The Transamerica Pyramid has just pulled off something that once seemed unthinkable in San Francisco’s battered office market: a lease deal that sets the highest office rent ever recorded in the city. The record pricing, achieved on upper floors of the tower, comes at a moment when much of downtown is still wrestling with high vacancies and discounted space. It is a sharp reminder that for the right building, in the right location, tenants are still willing to pay a premium.
At the center of the deal is a cluster of high‑profile tenants and a landlord betting that a fully reimagined icon can anchor the next phase of the Financial District’s recovery. The leases are relatively compact in square footage but outsized in symbolism, signaling that the top of the market is not only alive, it is resetting expectations for what “prime” means in San Francisco.
The record-setting deal inside an iconic tower
The Transamerica Pyramid’s new benchmark lease is concentrated on the upper reaches of the 48-story tower, where views and prestige are at their peak and where rents now sit at the top of the San Francisco office market. Local real estate insiders have confirmed that the three leases together cover 25,000 square feet, with the largest single commitment spanning 15,000 square feet on a high floor, a configuration that underscores how smaller, high-value footprints are driving the luxury end of the market rather than sprawling, low-cost blocks of space. The pricing on these upper floors is now widely described as the highest office rent ever seen in the city, a striking contrast with the concessions and sublease discounts that dominate much of the rest of downtown.
The tenant roster reflects that premium positioning. Investment management firm Coatue and Mizuho Financial Group are two of the companies taking space, joined by a third tenant whose name has not been disclosed but is understood to be another financial or technology player. Together, their leases total the same 25,000 square feet cited by the landlord, with the 15,000 square feet on the 44th floor serving as the flagship piece of the transaction. In a market where many landlords are still fighting to fill entire towers, the ability of the Transamerica Pyramid to command record rents for relatively modest but highly curated suites shows how far the gap has widened between true trophy assets and the rest of the inventory.
Michael Shvo’s luxury bet on the Transamerica Pyramid
Behind the scenes, the record lease is the clearest validation yet of Michael Shvo’s strategy for the building. Michael Shvo’s luxury development firm acquired and repositioned the property with the explicit goal of turning it into a top-tier, hospitality-inflected workplace rather than a relic of a previous office era. In that context, landing three leases that together span 25,000 square feet is less about raw absorption and more about proving that the building can attract the kind of tenants willing to pay for design, amenities, and brand value. Shvo is the landlord in the deal, and the success of this leasing push strengthens his argument that San Francisco’s future is bright for owners who invest heavily in quality…