Salesforce, San Francisco's largest private employer, is soon expected to have a significant portion of their office space up for lease.
The decision comes as the company's "work where you want" policy expands and less office space is needed to continue.
According to a report, the cloud computing giant is looking to rent out an estimated 40 percent of it's 43-story Salesforce West building.
Experts believe as tech workers and others continue the pandemic trend of working from home, there's reason to worry about what that could mean for the recovery of cities such as San Francisco.
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"I think the underlying market force that exists, that people who work for companies would rather work from home and the companies aren't feeling like they're in the position to insist that they come back," Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council said.
In a statement, Salesforce said in part "we are subleasing floors in Salesforce West to make the most efficient use of our real estate foot print. We will maintain ownership of the building and can reoccupy the space as needed overtime."
Wunderman said some companies are clearly scaling back on office space, and that can affect the local economy and the service industry that relies on those in-office workers. He also said cost is an additional factor and believes a collaborative approach might help aid the situation.
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"I think we need to do it with some real life incentives for people who are coming in," he said, "for the workers to say 'hey, I think its worth it for me to come in and say I may not like doing the commute, but I like what's happening when I get there'."
He believes efforts to create vibrancy and entertainment downtown are also a good approach to help attract more diverse businesses.
Jacque Oskanian, a business owner, remains positive about the situation.
"I do rely a lot on the businesses around here. If you asked two years ago during COVID it was like a ghost town around here," he said. "But I hear sounds, people are ordering our greeting cards from us and they're ordering their custom invitations."
