Empire assembled ten contiguous parcels in 1978,[5] and filed their initial design study on 7 January 1983 with the San Francisco Department of City Planning.

The design was revised to a 24-story building based on floor area ratio calculations, and the final conditional use authorization was granted in June 1984.

[5] During construction, Mitsui Fudosan acquired a controlling interest in the unfinished building from The Empire Group and development was completed under the management of AMB.

[8] National Office Partners (NOP), a partnership between Hines Interests LP and CalPERS, acquired 505 Montgomery from Mitsui Fudosan and The Empire Group in 1999.

But, recent research shows that this claim is inaccurate; the Eureka was on a site adjacent to the park that now is occupied by a 4-story apartment building at 650/652 Commercial.