Salesforce Is Planning To Sublet Its Flagship San Francisco Office Space

Salesforce looks like it is becoming the latest company to abandon the hellscape that has become San Francisco. The company plans to list its 350,000 square foot office at 50 Fremont St. for sale, a new report by the San Francisco Chronicle says. 

It marks the third cut to the company’s presence in the Bay Area over the last 18 months. The company subleases about 40% of the building at present. 

The company told The Chronicle: “Salesforce offices are an important part of our culture, and how we use them has evolved. We are subleasing floors in Salesforce West to make the most efficient use of our real estate footprint. We will maintain ownership of the building and can reoccupy the space as needed over time. As the largest private employer in San Francisco, we are deeply committed to the city and are actively welcoming employees back to Salesforce Tower.”

Meanwhile CEO Marc Benioff has said that return to “office mandates are never going to work” coming out of the pandemic. Instead, the company has focused on working remotely. 

We absolutely do not blame Salesforce, nor do we blame companies like Walgreens, who are doing their best to reduce their exposure to the city. Back in March we asked the question of what would happen if San Francisco simply didn’t recover:

The streets are dirty. Homeless encampments, trash, and excrement can be found all over. Car break-ins are so frequent that it has basically become a non-government-imposed tax for people who come here. Of course, some areas are much worse than others, but almost all areas of the city suffer from this decay, and it is appalling.

In June, we wrote about the how the city’s Tenderloin district has become a criminal order. Drug dealers stake out their turf and sell in broad daylight, while the immigrant families in the five-story, pre-war apartment buildings shepherd their kids to school, trying to maintain as normal an existence as they can.

“If you happen to be walking through the Tenderloin and you feel unsafe, imagine what it feels like to live there,” said Joel Engardio, head of Stop Crime SF, a civilian public safety group. “The Tenderloin has one of the largest percentages of children in the city. It’s untenable, inexcusable to ask them to confront this hellscape.” 

“The Tenderloin is out of control,” said Tom Ostly, a former San Francisco prosecutor who used to work there and lives nearby. “It has never been worse than it is now.”

Nancy Tung, a prosecutor who once handled drug enforcement in San Francisco, called it “ground zero for human misery.”