JPMorgan Chase Commits to 280 KSF in San Francisco

JPMorgan Chase has signed a renewal and expansion agreement totaling 280,000 square feet in San Francisco’s Financial District, the San Francisco Chronicle first reported.

The company will expand its footprint at Hines’ 560 Mission St. building by 60,000 square feet for the next five years.

The deal comes as the company is asking its employees to return to the office five days per week. The expansion will also also enable JPMorgan Chase to relocate some of First Republic Bank’s former employees to 560 Mission St.

Following JPMorgan Chase’s takeover of First Republic Bank, which occupied 750,000 square feet of office space in downtown San Francisco until 2023, the company is now focusing on consolidating its workforce from the former bank’s space at 1 Front St. to the expanded office space in the Financial District.

First Republic Bank occupied some 460,000 square feet at Paramount Group’s 1 Front St., of which JPMorgan Chase initially agreed to keep some 300,000 square feet. In 2024, JPMorgan downsized its space there once again, marketing for lease another 244,000 square feet, according to The Real Deal.

The Class A office building at 560 Mission St., also known as the JPMorgan Chase Building, totals 667,782 square feet. Other tenants here include Ernst & Young, which occupies 122,760 square feet, as well as Seyfarth Shaw, Munger, Tolles & Olson and Arup, according to CommercialEdge. It is close to multiple bus and light rail stops that allow easy access to the Union Square area and to downtown San Francisco, while being 13 miles from San Francisco International Airport.

Hines developed the 420-foot-tall office tower in 2002 and has since continued to own and operate the asset. Rising 31 stories, the high-rise includes 21,698-square-foot floorplates, 5,000 square feet of retail space and 117 vehicle parking spots. The amenity package includes on-site food and beverages services, events, access to an outdoor plaza, dry-cleaning services, valet parking and EV charging stations.

San Francisco’s office market shows mixed signals

Despite being among the priciest office markets in the U.S., San Francisco recorded one of the highest vacancy rates in the nation, according to a recent CommercialEdge report. The metro had a 28.2 percent vacancy rate as of November last year, marking a 400-basis-point increase year-over-year, far outpacing the 19.4 percent national average.

The on-going struggles in the office sector have impacted the San Francisco market throughout 2024. In May, Google announced plans to exit its 300,000-square-foot space at One Market Plaza, as its lease will expire this April. The 1.6 million-square-foot office complex is owned by Paramount Group.

However, the market is also seeing notable leasing transactions. In November, Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. announced a long-term deal with Vaxcyte Inc. in San Carlos, Calif. The tenant signed a 10-year lease for 258,581 square feet at the company’s two-building Alexandria Center for Life Science.