Tech Mid-Market Movement, Residential Opp.

SAN FRANCISCO-Once Twitter committed Shorenstein's Market Square building in the Mid-Market area of San Francisco, a transformation began, and the firm's Jim Collins says apartment rents have skyrocketed in the area. As GlobeSt.com reported on Friday, we joined NAREE members and Collins, VP of leasing of Shorenstein Realty Services, at the Twitter headquarters the same day the company went public to discuss their lease, what it means for the area, and the redevelopment of that building and the adjacent 1 TENth.

It has been said that Shorenstein's redevelopment of the building at 1355 Market St. is credited as catalyst for revitalization of the Mid-Market district in the city. And Collins said on Thursday that he has witnessed a change in the area, and “there is a tremendous demand for housing … Apartment rents have skyrocketed” thanks in part to many tech companies moving into to the area. “Twitter's lease brought lots of residential to what was a sleepy neighborhood,” he said.

Market Square consists of two buildings joined by a landscaped plaza and features 890,000 square feet of class A office space above 200,000 square feet of street-level retail. When completed in the spring of 2014, the second building, known as 1TENth, will be one of only a few buildings in San Francisco with more than 300,000 square feet of available, contiguous, creative office space. Once completed, the properties will create a cohesive urban campus environment, says Collins.

The office location puts it in an area where more than 4,500 new residential units have risen in recent years and it is also connected to SOMA's commercial district, Hayes Valley's restaurants and shops and is across Market Street from Civic Center Plaza, Davies Symphony Hall, War Memorial Opera House, the Asian Art Museum, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium and a short walk from the city's theater district. Several forms of public transportation, including the Civic Center BART station located steps away, serve the property. In talking about the company's purchase of the building back in 2011, Collins said that although it may have been seen as risky to buy, the firm thought that if it could get a ½ block building in Downtown San Francisco at a low basis, “it couldn't be a bad thing.”

When GlobeSt.com recently chatted with Newmark Knight Frank Cornish & Carey Commercial capital group managing director Kyle Kovac, on the Mid-Market-district, he also noted that Twitter's commitment to Shorenstein's 1355 Market St. in April of 2011 prompted a surge of growth and activity in the area. “We are seeing tangible evidence of the mid-Market transformation almost weekly with high-profile tenants, landlords, and developers all committing to the neighborhood,” Kovac said.

Check out photos from the event below and check back with GlobeSt.com for updates on the progress of 1 TENth.

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