Monday, September 14, 2020

This is How Bad the San Francisco Commercial Real Estate Market Is Right Now

Pinterest Inc. has announced that it has terminated a 490,000-square-foot lease signed just last year for a building in development at 88 Bluxome St. in San Francisco.

The office building was initially slated to open in 2022.

Get this. Pinterest had to make a one-time payment of $89.5 million to get out of the lease.

At the same time, Twitter has put up for sublease 104,850 square feet at its San Francisco headquarters complex.

"Our focus on prioritizing de-centralization has allowed us to flex our active leased spaces as needed," a Twitter spokesperson said.

Bottom line: High-tech firms have no idea what the post-COVID-19 workplace is going to look like.

You would think that if they can convince workers, who can be monitored efficiently, to work from home, it makes sense to allow those workers to stay at home and save on the cost of office rent.

This won't work for everyone. In New York, JPMorgan Chase has ordered its trading and sales staff to return to their offices by September 21.

-RW

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