The report named San Francisco the Top U.S. market forcommercial real estate and development. Investors have a growingappetite for "24-hour cities" like San Francisco that have acritical mass of housing, business, retail and entertainmentactivity in a centralized location, according to the report.Joining San Francisco as the top five U.S. markets for commercialreal estate investment are New York City, Boston, Los Angeles andWashington, D.C.

Those "once-struggling urban giants have managed over the pastsix years to restore intrinsic value and transform themselves intolifestyle magnets," according to the report. "San Francisco is thebest real estate market to invest in because they have growthconstraint, which is positive in that it limits sprawl and hasgeographic boundaries that provide an attractive backdrop to bearound such as the bay and the ocean."

A smaller version of the 24-hour city is going on across the Bayin Walnut Creek, which earned that city its first ranking in thereport as one of the nation's top six "subcities." Othertop-ranking subcities include Reston, VA; Bethesda, MD; Bellevue,WA; and Birmingham, MI. Office developments in those subcities, aswell as the 24-hour cities, are "sure scores if you can find thesites" for development, according to the report.