San Francisco real estate deals are usually celebrated with a fine bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and a meal at Boulevard or Perbacco.

But when TMG Partners completed the acquisition of 1550 Bryant St. on April 30, the team marked the occasion with a $6.99 12-pack of Hamm's beer from BevMo. And with good reason: They had just bought the old Hamm's brewery.

TMG has expanded its South of Market footprint with the $36 million acquisition ($200 a square foot) of the green Hamm's brewery, a complex that straddles three of San Francisco's tech-friendly, hipster neighborhoods: inner Potrero Hill, West SoMa and the Mission. The purchase comes at a time when TMG and its partners have sold two of its SoMa holdings (155 Fifth St. and 650 Townsend St.) and filled another one (680 Folsom St.).

The company, San Francisco's largest locally based developer of housing and commercial property, has a little bit of space at 208 Utah St., a block from the Hamm's building, but that is likely to be completely leased by summer.

The seller, Amerimar Enterprises, paid $22.9 million in 2007 for the property, which at the time was about 55 percent occupied. Currently the occupancy rate is 85 percent, although TMG is in negotiations on all of that space. About 70 percent of the building "rolls" in the next two years, which could give TMG Partners a chance to capture the rising rents.

Space in the building is leasing in the $40s a square foot range. Amerimar was represented by Dave Terzolo and Josh Peterson of the CAC Group.

The plan for the Hamm's building is similar to what TMG did at 208 Utah St.: Bring back the buildings industrial history by removing sheetrock, drop ceilings and plastered-over columns.

"In a building like this, the elements should speak for themselves," said Adam Chall, a partner with TMG overseeing the Hamm's and 208 Utah projects.

"The building has amazing industrial character underneath the finishes and that is what we intend to bring back," Chall said.

Tenants in the Hamm's building include tech firms like Asana, a web application company, and Rdio, a digital music service. Pasta Pomadora also has its corporate headquarters there.

"The tenants like it here, they love the space, and a lot of them want to stay and expand," Chall said.

TMG executives would love to find and put back in its rooftop prominence the famous 13-foot Hamm's 3-D neon beer chalice that continuously "emptied" and "filled" with light. The sign was built in 1954 and was the largest commercial sign on the West Coast, appearing in movies like "Dirty Harry." It was removed from the building in 1975.