San Francisco is going all-in on Mid-Market, signing onto what city officials say is the largest office lease in the city since 2018 at 1455 Market Street. The move will expand the city's footprint in the former Uber tower to roughly 930,000 square feet and pull dozens of municipal offices into the neighborhood's core. Leaders at City Hall say the idea is to pump consistent daytime activity into a stretch of Market Street long plagued by high vacancies and tough street conditions. The Board of Supervisors has signed off on the lease amendment, and the deal now heads to the mayor for a signature.
What the amendment covers
According to the city's Board file, the Board's resolution adds 502,082 rentable square feet at 1455 Market, bringing the city's total space in the building to about 930,000 square feet, and extends the contract through April 30, 2049 (City and County of San Francisco). The amendment resets rent on the expanded space to $40 per square foot starting January 1, 2027, establishes an initial 21-year term with two five-year extension options, and authorizes up to $10.76 million for tenant improvements and digital upgrades. The resolution also sets a second-year base rent figure that feeds into the city's long-range budgeting for the deal.
Who moves and when
The lease expansion paves the way to consolidate several agencies in the tower, including the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Human Services Agency and the Department of Police Accountability. Many staff are slated to move in fall 2027, with some transfers stretching into 2028. "Filling 1455 Market with city departments is a great use of the building and will make a big difference for the neighborhood," Supervisor Matt Dorsey said. In a statement, Hudson Pacific said the city's expansion would "meaningfully contribute to the ongoing vitality and momentum of the Mid-Market neighborhood," as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
What happens to One South Van Ness
The amendment keeps in place an earlier option for the city to purchase 1455 Market that would otherwise expire in 2027 and also gives the city first rights to acquire the tower if Hudson Pacific sells during the lease term, according to the city's Board file. That context helps explain why officials are preparing to vacate One South Van Ness, a 650,000-square-foot property the city bought in 2004 and now describes as operationally inefficient and in need of major system upgrades. Once departments relocate, the South Van Ness site has been flagged as a candidate for residential or mixed-use redevelopment.
Largest deal in years and the price tag
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the combination of the rent reset, the long-term, and the expansion pushes the contract's total value above $1 billion over its life and makes this the city's largest office deal since 2018. City administrators are pitching the consolidation both as a way to manage costs across departments and as a tool to bring steady daytime life back to Mid-Market's theaters and ground-floor businesses, many of which have struggled since the pandemic.
Why this matters for Mid-Market
Bringing thousands of municipal workers into a single high-rise could finally deliver the predictable foot traffic that Mid-Market business owners and cultural institutions have been asking for. At the same time, concentrating so much city office space in one address raises familiar questions about long-term operating costs, whether private retail will truly return in force, and how much value the city can ultimately unlock from a vacated One South Van Ness. The next steps, from the mayor's sign-off to decisions about how to reuse the older property, will determine whether this becomes a real turning point for Mid-Market or just a very expensive reshuffling of office space.
