San Francisco Business Times
By J.K. Dineen and Patrick Hoge
September 18th, 2009

Online gaming network Zynga is close to finalizing a deal to move its corporate headquarters to 500 Terry Francois Blvd. in Mission Bay, taking 137,000 square feet in San Francisco’s largest leasing transaction of 2009.

Under the pending four-year lease, Zynga would move to the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of a $149 million structure that has sat vacant since completion in June 2008.

The company’s 370 full-time employees are now largely divided between two office complexes — one in an abandoned potato chip factory at 365 Vermont St. that CEO and co-founder Mark Pincus owns, and the other at 444 DeHaro St. Zynga, the largest online gaming network with 100 million monthly users, has been looking for a new space so that it can bring all of its employees under one roof. [More...]

Duane Morris restructures, Schwab to vacate One Montgomery

March 27th, 2009   Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Midmarket/ City Hall, Mission Bay, South of Market, Tenant Activity, Zoning & City Hall Issues  

Posts have been few and far between here at San Francisco Tenant Representation lately and I apologize for that.  Fortunately I have been occupied assisting clients and as we have discussed, the market demands a great deal of attention on every transaction in this climate.

Below you will find a catchup list of events, developments, and transactions that have occurred over the past month or so.  The biggest trend to pay attention to today, which has not quite shown itself in transactions yet, is the tendency right now for firms to put excess space on the sublease market… even if they only recently signed leases for this space.  The best examples comes from 555 Mission, which is a beautiful new building trying hard to fill direct space.  Two of the newest tenants to the project have already listed space for sublease, before ever taking occupancy of that space.

Economic Downturn Tests Sector Resilience Globe Street/ March 23rd, 2009

Duane Morris Restructures One Market Lease Costar Group/ March 11th, 2009

Law Firm Moving to 3 Embarcadero Center Costar Group/ March 11th, 2009

Architecture Firm Buys Historic San Francisco Building Costar Group/ February 25th, 2009

Bebo Co-Founders Buy Musto Plaza for $7.25 Million San Francisco Business Times/ March 20th, 2009

$30M Redevelopment for One Market Retail San Francisco Business Times/ March 13th, 2009

[More...]

Skyline Review breaks down space availability in downtown San Francisco

February 13th, 2009   Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Mission Bay, North Beach/ Waterfront, South of Market, Tenant Activity, Zoning & City Hall Issues  

The San Francisco Chronicle this past week covered a report that was created by my firm, Jones Lang LaSalle, that details the available office space in downtown San Francisco.

Our research department truly does outstanding work, and for this report the data was given a beautiful visual representation by our great graphics people.  Normally I don’t cover our reports on this site, but rather I try to focus on real events that occur in the marketplace that have a direct affect on what my clients may pay in rent.  In this case however I am proud to be associated with such professionalism and I am certain this type of support makes me a better agent.

Despite the associated picture only detailing 11 properties, the original piece details San Francisco’s top 30 buildings and includes written market updates and relevant recent news and information.  I would be happy to supply you with a hard copy of the report, feel free to reach out to me if you are interested in getting a hold of a physical copy. [More...]

Friday Updates: Condos sales slow, Soma Sale, Transportation 2035

January 23rd, 2009   Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Mission Bay, South of Market, Tenant Activity, Zoning & City Hall Issues  

This website is designed to gather information that is relevant to my clients doing business in San Francisco.  Normally we cover tenant relocations, construction updates, and indicators such as vacancy rates and pricing adjustments.

Occasionally however I link to stories that are important to those that spend time in the City, but that may have an effect on us in a different way.  Below you will find residential, pedestrian, and streetcar coverage.  Plus a link to a great explanation of the latest updates to the Regional Transportation Plan.  Enjoy!

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Condo developers in S.F. hurting for buyers (Chronicle)

New streetcar to link parking lot development (Examiner)

Market/ Octavia bike lane will stay for now (StreetsblogSF)

Regional Transportation Plan: A 2035 Blueprint (Transbay Blog)

Universal Electric buys two SOMA properties (Costar Group)

[More...]

