Levi’s to renew lease for S.F. location
Deal for 9building HQ is biggest in city since the pandemic began
Levi Strauss & Co. will renew its lease for its San Francisco headquarters at its longtime North Beach home Levi’s Plaza, a boost for the city’s beleaguered office market.
The deal totals the entire 355,000 square feet that the company already occupied, and would make it the city’s biggest office lease since the pandemic began, landlord Jamestown confirmed.
Sixfigure office deals were a common occurrence during San Francisco’s real estate boom in the past decade, but the office market came to a near standstill after the coronavirus shut down the city. The vacancy rate skyrocketed to 18.7% at the end of March from 6% the year before, according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. Over 15.8 million square feet of space was available for lease or sublease at the end of March.
The jeans company had previously listed almost a third of the space for sublease. Its current plans aren’t clear.
“Our company was founded in San Francisco in 1853 and we enjoy being a part of the fabric of the vibrant Bay Area community,” a Levi Strauss spokesperson said.
Jamestown plans to invest $50 million to retrofit the ninebuilding Levi’s Plaza complex with electric heat pumps and solar panels and reach net zero carbon operations by 2025.
“Levi’s has anchored the property since its inception and helped drive its evolution. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Levi’s and to shaping the property’s next chapter as a net zero carbon campus with diverse neighborhood amenities,” Michael Phillips, president of Jamestown, said in a statement.
There have been only a handful of major deals in San Francisco since the pandemic be
gan.
Last year, Bank of America renewed its lease for 247,000 square feet at the Donald Trumpowned 555 California St., which was once the bank’s global headquarters. Goldman Sachs also renewed at 90,000 square feet in the same tower, evidence that Wall Street’s giants still see San Francisco as an important financial hub.
Vir Biotechnology subleased 133,896 square feet from Dropbox last year, in 2020’s biggest new deal.
Like many clothing retailers, Levi Strauss has seen sales decline as some stores remain closed by health orders. In the fiscal first quarter, the company’s revenue fell 13% to $1.31 billion compared to the prior year. Direct sales fell 26%, while ecommerce sales rose 25%.