Silicon Valley AI Demand Reaches 11.9MM SQFT

Silicon Valley tenant demand has reached 11.9MM SQFT, 20% above its pre-pandemic peak, as AI requirements jump 67%. That figure gives the day’s coverage a clear tension: demand is accelerating, but its implications for office property remain unsettled. San Francisco asking rents have posted their strongest two-quarter run in six years, reaching $71.51 as SOMA rises 14.3%. Bain Capital’s Ryan Cotton is weighing AI’s impact on office real estate, even as the figures point to renewed market momentum. Industrial activity offers a more concrete read-through. San Francisco supervisors cleared the SF Market’s 64,000 SQFT Bayview produce distribution center at 1900 Kirkwood, while Connex Trade took 50,000 SQFT in a Class A warehouse at 28500 Marina Drive in Hayward. Hospitality also has a positive signal: San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco made CBRE’s top 10 for Q3 hotel RevPAR growth. Retail looks more transitional, with a 175,000 SQFT car sales and service complex proposed to replace the Blossom Hill Road retail center near Westfield Oakridge in San Jose. Capital and lending signals are less direct than the leasing and development activity. HiLITE Group plans an INR 200 crore Shariah-certified real estate fund, while a commercial conveyancing specialist reports strong demand for its services in the rising interest rate environment. In Los Angeles, the question of whether Nithya Raman can save real estate underscores the market’s political dimension; in San Francisco, rent growth and hotel performance contrast with a proposed retail replacement. The headlines offer no financing terms, so the fund plan and conveyancing demand are the clearest indicators of capital-market posture.

The day’s coverage