Surviving the scramble for San Francisco Office Space? Office space within the city limits is becoming more limited by the day as many companies advance their aggressive growth. There is no magic bullet or perfect solution for the commercial real estate situation. Office space rentals fluctuate based on supply and demand just like any market.
Relief is on the way, but it isn’t a permanent solution. The San Francisco Giants announced a $1.6 billion which is set to increase 1000 rental units and 1.7 million feet of office space in the 27 acres that is currently being used as their parking lots in surrounding vicinities. Construction won’t begin until 2015 and estimated to be completed by 2021. Majority of the large-scale construction projects are happening in Mission Bay.
There are only a few physical spaces where large office projects could be built in San Francisco without displacing something else. Many of those lots are located in Mission Bay, Dogpatch, and the Central Waterfront. New construction looks promising, but it’s not rapid enough to fulfill the current demand. Since the city is surrounded by water on three sides and the citizens are very protective of their landmark. New construction will go upward instead of outward, and the density will increase. New high-rise office buildings are a good solution to the city’s growing needs, but they won’t be built fast enough to help with the current shortage of space.
The aging piers along the waterfront are largely under-utilized and could ease some pain if they were made available to companies who need space. Tenants at Pier were evicted when the Port of San Francisco believed the property unsafe and issued a condemnation order. The piers are ideal candidates for restoration efforts. Executives are being driven into storefront retail space because of the lack of inventory in executive office spaces. Retail space is much more expensive than traditional office space. If a company has to spend an exorbitant amount of money on office space, that eats away at the amount of money they can use to hire talented employees. Not to worry, the explosion of shared office environments is helping with the short-term crunch.
