The race for AI tenants is popping right into a two-city contest.
San Francisco and New York have each landed a collection of huge leases from synthetic intelligence corporations this 12 months, with among the largest gamers increasing their footprints in each markets.
Anthropic is main the cost on each coasts. The AI big signed a 466,000-square-foot full-building lease at AEW Capital Administration’s 330 Hudson Avenue in July, the biggest AI lease in New York Metropolis thus far this 12 months, based on CompStak knowledge. In San Francisco, it inked a 413,000-square-foot full-building lease at 300 Howard Avenue in February, adopted just a few months later by one other 250,000-square-foot lease at 500 Howard Street.
That offers Anthropic greater than 1.1 million sq. ft of recent area throughout the 2 markets this 12 months alone, per CompStak. The 300 Howard Avenue lease had a beginning hire of $87 per sq. foot, per CompStak. The typical beginning hire for AI tenants thus far this 12 months within the mixed San Francisco and Bay Space markets is $77 per sq. foot.
Anthropic’s hire in New York was not disclosed, however the common asking hire for AI tenants was about $82 per sq. foot on the finish of the second quarter, per CompStak. However many are paying extra. Tech corporations inked 69 leases with rents over $100 per sq. foot because the starting of 2025, per JLL knowledge.
“Tech was drawn to Midtown South as a result of it was cool and cheaper,” mentioned JLL’s Kevin Kelly. “Now, resulting from a mix of demand for area and folks being conscious of what Midtown South has to supply, there’s no low cost on what they’re taking down.”
AI tenants in San Francisco have leased extra sq. footage on this 12 months’s largest offers. Taken collectively, the 5 largest AI leases in San Francisco and the Bay Space totaled about 1.38 million sq. ft. New York’s 5 largest offers amounted to roughly 1.08 million sq. ft.
Within the largest West Coast offers, OpenAI leased 282,000 square feet at 1800 Owens Avenue, whereas Sierra AI took 258,000 square feet at 185 Berry Avenue. Databricks signed for an additional 180,000 square feet at 100 Altair Manner within the Bay Space, based on CompStak.
New York’s largest offers after Anthropic embody Ramp’s 285,000-square-foot extension and enlargement at 28-40 West 23rd Street, Tennr’s 125,000-square-foot lease at 345 Hudson Avenue and EliseAI’s 109,000-square-foot deal at 401 Fifth Avenue. Legora rounded out the highest 5 with a 98,000-square-foot lease at 11 Madison Avenue, per CompStak.
The numbers provide a snapshot of the competitors between the nation’s two largest markets for a technology of AI corporations which might be quickly scaling their workplace footprints. In San Francisco, AI corporations have accounted for 30 % of leasing exercise, or roughly 10 million sq. ft, since 2023, based on CBRE knowledge. In Manhattan, AI corporations leased 4.1 million sq. ft throughout that interval, per CBRE.
However the Bay Space is way extra reliant on AI to drive workplace demand. AI corporations accounted for practically half of all workplace leasing by sq. footage in San Francisco thus far in 2026, mentioned CBRE’s Colin Yasukochi.
“Most of the bigger AI corporations in New York are literally headquartered within the San Francisco Bay Space,” he mentioned. “After they attain the form of scale that they’re in San Francisco … and they should rent throughout the spectrum, however they’re nonetheless targeted on hiring the modern technical expertise, New York has the biggest provide.”
AI corporations additionally wish to be near the shoppers and industries they’re attempting to promote to, Yasukochi mentioned. New York’s focus of finance, media and different industries offers corporations entry to employees who perceive these companies.
“Having some form of data of different industries, like finance, like media, and simply understanding that, then they will construct services from AI that relate extra on to that, versus tech corporations constructing it for different tech corporations,” he mentioned.
The race isn’t nearly how a lot area AI corporations are taking. It’s additionally a couple of finite pool of extremely specialised employees, mentioned JLL’s Kelly. Neither New York nor San Francisco has sufficient employees with the specialised ability units AI corporations are in search of, so corporations like Anthropic are increasing in each markets.
“After they’re taking a look at it when it comes to discrete abilities, loads of these corporations … are rising in a number of locations on the similar time as a result of there’s merely not sufficient individuals to rent on the charge that they wish to go for these elite abilities,” Kelly mentioned.
The expertise pipeline is shifting, too. Kelly mentioned that round 2015 and 2016, laptop science graduates from colleges like Michigan, Purdue and Wisconsin have been more likely to go to the Bay Space than New York. That pipeline has since shifted towards New York, and AI corporations have taken discover.
“They’re not desirous about low-cost hubs. They’re desirous about ‘I want the most effective and brightest, and I’m going to scale them up in these core markets the place these ability units are most vital,’” Kelly mentioned.
The businesses aren’t essentially leasing just for the employees they already make use of. Kelly mentioned JLL’s evaluation of headcount towards occupied sq. footage suggests that fifty to 60 % of the area AI corporations are taking is earmarked for workers they’ve but to rent.
“They’re planning for such a major ramp-up, so these are actually big-time prices they’re taking up,” he mentioned.
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