Highest Rents? Of Course, Bay Area is in Top 10

Employers will have transit-friendly space options in San Francisco in 18 to 24 months.

SAN FRANCISCO—The city has the third most expensive skyline in the country (by annual average rent per square foot), Oakland is the eighth most expensive and San Jose isn’t far behind. Even so, a wide range of companies continue to lease space in these signature assets for the cache and views. And, some tech companies are migrating from brick and timber buildings in neighborhoods such as SOMA to newly upgraded and polished spaces in traditional downtown office towers.

JLL’s Christopher T. Roeder sees San Francisco’s skyline continuing to benefit from strong demand for quality office space with access to amenities and transportation, especially from homegrown/new age headquarters companies and large technology companies expanding from Silicon Valley. Roeder says that although the high cost of living, the need for more infrastructure and a tight labor market are the city’s biggest hurdles, there’s a bright spot in its all-important transportation infrastructure. With the Transbay Transit Center now well underway and new skyline-defining developments such as Park Tower due for completion in 2018, employers will have transit-friendly space options in the city in the next 18 to 24 months. Buyers, on the hunt for quality assets and higher investment returns, are exploring all three major metros with San Jose attracting value add and opportunistic investors seeking to tap into its downtown transit-oriented resurgence.