Salesforce is cutting its San Francisco office space for the third time during the pandemic, listing 40% of the 43-story tower at 50 Fremont St. for lease.
The tech giant and city’s largest private employer is marketing 350,000 square feet in the property known as Salesforce West for lease, according real estate database CoStar. It’s one of the biggest listings of vacant office space in the city, with room for roughly 1,750 workers, and another sign of how remote work is weakening demand for workspaces. The city’s office vacancy rate more than quadrupled to over 21% during the pandemic.
“Salesforce offices are an important part of our culture, and how we use them has evolved. We are subleasing floors in Salesforce West to make the most efficient use of our real estate footprint. We will maintain ownership of the building and can reoccupy the space as needed over time. As the largest private employer in San Francisco, we are deeply committed to the city and are actively welcoming employees back to Salesforce Tower,” the company said.
Salesforce, which has more than 10,000 San Francisco employees, permanently allowed employees to work from home at least part of the week. The company bought 50 Fremont St. in 2015 for $637 million, before Salesforce Tower was built across the street.
Last year, the company listed sublease space across the street at the Salesforce East tower at 350 Mission St. Yelp and Sephora both subleased from Salesforce, a sign that centrally located, high-quality offices continue to be desirable.
Salesforce also canceled its 325,000-square-foot lease at the unbuilt Parcel F tower last year.
Slack, the messaging company now owned by Salesforce, listed 200,000 square feet for sublease at nearby 45 Fremont, the San Francisco Business Times reported in February.
Salesforce continues to grow in other cities, with plans for Salesforce Towers in Chicago, Dublin Sydney and Tokyo over the next two years. The tech industry has become more dispersed during the pandemic, hiring remote workers and growing outside of the Bay Area, where real estate costs and salaries are lower.
The company said it is hiring more selectively, as challenges like inflation and rising fear of a recession dampen the economic outlook.
A slew of major tech firms have downsized or shuttered San Francisco offices during the pandemic, including Coinbase, Pinterest, Block, Taskrabbit and PayPal.
Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
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