Financial District Sees Strongest Office Leasing Since 2019
Momentum builds as new tenants move in and vacancy shows signs of stabilizing
San Francisco’s Financial District is beginning to show signs of life after a long stretch of uncertainty. The submarket recorded its strongest office leasing activity since 2019 in the first quarter of 2025, with preliminary figures approaching 1 million square feet in newly signed leases. According to CoStar, that number is expected to rise as additional transactions are finalized and logged in the coming weeks.
Defined by the triangle formed by Market, Washington, and Kearny Streets, the Financial District has long served as a central hub for San Francisco’s premier office buildings. Like much of the city’s core, it saw a sharp increase in vacancy between 2020 and 2024—rising from just 7% to 30%—as companies restructured, downsized, or exited the market altogether.
But over the past year, the district has shown signs of stabilization. Tenant departures have slowed, and new commitments are beginning to outpace exits. Much of this new momentum is fueled by growth in the artificial intelligence and legal sectors, with notable relocations from nearby submarkets into the Financial District.
The largest lease of the quarter comes from Databricks, a leading cloud-based data and analytics company. The firm signed on for 153,000 square feet at One Sansome Street, significantly expanding from its current 58,000 square feet at 160 Spear Street.
Another headline move: the law firm Morgan Lewis will be leaving its office at One Market Plaza to occupy 123,000 square feet at the newly renovated Transamerica Pyramid—signaling growing interest in top-tier, repositioned buildings.
While new leasing activity is encouraging, challenges remain. JP Morgan Chase, which acquired First Republic Bank in 2023, is expected to vacate several significant blocks of space—previously occupied by First Republic—at One Front Street, 111 Pine Street, and 388 Market Street. The bank will consolidate and expand operations at 560 Mission Street in the South Financial District, adding more space to the availability pool in the process.
For now, the Financial District is navigating a period of transition. Some tenants continue to scale back, while others are moving in, signaling renewed confidence in the market. After several years dominated by exits and downsizing, San Francisco’s historic core may be entering a new chapter—one marked by reimagined spaces and forward-looking tenants reshaping what downtown office life looks like in 2025.
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