{"id":28431,"date":"2023-09-13T13:06:44","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T20:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=28431"},"modified":"2023-09-13T13:06:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T20:06:45","slug":"dreamforce-office-returns-give-downtown-sf-a-dose-of-optimism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/13\/dreamforce-office-returns-give-downtown-sf-a-dose-of-optimism\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreamforce, office returns give downtown SF a dose of optimism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Marcus%20White\">By Marcus White | Examiner staff writer |<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sep 12, 2023\u00a0Updated\u00a017 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/0\/60\/06084fd0-51b3-11ee-b95f-a791aa65c3ab\/6500d77fb29aa.image.jpg?resize=400%2C265\" alt=\"Dreamforce 2023 entrance\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Even before Dreamforce began this year in San Francisco, as pictured above on the first day of the conference on Sept. 12, the return of workers to their San Francisco offices on a hybrid basis this month have given businesses in and around downtown a dose of optimism as the area continues to contend with the coronavirus pandemic\u2019s unprecedented economic impact.Craig Lee\/The Examiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/technology\/why-dreamforce-2023-is-all-in-on-ai-amid-salesforce-shift\/article_93fd1406-46a5-11ee-9aea-5fa5bfcceab5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dreamforce descended upon San Francisco<\/a>&nbsp;this week, Rodney Fong said, and even before a number of high-profile companies ordered workers to return to the offices a week ago, he wanted to document a familiar feeling downtown as he stopped for coffee on Montgomery Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere were so many people on the sidewalk, and cars, and scooters and bicycles coming to the office, that I actually stopped, put down my coffee and took a video of the intersection,\u201d said Fong, the president and CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, as he recalled the last morning of August. \u201cIt warmed my heart to see the intersection filled &#8230; and it was reminiscent of pre-COVID days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/transit\/dreamforce-traffic-closures-avoid-these-downtown-sf-streets\/article_585797c0-50f3-11ee-a344-87cf988df2be.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The arrival of Dreamforce<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 Salesforce\u2019s annual San Francisco gathering, The City\u2019s largest yearly convention \u2014 and the return of workers to their San Francisco offices on a hybrid basis this month have given businesses in and around downtown a dose of optimism as the area continues to contend with the coronavirus pandemic\u2019s unprecedented economic impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Salesforce has said it expects as many as 35,000 attendees at its conference this week, which the company has dubbed \u201cthe biggest AI event in the world.\u201d And a number of companies with offices in The City \u2014 including Lyft, Meta and Unity \u2014 directed employees to start working at least three days a week in person after Labor Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fong said the majority of the chamber\u2019s 65-member board of directors were spending three days a week in the office at the start of the summer. Between Aug. 31 and Sept. 6, Kastle Systems pegged San Francisco\u2019s highest single-day office occupancy rate at 48%. Last September,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sfcontroller.org\/sites\/default\/files\/Documents\/Economic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">office attendance hovered around 40%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But Andy Chun, owner of Schroder\u2019s on Front Street, said there is \u201cno magic bullet\u201d because \u201cthe landscape has permanently changed\u201d for workers around The City and across the country. Chun said Fridays used to be the 130-year-old German restaurant\u2019s biggest day of the week before the pandemic. Now, he said, Friday events such as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.schroederssf.com\/event\/annual-oktoberfest-block-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Schroder\u2019s Oktoberfest block party<\/a>&nbsp;later this week are the only times the end of the traditional workweek looks like it did before the coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s be honest about what the pandemic did: It essentially took probably 10, 15, 20 years worth of work trends and just compacted it into one or two years,\u201d said Chun, a San Francisco resident since 2000. \u201cWere things always moving toward hybrid? Absolutely. Was it all going to happen at one time, where all of a sudden half the population or more of the people who were coming downtown just disappeared overnight? That\u2019s pretty much unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaders in The City are cognizant of this, championing events and legislation aiming to lessen downtown\u2019s reliance on office space, much of which remains vacant. San Francisco\u2019s overall office vacancy rate was at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbre.com\/insights\/figures\/san-francisco-office-figures-q2-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">31.6% through the end of June<\/a>, according to CBRE, a commercial real estate services and investment firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laurie Thomas, executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, said a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/london-breed-wants-to-help-downtown-sf-office-conversions\/article_b496f94c-1122-11ee-9963-ebbf6b1b9706.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reimagining of the area<\/a>&nbsp;is still essential moving forward, noting that many downtown restaurants can\u2019t cover their rising expenses if they\u2019re only busy three days a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe need to activate the hell out of the downtown on Friday nights, on Saturdays, on the weekends,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cWe need to leverage concerts. We need to leverage arts. We need to leverage food events. And we need to have The City be a welcoming place for tourism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>San Francisco is hosting Dreamforce amid&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/politics\/employees-are-working-from-home-rather-than-at-the-nancy-pelosi-federal-building\/article_ab07c0e8-3ba5-11ee-9bea-0f3b5d8bc5cf.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concerns about crime, drug use and homelessness<\/a>. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said last month that the company could pull the convention out of The City next year because of those issues, which will remain in the spotlight when&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/forum\/sf-apec-preparations-underway-ahead-of-major-november-forum\/article_2de29efc-3d31-11ee-ab90-0fe2f13d8399.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">San Francisco hosts dozens of heads of state<\/a>, including President Joe Biden, at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thomas and Fong said there is a lot of collaboration between The City\u2019s business groups, with the Chamber of Commerce president noting that they\u2019re not asking how to bring downtown \u201cback,\u201d but to \u201cdo it better.\u201d Chun noted that, in Schroeder\u2019s century-plus in San Francisco, the restaurant has stayed open through two pandemics, two World Wars and a handful of financial crises. He said he thinks better days are ahead, and he wants to see it through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be very honest about the problems that we face in The City and kind of come together to fix those things, while at the same time be huge ambassadors and cheerleaders for The City to push back against this national narrative that this place is just a wasteland,\u201d Chun said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel unsafe coming down here, but my businesses have been broken into. Both can be true. I love this town, I love San Francisco, and I know it\u2019s gonna come back bigger than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before&nbsp;Dreamforce descended upon San Francisco&nbsp;this week, Rodney Fong said, and even before a number of high-profile companies ordered workers to return to the offices a week ago, he wanted to document a familiar feeling downtown as he stopped for coffee on Montgomery Street. \u201cThere were so many people on the&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/09\/13\/dreamforce-office-returns-give-downtown-sf-a-dose-of-optimism\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[475,1059],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28431"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28435,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28431\/revisions\/28435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}