- By Adam Shanks | Examiner staff writer |
- Aug 22, 2023 Updated 16 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)
Downtown San Francisco might not be “back,” but it’s slowly getting there.
At least, that’s the assessment of Mayor London Breed’s office, which unveiled a six-month update to its downtown recovery plan on Tuesday.
The mayor highlighted a 38% increase in office attendance since 2022, the growth of artificial intelligence companies in San Francisco, and major events like Bhangra & Beats Night Market that have brought thousands of people downtown.
Breed has made downtown’s recovery — and its reimagining — the cornerstone of 2023 for her administration.
“With growing industries like AI taking hold in our City, continued focus on making our streets clean and safe, and key activations bringing on the ground changes, I’m optimistic of what lies ahead,” Breed wrote in a statement on Tuesday.
She’s hardly the only one focused on downtown. The fate of The City’s commercial center has drawn substantial attention in recent months as San Francisco continues to lag behind other cities by several key metrics in its post-pandemic economic recovery.
With its concentration of tech workers who eased into remote work and never returned to the office, San Francisco has seen office vacancies skyrocket and property values plummet. Breed’s downtown recovery plan, unveiled earlier this year, was centered on diversifying an area that was only ever envisioned and designed for a single purpose — clocking in at the office at 9 a.m. and leaving at 5 p.m.
That model worked well for years, and The City relied on it. Nearly 80% of The City’s economic output in 2021 came from in and around downtown, according to the Office of the Mayor, and the area accounted for about 95% of The City’s business-tax revenue.
But with that future in doubt, Breed unveiled a plan that relied on improving public safety and making downtown a diverse hub with housing, cultural events and much more.
In several ways, Breed’s six-month update on Tuesday offered a brighter assessment of downtown than previous reports. Office vacancy rates have hit record highs in 2023, and The City bests only San Jose in return-to-office metrics, according to the most recent report from the Controller’s Office.
Breed’s office highlighted a 10% increase in demand for office space and said New York and San Francisco are the only major cities to see such improvements.
But the controller’s report — published Aug. 1 — found “little sign of recovery in the downtown office market.”
Breed’s office also highlighted increases in daily boardings on both BART and Muni, the primary ways workers commute downtown.
Exits by BART riders at downtown San Francisco stations saw a modest but continuous increase through most of 2022, but they have stalled in recent months at about 33% of pre-pandemic levels. Muni Metro — the rail portion of the Muni system that primarily serves downtown — has offered reason for hope, reaching a post-pandemic high of 55% of normal ridership in June.
But while ridership on Muni and BART have slowly and steadily recovered since their nadir during the pandemic, both agencies remain well short of the levels they enjoyed in 2019.
Breed’s office pointed to several key victories in the last six months while acknowledging many of those wins will take time to have a substantial impact on the state of downtown.
Breed and the Board of Supervisors agreed on legislation in June that rezoned much of downtown for a broader mix of uses in commercial spaces and streamlined conversions of commercial buildings into housing. It issued a “request for interest” and received outlines of five potential conversions of offices into housing.
The mayor’s office also touted her work to bolster public safety in and around downtown, including the continuation of funding for community ambassador programs and recent increases in police academy class sizes, which could help The City rectify its shortage of officers.
Rodney Fong, president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a statement that “visitors are feeling safer, businesses are facing less red tape, and our open spaces are buzzing with activity.”
That activity includes Women’s World Cup watch parties, which it said drew more than 4,000 people.
Just about anything is on the table when it comes to downtown. Breed has floated the idea of converting the beleaguered Westfield Mall into a soccer stadium and has called for the University of California to explore a campus downtown.
“While this work takes time, we have already seen successful efforts to bring people back Downtown and increasing excitement about San Francisco’s future,” Breed said.
