San Francisco Office Construction Rebounds Amid High Vacancy

Despite a slow start in early 2024, San Francisco’s office construction activity picked up pace as the year progressed and became one of the largest in the nation. Developers are continuing to break ground on new developments, with most projects belonging to the life science sector, according to CommercialEdge data.

In contrast, the market’s sales activity was low through 2024, on par with 2023’s trend. Nevertheless, San Francisco emerged as the priciest office market in the U.S., surpassing Manhattan in terms of average sale price per square foot.

Second-largest pipeline in the country

As of November, 3.8 million square feet of office space was under construction across 20 properties in San Francisco, representing 2.3 percent of existing stock—above the national figure 0.8 percent. Among similar markets, Boston led the rankings with 3.6 percent, while San Francisco outperformed Los Angeles (0.7 percent), Manhattan (0.6 percent) and Chicago (0.3 percent). When adding office projects in planning stages, San Francisco’s share reached 9 percent, second after Miami (9.4 percent) and surpassing Boston (8.6 percent).

In terms of square feet underway, San Francisco had the second largest pipeline, after Boston’s 9.3 million square feet. The vast majority of the project rising within the market are life science developments.

Kilroy Realty’s Buildings D, E and F at Kilroy Oyster Point, slated to aid 865,000 square feet of space, is one of the largest projects under construction. A trio of life science buildings are part of the developer’s 3 million-square-foot waterfront project in South San Francisco. Construction commenced in 2022 and the delivery date was pushed to the end of 2025.

Another notable project is IQHQ’s The Spur, a 326,000-square-foot high-tech life science building at 580 Dubuque Ave. in the same submarket. Backed by a $275 million construction loan, the development topped out earlier this year and is expected to come online in early 2025.

Year-to-date through November, developers delivered 2.7 million square feet across 13 properties in the metro, representing 1.4 percent of total stock, while construction starts included 911,700 square feet of space across three properties—accounting for 0.5 percent of total stock.

Among notable properties that came online recently is Lane Partners’ Southline Building 1, a 375,000-square-foot life science building at 30 Tanforan Ave. also in South San Francisco. The property, financed by a $373 million construction loan, represents the first phase of Southline, an office and R&D development that will comprise up to 3 million square feet of space.

Office-to-residential conversions in Los Angeles

The office sector is still struggling with high vacancies and office-to-residential conversions have emerged as an attractive option. Recently, CommercialEdge launched the Conversion Feasibility Index, a Yardi-powered tool that measures a building’s potential for a residential makeover.

The CFI score has three tiers, with Tier I office properties being the most suitable candidates. San Francisco had 112 properties—totaling 11 million square feet—in the Tier I category. Additionally, the metro had 295 office building in the Tier II category, totaling nearly 36.3 million square feet.

Work has begun on the repurposing of the historic Humboldt Bank Building. In October, Forge Development Partners started the conversion of the 1908-built mid-rise totaling 91,804 square feet. The developer plans to invest $70 million in the reimagining of the office building into a 124-unit residential community. The Seligman Group is the owner of the property that bears a CFI score of 91 points.

Prices high, low investment activity

Year-to-date through November, San Francisco’s office sector saw $747 million in deals, with 29 properties totaling nearly 1.9 million square feet changing hands. The metro continued last year’s limited sales activity: in 2023, transactions amounted to $722 million and 2.3 million square feet.

Among gateway metros, San Francisco’s total sales volume surpassed only Seattle’s ($687 million), while Manhattan led the nation with $3.8 billion in deals.

One of the priciest sales in San Francisco this year was the $222.2 million acquisition of Sand Hill Commons, a 133,000-square-foot, two-building office campus in Menlo Park, Calif. The buyer was Norges Bank Investment Management, that acquired a 97.7 percent ownership stake in the property from Clarion Partners and Invesco Real Estate.

Office properties changed hands at an average sale price of $384 per square foot—significantly above the national average of $179 per square foot. Among gateway markets, San Francisco emerged as the priciest office market, outperforming the usual leader Manhattan ($379 per square foot), that was followed by Miami ($376 per square foot), Los Angeles ($355 per square foot) and Washington, D.C. ($213 per square foot).

San Francisco’s vacancy rate highest in the U.S.

San Francisco’s office vacancy rate clocked in at 27.7 percent as of November—surpassing the national figure of 19.4 percent and marking a 400-basis-point increase. Tech markets are posting some of the highest rates in the country, with San Francisco and Austin ranking first.

In contrast, one of the lowest rates were registered in similar markets, such as Miami (14.4 percent), Los Angeles (15.7 percent), Manhattan (16.7 percent) and Boston (16.8 percent). The only gateway metro with a significant increase in vacancy was Seattle, that recorded a 25.8 percent figure.

In May, Google gave up 300,000 square feet of office space at One Market Plaza, a two-building office complex totaling 1.6 million square feet in San Francisco. Nevertheless, notable office leases transpired recently in the metro. Among them is Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc.’s 258,581-square-foot, long-term deal with Vaxcyte Inc. The company has been an anchor tenant at Alexandria Center for Life Science, a two-building property in San Carlos, Calif.

Flex office providers increasing operations in the metro

San Francisco’s coworking market comprised 3.7 million square feet of space as of November, more than in Miami and Seattle, that had 2.9 million square feet each. The share of flex office space as percentage of total leasable office space in the metro reached percent 2.2 percent, above the national figure of 1.9 percent.

The flex office provider with the largest footprint in the metro remained WeWork, with operations totaling 736,795 square feet. The companies that followed were Gateway Labs by Lilly (438,339 square feet), Regus (337,544 square feet), Studio by Tishman Speyer (237,947 square feet) and Spaces (186,402 square feet).