How Can San Francisco Fill Up Empty Offices and Stores?

KQED's Forum

Once bustling San Francisco neighborhoods such as Union Square and the Financial District have been plagued with high retail and office vacancy rates since the pandemic started five years ago. More than a third of all the office space in San Francisco is now vacant and hybrid schedules mean that even buildings that do have tenants don’t fill up with workers each day. Union Square has also lost its luster as a shopping destination with most of its department stores shuttering. San Francisco’s new mayor, Daniel Lurie, says he has plans to revive downtown. We talk about what it would take to refill and reuse commercial spaces, and bring people back to downtown.

Guests:

Robert Sammons, senior research director, Cushman & Wakefield

Lauran Waxmann, reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

Katie Buchanan, principal, design director and managing director of the San Francisco office, Gensler