START: Reuben Torenberg, Senior Vice President, CBRE: "Q1 2026 SF Office Market Report"

In 2022, San Francisco leased five million square feet of office space

The entire year

In Q1 2026 alone: more than four million

At the time of this recording (Apr 2026) tenant demand reached 7.5 million square feet

The highest ever recorded.

OpenAI has accumulated nearly a million square feet in Mission Bay

Coinbase, Nvidia, and the Warriors all landed at Mission Rock (It's effectively full - premium space there is almost impossible to get)

Reuben Torenberg has brokered SF startup office deals through every major cycle since 2016

The 3% vacancy boom and record rents

The 38% vacancy COVID collapse

And the AI-driven resurgence happening now

We're probably still early in this cycle

The AI wave showed you can do more with less

And that's changing how founders think about space

🎙️ Reuben Torenberg, Senior Vice President, CBRE on Fondo START

00:36 Why brokering compounds the longer you do it

01:08 SF's pre-COVID boom, then the jump to 38% vacancy

02:18 How AI restarted SF office demand

02:42 Where we are in the cycle, and why it isn't the top

03:25 The leasing numbers that signal a real shift

04:34 Why startups are leasing differently now

05:34 How distressed buildings changed hands at a discount

06:11 How landlords regained leverage

07:38 What landlords actually check before they'll sign you

09:48 Why plug-and-play subleases win with startups

12:18 Advice for founders hunting their first office

13:01 Treating the office as a recruiting tool, not a status symbol

learn more at cbre.com