SF Girls Chorus Lists Its Page Street Home, the Former New Druid Temple, for $13.75 Million

The San Francisco Girls Chorus has put its headquarters at 44 Page St. on the market for $13.75 million. The six-story building, built in 1912 as the New Druid Temple, has been the chorus’s home since 2005 under the name Kanbar Center. The chorus says it is selling because it can’t hold concerts there, and it plans to stay in San Francisco.

Why the Chorus Is Selling

“We have a 36,000-square-foot building, and we can’t perform in here,” executive director Mary Finch told the San Francisco Standard. The chorus uses about half of the building for rehearsals, classes and offices and rents the rest to other nonprofits, then rents outside halls for its concerts. The goal is one building the chorus owns outright that holds performances, rehearsals and administration together.

That building needs to fit more than 400 singers from San Francisco and the East Bay and be close to transit, per the Standard. The chorus is looking in SoMa and Mid-Market. Hoodline reports the aim is to secure a new building by the chorus’s 50th anniversary season in 2027-28.

“We are the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and our intention is to remain here,” Finch said.

The Building

The chorus describes 44 Page St. as a Renaissance Revival building with Second Empire influences that once served as the ceremonial seat of the Druids’ California “Supreme Grove.” It has three floors of former ceremonial halls and lofts and three floors of office suites added in 1984. More than two dozen arts, cultural and community groups use it each year.

The chorus bought it for $5 million in 2005. Maurice Kanbar, the Skyy Vodka creator who died in 2022, gave $4 million of that. His heirs approved the sale and gave another $250,000, both outlets report.

What Happens Next

The listing is with Michael Barnacle and Gary Tribulato of Corcoran Icon Properties. Hoodline reports the building is about 95 percent leased. After a sale, the chorus would rent back its space at 44 Page St. for two years, so rehearsals and classes in Hayes Valley continue in the meantime.

Photo: San Francisco Girls Chorus.