Google will exit prominent S.F. waterfront office tower | Hacker News Reader

Google will exit prominent S.F. waterfront office tower

sfchronicle.com

> Tech behemoth Google will be exiting the 300,000-square-foot office that it has occupied at One Market Plaza since 2018, once the company’s lease for the space expires next April, a spokesperson for Google confirmed Tuesday. The move follows Visa’s exit from the three-building complex, as the company relocated its employees to Mission Rock.

> Many of Google’s employees are already working outside of the giant waterfront office, in light of the company’s flexible approach to office attendance.

> “As we’ve said before, we’re focused on investing in real estate efficiently to meet the current and future needs of our hybrid workforce,” Lamont said in an email to the Chronicle. “We remain committed to our long-term presence in San Francisco.”

Sounds like hybrid is here to stay due to employee demand.

Love that office space. Such a beautiful location to work out of (minus the scrambling for a community desk).

SF commercial real estate about to get a reality check

On the other hand, a 300,000 square foot office in SF can probably be easily be converted to about 30,000 studios and rented out for a cool 3 billion a month.

https://marketplace.vts.com/listing/one-market-plaza-san-fra...

Floor plan for the 23rd floor.

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/san_francisco/latest/s...

     Superficial Floor Area. Every dwelling unit and congregate residence shall have at least one room which shall have not less than 120 square feet of superficial floor area. Every room which is used for both cooking and living or both living and sleeping purposes shall have not less than 144 square feet of superficial floor area. Every room used for sleeping purposes shall have not less than 70 square feet of superficial floor area. When more than two persons occupy a room used for sleeping purposes the required superficial floor area shall be increased at the rate of 50 square feet for each occupant in excess of two. Guest rooms with cooking shall contain the combined required superficial areas of a sleeping and a kitchen, but not less than 144 square feet. Other habitable rooms shall be not less than 70 square feet.

and

     Openable Window Area. In guest rooms and habitable rooms within a dwelling unit or congregate residence one-half of the required window area in all rooms and hallways shall be openable.

and

   (d)   Exit Corridors. Every exit corridor in all apartment houses or hotels shall be ventilated as follows:
      (1)   Windows Required. In an apartment house or hotel, every exit corridor shall have at least one window unless it is lighted and ventilated by a skylight, a ventilated connecting hallway, or a mechanical ventilation system pursuant to the provisions of this Section.

and

   (g)   Artificial Light. In every apartment house and in every hotel there shall be installed artificial light sufficient in volume to illuminate properly every exit corridor, passageway, public stairway, fire escape egress, elevator, public water closet compartment, or toilet room to prevent safety hazard.

It's difficult to turn modern office buildings (where electric lighting was assumed, 1970's+) into apartments. The reason is that most of the floor area has no access to natural light, and the utilities are buried in the core of the building. That means that you can only have long skinny single bedrooms or massive penthouse floor plans.

Older office buildings make great conversions, since natural light was a design requirement.

My math may be a little rusty, but it sounds like you want to rent out ten-square-foot apartments for $100,000 per month. That's a bit of a stretch, even for San Francisco.

But only a bit.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com