San Francisco’s Mid Market and the “Twitter Effect”

So who’s to thank for surging rents in San Francisco’s Mid Market corridor? The technology sector, naturally, whose epicenter has steadily been migrating from Silicon Valley to downtown San Francisco.  Operating the business to be closer to the tech talent pool is a trend that represents a shift in the thinking behind where a company decides to set up shop.

The Bay Area’s talented engineering and programming labor pool doesn’t live in suburbia – they live in San Francisco.  So to attract and retain this highly sought after demographic companies have been migrating to or launching in SoMa, Mid Market, Yerba Buena and the Financial District.  Now the City is in the throws of a commercial real estate boom that’s being fueled by technology tenants (who were single-handedly responsible for leasing over 1/2 of the 10.9 million square feet leased in 2012).

As SoMa quickly began filling up, developers and landlords set their sights on the short stretch of Market Street from 5th to Van Ness, and began to buy.  What kicked off “The Twitter Effect”, however, was Shorenstein’s purchase of 1355 Market and their following announcement of Twitter’s relocation to their new acquisition.  The eponymous technology company also took advantage of an attractive rental rate and the Board of Supervisors’ 6-year payroll tax exemption.  They now call 215,000 SF at Market Center their home and have invoked “The Twitter Effect” by attracting many other notable tenants to the area such as Square, Call Socket, Dolby, Pinterest, One King’s Lane and Yammer (who signed a 79,000 SF lease at $48.00 per foot – 60% higher than Twitter’s $30.00).

Other  San Francisco tech leases tightening the market include:

• Salesforce.com – 440,000 SF at the upcoming 350 Mission St.
• Square – 327,432 SF at 1455 Market St.
• Meraki – 110,000 SF at 500 Terry Francois Blvd.
• Yelp.com – 98,144 SF at 140 New Montgomery St.
• Splunk – 92,000 SF at 250 Brannan

So what’s an existing San Francisco tenant to do when their occupancy costs could potentially double upon their lease renewal?

Read: “Help! My Landlord Wants to Double My Rent!”

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The Evolution of the “Comp”

Remember the “telephone game” when you were a kid?

You’d whisper, “I had ham and eggs for breakfast this morning,” to the person to the right and by the time it made its way around the circle the last person would say, “Santa has ham for legs and just installed new flooring.”

Well the same thing happens when real estate comps are traded.

In commercial real estate brokerage the lease comparable or “comp” is a summary snapshot of a transaction that includes all the relevant deal points such as the rental rate, square footage, length of term and concessions. Simply put, it is one of the most accurate real-time indicators of what tenants are willing to pay to lease space in a market at a specific point in time.

Comps are traded predominantly amongst brokers, landlords, lenders and appraisers, however there is no central repository for this information.  Each party or their respective company or firm maintains their own proprietary database where this comparable information is kept; and this comes with its own challenges.

With such a fragmented method of assembling, compiling and maintaining this data it’s impossible to warrant its accuracy.  For example, I’ve received comps for the same transaction but from different brokerages, and they have all had conflicting information – inconsistencies in the lease expiration date, tenant improvement package, rental schedule,etc.

Also, there are severe limitations to only being able to search your own firm’s database.  What if the data you need existed somewhere out there but your firm didn’t have it?  Well then you’d just have to hunt around until you found it, which can be very time consuming.

CompStak is a new, crowd-sourced model that allows CRE professionals to contribute lease comps and then earn points for what they’ve submitted.  They can then trade the points that they’ve earned for details on other comps that are more relevant and important to them.

This is huge for a few reasons.  First, having a centralized database that everyone contributes to encourages data integrity and market transparency.  Simply put, verified, accurate data benefits everyone involved.  Second, being able to magnify the scope of a search by accessing a much larger, more robust database makes me a better-informed broker and ultimately, allows me to provide better service to my clients.

CompStak is currently available in San Francisco and Manhattan, with plans to eventually go national.  Personally, the service has already proven its worth in at least two recent transactions and I look forward to their continued success.

Hopefully now when I  say, “three months free with $25 per square foot in TI’s,” it doesn’t get translated into, “tree trunks free with $25 in bacon flavored toothpaste”.

Related news: Commercial Real Estate Tech Company CompStak Makes Bay Area Inroads

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What I Learned While at 42Floors

Yesterday, I wrapped up a one-month consulting position with San Francisco-based 42Floors.com. As a tenant rep advisor that’s passionate about commercial real estate and technology, I jumped at the opportunity to join the team and get a feel for what it’s like to work within a fast paced startup in the midst of SoMa’s exciting technology boom.

The 42Floors Crew

In a nutshell, 42Floors is a free search engine for office listings in San Francisco and  New York, wrapped up in a gorgeous user interface.  The model itself isn’t exactly groundbreaking, except for the fact that their current focus is not on monetization, but on creating the absolute best user experience possible.

Here’s how it works.  The user searches active office space listings and when they find something they like, they submit their contact information and the handoff is made to the listing broker, who then follows up with them to schedule a tour of the space.  Nothing revolutionary there.  Where 42Floors really sets itself apart, however, is with their Concierge; a human being that uses a telephone to actually call you.  How many companies actually do that anymore, and for free?  Their only task is to make sure you’re happy, answer questions about the market and commercial real estate, and ultimately, that you’re successful in finding your new office space online through their website.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of other great features that elevate the user experience, like robust filtering options, photo-intensive listings and rental estimates for properties that don’t publish their asking rents, but the Concierge addresses a gaping hole in the online listing arena: tenants not only need but deserve the advice of an expert that’s looking out for their interests.  This is something that gets lost when a tenant uses the internet to find an office space online and then cuts a direct deal with the landlord without being represented by an advisor.  With 42Floors Concierge, the tenant can receive guidance and assistance from a professional they can trust.

My big takeaway from my experience with helping 42Floors develop their concierge program, is that tenants will always need a human advocate, and 42Floors understands that.

Just like WebMD.com will never replace the role of the doctor, 42Floors.com will never replace the role of the tenant advisor – they exist to enhance and compliment the process, be it a trip to the hospital or signing a new office lease.

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