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Diversity Driving Local RE Market

SAN FRANCISCO-Hampered in the past by its close ties to the dot com industry, the local market continues its long, but steady recovery with a more diverse outlook during this real estate cycle.

By Daniel D. Williams | Updated on December 04, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO-It was a meeting of the minds yesterday at the Argent Hotel, as many of the real estate industry’s local power brokers met for the first annual RealShare San Francisco Conference. More than 200 insiders turned out for the event to weigh in on the future of the Bay Area’s real estate market. Panelists and attendees were in agreement that a more diverse market has buffeted the region’s long, steady recovery from the dot-com debacle.

During the “State of the Market Town Hall Meeting,” panelist Michael Smith, senior managing director with CB Richard Ellis, said the office market is coming back in Downtown San Francisco. Historically, the area sees one million sf of absorption annually, but the last two years have averaged roughly two million sf of absorption. “The tech and life sciences [segments] will drive business in Downtown San Francisco for the next several years,” Smith said.

Panelist Chris Barlow, a partner with Wareham Development, said to keep an eye on the entrepreneurial-minded innovators as potential market drivers. “The big companies are looking for blockbuster products for growth,” Barlow said, “but it’s often the scientists who are spinning off and forming their own companies” who are demanding space and ultimately feeding the supply chain.

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