A combination of crime, homelessness, dirty streets, feces everywhere, high taxes, poor transportation—due to a jihad against cars, is causing more San Fran firms to either leave town or have their employees work remotely. Watch as leases expire and do not block the road out of town.
“Block Inc., the payments-processing company formerly known as Square, plans to give up its former San Francisco headquarters as it transitions to a more distributed workforce model, dealing another blow to a city struggling to bring back workers after the pandemic.
The Jack Dorsey-run company won’t renew its lease at 1455 Market St. when it expires in September of next year, according to a spokesperson. Block had about 470,000 square feet (44,000 square meters) at the building, in the heart of the Mid-Market district that has been home to several large tech companies.”
Unless you are retired, a drug dealer or corrupt politician—or illegal alien—why stay in this dying city?
Block to Give Up San Francisco Office in Blow to City’s Revival
The payment-processing company is shifting to a model allowing most workers to be remote.
By Sarah Holder and Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg, 6/16/22
Block Inc., the payments-processing company formerly known as Square, plans to give up its former San Francisco headquarters as it transitions to a more distributed workforce model, dealing another blow to a city struggling to bring back workers after the pandemic.
The Jack Dorsey-run company won’t renew its lease at 1455 Market St. when it expires in September of next year, according to a spokesperson. Block had about 470,000 square feet (44,000 square meters) at the building, in the heart of the Mid-Market district that has been home to several large tech companies.
Block has given the majority of employees the option to work from home and previously said it would no longer have a designated headquarters location. The company said in a statement Wednesday that it is committed to the Bay Area and will keep another Market Street location it acquired with the purchase of e-commerce company AfterPay, along with smaller spaces on Mission Street and in Oakland.
But the decision to leave the Mid-Market building, reported earlier by the San Francisco Chronicle, shows the challenges the city faces as the tech industry embraces more permanent forms of remote work. Mayor London Breed has been trying to lure workers and tourists back to the city’s downtown to revive an economy that was particularly hard hit by the pandemic.
Office occupancy in the San Francisco metropolitan area is consistently among the lowest of US cities tracked by security company Kastle Systems, with only 34% of employees back in the office in the week ending June 8.
The San Francisco Business Times reported last week that cloud communications company Twilio Inc. plans to consolidate its Financial District office space as part of its transition to a “remote-first” company. PayPal Holdings Inc., another payments company, is closing its Market Street location, according to local reports.
Twitter Inc., co-founded by Dorsey and another Mid-Market office anchor, has taken the opposite approach, earlier this year expanding its leasing footprint even though employees can work remotely “indefinitely.” Its unclear if that will change with its pending acquisition by billionaire Elon Musk, who offhandedly suggested turning the headquarters building into a homeless shelter.
