Our Pathway to Revitalizing Downtown San Francisco

by David Harrison, BOMA SF Manager of Government and Public Affairs

Over the past year, BOMA San Francisco has partnered with a coalition of downtown stakeholders to envision the next iteration of a successful downtown. The “Better Together” coalition has outlined four major priorities:

1) Support Arts, Culture and Entertainment;

2) Support Small Businesses; 3) Support Existing Businesses and Welcome New Ones; and 4) Support New Housing. Ultimately, our goal is to create a vibrant, 24/7 destination that meets the needs of not just office workers, but also locals and tourists.

The most glaring prerequisite to downtown recovery is a much-needed business tax overhaul. In February, the Bay Area Council released a study underscoring just how high the City’s business taxes are. A company’s tax burden in San Francisco is likely to be more than double what it would be in Oakland and more than ten times what it would be in San Jose or Sunnyvale.

Due to requirements from the City Charter as well as a reluctance to support business tax incentives from a majority of the Board of Supervisors, the tax overhaul will likely require a ballot measure in November 2024. BOMA SF is already working with partner associations and city officials to develop a more competitive tax structure that will attract new businesses and help existing businesses thrive.

To show immediate progress, however, Mayor London Breed has announced a series of proposals to temporarily reduce or delay various business taxes to encourage new companies to lease office space in San Francisco and to reduce the tax burden on existing small businesses.

The proposals still require approval by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and it remains unclear whether the progressive members of the board are willing to support any assistance to downtown.

BOMA SF recognizes that business tax incentives alone won’t solve the problem of downtown revitalization. The way workers interact with the office has fundamentally changed. We now must actively entice workers back downtown with new, exciting amenities that make not working from home worth their while. To help achieve this goal, BOMA SF is focused on finding creative ways to fill ground-floor retail spaces with tenant amenities.

The goal is to create a network of tenant amenities that interact with an activated public realm to make downtown feel like a 24/7 destination. These amenities will not only make downtown a more desirable place to work, but they will also create foot traffic, support local businesses, and generate new revenue for the city. This reimagination of how we interact with downtown, when coupled with the difficult work of fixing our public safety, transportation and business climate, will be the foundation of the next iteration of downtown San Francisco.

BOMA SF is your advocate for solutions to improve our downtown, and our Government Affairs Policy Advisory Committee monitors issues that affect our industry. For further information or to get involved with this important committee, contact David Harrison at davidh@boma.com.