Federal building face-off, Giants parking lot & 110 The Embarcadero

January 21st, 2009   Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Midmarket/ City Hall, Mission Bay, South of Market, Zoning & City Hall Issues  

The San Francisco Chronicle has two writers that cover aspects of commercial real estate either full time or part time and the paper has produced three very interesting news stories over the past week.

John King, who runs a regular column called “Place” on Tuesdays in the Chronicle, reported this week on the contrast between the newly opened (relatively speaking) federal building on Seventh and Mission and the former federal building across the street that opened in 1905.  The discussion is not just about structure, but about style and cost as well.  In today’s world, City leaders are cognizant of public perception regarding use of tax payer dollars, and new state financed properties are designed to be as efficient and sustainable as pricing allows.  His article is worth your time as King [More...]

Real stats, real numbers: 2008 market wrapup

December 29th, 2008   Filed Under Financial District, Mission Bay, North Beach/ Waterfront, Showplace Square, South of Market, Tenant Activity  

As the year grinds to an end and we look back at the recent damage that has been done to our great Country’s financial markets I thought it would be beneficial to my clients to publish some real data.  We are all well aware by now of what has happened to the stock market, the unemployment rate, and of course the equity of some of our most famous corporate institutions.  How all of this will have an affect on San Francisco’s commercial real estate rental rates and vacancy numbers has yet to be determined however.

What we do know is that in the most general of senses rental rates are dropping, building values are dropping, vacancy rates are increasing, sublease space is increasing, and the velocity of deals happening in the marketplace is at a minimum.  The uncertainty surrounding what 2009 will bring and what affect the bailout will have on the economy has left most of us doing whatever we can to cut costs and be efficient moving forward.  This mentality applies even to those companies with strong [More...]

Office rents continue to drop, recent leases give teeth to the decline

December 12th, 2008   Filed Under Development Updates, Financial District, Mission Bay, North Beach/ Waterfront, Showplace Square, South of Market, Tenant Activity, Yerba Buena, Zoning & City Hall Issues  

The well acknowledged market slowdown in San Francisco’s financial district has finally started to show itself in the form of actual lease transactions.  Predictions that rental numbers were headed South have been around for quite some time of course but now the theories have some teeth.  Tenants have been pushing very hard on landlords for more concessions and lower numbers, landlords have been actively cutting rates and increasing concessions to appeal to tenants, but the truth is activity is slowed as a whole, which means there are fewer tenants to pursue.

The majority of tenants that have decisions to make have been pushing back the date in which they plan to make those real estate location decisions.  That being said some tenants have a lease expiration now, and some tenants may see this as the best time to grab a lower rental rate while the opportunity exists.  Wells Fargo made some very intelligent and well documented real estate space decisions following the dot com era, and their recent commitment to 55,000 square feet at 45 Fremont may once again prove to be brilliant timing. [More...]

Commercial developments across San Francisco hit the brakes

November 17th, 2008   Filed Under Development Updates, Mission Bay, Tenant Activity  

Mission Bay has become the latest San Francisco development to choose not to build, as reported by J.K. Dineen of the San Francisco Business Times last week.  It seems that if a project has not yet started to erect steel, the odds of that project moving forward in this climate are very slim.  As you will see in the article below, Alexandria Real Estate has added two buildings to San Francisco’s growing list of stopped projects.

535 Mission recently started to fill back up the excavation that had begun to take place, One Rincon Hill has stated they will not be moving forward as planned on the second of two towers, and Seawall Lot 337 has had trouble receiving the attention from developers it once enjoyed.  The interesting twist to the Mission Bay stoppage however is that according to the CEO of Alexandria, the projects they are choosing not to build are build-to-suits.  This means that despite having tenants in hand that would be committed to the space upon completion, they still are not moving forward.  In contrast to this is 535 Mission which was planning on building on a speculative basis in the hopes of signing tenants prior to completion.  [More...]