unsafe conditions for customers, retailers, and employees.”Once a bustling retail center in the heart of San Francisco, the San Francisco Centre has taken a significant hit in the past few years. Three years later, corporate America has yet to return in the same numbers: office vacancies in San Francisco have reached a 30-year high. According to a tally from the San Francisco Standard, twenty retailers near San Francisco’s Union Square have closed their doors since 2020. Westfield said it has already begun transferring management of the San Francisco Centre back to its lender, which will appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward.

Persons: Thomas Baltimore , Jr Organizations: CNN, Westfield, San Francisco Centre, Nordstrom, San Francisco, San, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square Locations: San Francisco, Banana, Westfield, Westfield’s, America, San Francisco’s Union, Baltimore

☆ Hotelier Writes Off San Francisco, Citing ‘Major Challenges’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Lauren Hirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Park Hotels & Resorts, the operator of two of the most prominent hotels in San Francisco, is handing in the keys on the properties — and, in essence, giving up on a city that has fallen on hard times. Park Hotel stopped making payments on a $725 million loan tied to the Hilton Union Square and Parc 55, the real estate investment trust said on Monday. A slowing economy and a remote-work thunderclap have emptied offices across the country, with some warning of a ticking bomb in the commercial real estate market. Slammed by a wave of layoffs in the tech industry and a steep slowdown in Moscone’s conference calendar, downtown San Francisco has been hit hard. “Now more than ever, we believe San Francisco’s path to recovery remains clouded and elongated by major challenges” that will reduce demand for business and leisure travel, said Thomas J. Baltimore Jr., the chief executive of Park Hotels & Resorts.

Persons: ”, Thomas J Organizations: Resorts, Hilton Union Square, Moscone Center, Baltimore Jr, Park Hotels Locations: San Francisco

☆ Flagship hotels are becoming collateral damage in San Francisco's office mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Al Yoon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Park Hotels & Resorts, an investment company, defaulted on a $725 million San Francisco hotel loan. The company's CEO plans to give up the properties, blaming remote work and "street conditions." This week, Park Hotels & Resorts, one of the largest publicly-traded hospitality investment companies with more than 29,000 rooms, chose to default on a $725 million loan secured by two flagship San Francisco hotels, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and its Parc 55, about a block away. The "burden" of the properties was just too great, and it's not only because workers are abandoning the area, Thomas Baltimore, the Park Hotels CEO, said in a statement. San Francisco has been one of the large urban metros hit hardest due to remote work and the outright exits of large technology companies.

Persons: —, it's, Thomas Baltimore, –, Salesforce Organizations: Resorts, San, Service, Hotels, Hilton San Francisco, Square, Park Hotels, metros Locations: San Francisco, Francisco, Baltimore

☆ San Francisco Hilton investor will stop making loan payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Downtown San Francisco has been dealt another blow after an investor in one of its largest hotels said it would stop paying its loans. An investor presentation from Park reveals that San Francisco accounted for 16% of its business in 2019, then fell to just 3% over the past 12 months following the pandemic. The San Francisco Hotel Council told CNN affiliate KGO-TV that it’s “not uncommon for hotel ownership to change” and it expects the hotel will find new owners. Property crimes in San Francisco have garnered national attention because of several attention-grabbing videos of thieves in action. Meanwhile, violent crime statistics in San Francisco have remained relatively steady in recent years.

Persons: Thomas Baltimore , Jr, ”, It’s, Nordstrom Organizations: New, New York CNN, Downtown, Park, Resorts, Hilton San Francisco, Square, Marriott, Hyatt, San Francisco, San Francisco Hotel Council, CNN, KGO, San Francisco Police Department Locations: New York, Downtown San Francisco, Francisco, San Francisco

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