Sierra Technologies, the AI startup chaired by Bret Taylor, has made a significant move into San Francisco’s office market. The company is reported to have signed a lease for roughly 300,000 square feet at the China Basin campus near Oracle Park. If completed and occupied, that block-sized commitment would vault Sierra into the ranks of the city’s biggest tech tenants and sharply expand its local presence.
The Real Deal reports the deal covers about 300,000 square feet at 185 Berry Street, the China Basin complex, and notes McCarthy Cook and JPMorgan Chase own the property. The Real Deal provided the initial reporting on the transaction and its scale.
Founded in 2023 by Bret Taylor and former Google Labs head Clay Bavor, Sierra has raised several funding rounds and was recently valued at $10 billion following a large financing round, AXIOS reported. The startup already keeps a downtown footprint: it now leases roughly 80,000 square feet at 235 Second Street after an initial 41,000-square-foot commitment and a later expansion, according to The San Francisco Standard.
China Basin itself is a two-building waterfront campus comprising the Wharfside and Berry buildings; the owner/manager’s listing highlights flexible floorplates, a landscaped courtyard, and a recent rooftop addition that has attracted both tech and life-science tenants. Brokers point to that mix of amenities and location as a reason landlords are marketing large contiguous blocks there. McCarthy Cook provides the property details being cited by leasing teams.
Bigger Picture: AI Firms Are Leasing Big Blocks
Sierra’s move would continue a string of large AI-era deals that have reshaped San Francisco’s leasing story. OpenAI’s major Mission Bay expansion, a roughly 315,000-square-foot addition at the former Old Navy headquarters, helped set a recent tone for large blocks in the market, according to reporting by BISNOW, and other AI firms are also expanding their downtown footprints. The San Francisco Standard reported that Anthropic recently added floors at 505 Howard Street as it expands its SoMa campus.
What’s Next
Industry watchers say commitments of this size could signal a renewed appetite among major AI tenants for large, contiguous office blocks in the city’s waterfront submarkets. If Sierra’s 300,000-square-foot deal is finalized, it would be one of the largest tech leases in San Francisco this year. The Real Deal also reports Sierra plans to triple its headcount as it scales, a step that would deepen the startup’s local hiring footprint if it follows through. For now, the transaction will depend on final lease signing, build-out timelines, and the usual landlord-tenant steps before a move is complete.
