By Danielle Echeverria,Data Reporter July 18, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)
People talk next to and walk past a Retail for Lease sign on Fillmore Street in San Francisco in April.Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle
Small business owners in San Francisco looking for a commercial space have a new tool to search the city’s more than 1,000 commercial spaces available for lease or sale.
The map, published by San Francisco’s Office of Small Business, allows people to search through listings across the city — filtering by type, size, location and price, Katy Tang, the director of the Office of Small Business, explained. It came online earlier this month.
The idea is to give small business owners the opportunity to search for spaces that fit their needs — retail, restaurant or office space, for example — citywide, rather than having to either traverse the city to look for “for lease” signs in windows or rely on brokers to get that information for them, said Iris Lee, the office of small business’ commercial leasing specialist.
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“It’s empowering for business owners, both new and existing,” she said, adding that many already know exactly the type of space they have in mind. “They know what their business concept is best.”
The map has been in the works for a year and a half, Tang said, in response to small business owners asking for help finding the right space. While Lee used to search various websites and listings herself to help small business owners find what they need, the map takes care of that part of the process.
“It’s great for people to have this self-service resource,” Tang said.
The map is sourced through LoopNet, a commercial real estate search tool from CoStar, a paid platform for people in the commercial real estate industry that contains information about commercial listings, Lee and Tang explained.
“It gets people listings they wouldn’t otherwise see,” Lee said.
She added that, while the map is fairly comprehensive, she also recommends people searching for a commercial space check Craigslist, as there are sometimes listings that are only listed there.
Finding a space on the map doesn’t guarantee a lease agreement will work out, Lee noted. Owners can come to her for advice on negotiating their lease, as well as to the office of small business’ permit specialist, who can help figure out whether the space can be used or outfitted the way the business owner needs.
“For so many people, who know their business inside and out, commercial lease agreements can be a foreign language,” Lee said. Her role is to help business owners ask the right questions before they sign a lease “to prevent challenges down the line.”
Tang also noted that, under Mayor London Breed’s proposed budget, which has to be approved by the Board of Supervisors and signed by Breed by Aug. 1, the Office of Small Business would receive funding to hire another commercial leasing specialist who would do the same job as Lee.
While the map, at less than a month old, has not yet led to any signed leases, it has led to some in negotiation, Lee said.
Miriam Zouzounis, the vice president of the Small Business Commission, said she’s happy to see the office of small business providing tools for entrepreneurs in the city, including those who already in San Francisco who want to expand. The key, she said, is making sure that business owners from all backgrounds and of all sizes know what is available to them.
“We need to make sure we keep community partnerships and promote this and all the other resources so that they get out into the business community,” she said. “That way they can truly help equitable economic development.”
Reach Danielle Echeverria: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @DanielleEchev
July 18, 2024
DATA REPORTER
