Early-stage AI startups are imbuing new life into San Francisco’s Northern Waterfront, after years of “for lease” signs dotting the post-pandemic landscape. According to the San Francisco Business Times, five AI-focused companies — four backed by Y Combinator — recently leased 23,900 square feet at the Waterfront Plaza complex. This is part of a citywide trend, according to the real estate services firm CBRE: AI firms are one of the few sectors expanding in San Francisco, accounting for 1.6 million square feet leased last year and now occupying 5 million total. (Unsurprisingly, OpenAI accounts for a sizable chunk of that overall figure.)

CBRE believes these scrappy startups could reach 21 million in square feet within five years, potentially halving the city’s current 35.8% vacancy rate and creating tens of thousands of jobs. “It could fundamentally change the vibrancy of downtown,” CBRE analyst Colin Yasukochi tells the outlet.

Waterfront Plaza is a five-building campus totaling 442,000 square feet whose tenant mix tends to shift with economic trends. Among its past tenants is WeWork.