Early-stage AI startups are imbuing new life into San Francisco’s Northern Waterfront, after years of “for lease” signs dotting the post-pandemic landscape. According to the San Francisco Business Times, five AI-focused companies — four backed by Y Combinator — recently leased 23,900 square feet at the Waterfront Plaza complex. This is part of a citywide trend: AI firms are one of the few sectors expanding in San Francisco, accounting for 1.6 million square feet leased last year and now occupying 5 million total. (Unsurprisingly, OpenAI accounts for a sizable chunk of that overall figure.)

Real estate services firm CBRE projects that these scrappy startups could reach 21 million in square feet within five years, potentially halving the city’s current 35.8% vacancy rate and creating tens of thousands of jobs. “It could fundamentally change the vibrancy of downtown,” CBRE analyst Colin Yasukochi tells the outlet. Waterfront Plaza is a five-building campus totaling 442,000 square feet; among its past tenants is WeWork.