San Francisco downtown is a 'ghost town' that needs revival, mayoral candidate says

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With San Francisco facing record high commercial vacancies, one mayoral candidate has a plan to reshape the city's business district and surrounding areas. Democrat Mark Farrell, former interim Mayor, is proposing a 20-year vision to revitalize San Francisco's downtown in a bid to help the city bounce back from challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. His plan includes a new park at Embarcadero Plaza and mixed-use buildings that provide more housing options. There are also tax incentives for businesses that relocate to the area. And for those that mandate workers return to the office four days a week. The goal is to incentivize industries beyond technology. "As I've traveled around the world and in our own country over the past few years for work, other downtowns and other cities have recovered from Covid," Farrell told CNBC in an interview. "Unfortunately, our city now ranks dead last in economic recovery post Covid. And that, to me is an embarrassment and it needs to change." Commercial real estate vacancies in San Francisco hit a fresh high of 34.5% in the second quarter, according to a report last week from Cushman & Wakefield, up from 5% before the pandemic. Manhattan's vacancy rate for the quarter was 23.6%. Farrell's goal is to cut San Francisco's vacancy rate in half by the end of a first term. A key piece of Farrell's plan involves getting workers back into the city. Many of San Francisco's top employers, including Salesforce , Uber and Visa , have embraced hybrid work, with staffers coming in, at best, three days a week. On top of that, the tech industry has been battered by layoffs over the past two years, removing thousands of people from payrolls.