A Lot Riding on Twitter Move for San Francisco

City hoping tech startups can help revive a long-struggling neighborhood.

As San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee put on a hard hat to take a tour of what he helped create, somewhere in the Mid-Market area rents were skyrocketing.

Twitter's move to the area seemingly so long ignored by the city and residents alike is about to get a whole lot livelier next month when the social-networking site moves into a new office and becomes the center piece of a new revitalization movement.

The Jack Dorsey-run company was enticed into moving into an 11-story art deco style building in the neighborhood by Lee when he helped pass a measure to give Twitter and other tech startups a 1.5 percent city payroll tax exemption for the next six years.

"They have reminded us over and over again that but for that exemption and our signaling to them that we're really going to make a serious effort on reviewing the whole payroll tax, I don't think that they would have had the confidence to stay here," Lee told KGO.

The move has paid some early dividends for the mayor as several tech companies have signed up to become Twitter's neighbor.

Rental rates in the neighborhood have jumped as much as 60 percent since Twitter's announcement, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

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