Is Elvis in your building yet?

Using Elvis's whereabouts as a metaphor for good and bad times I think it's fair to say that insofar as San Francisco commercial real estate is concerned Elvis is back in the building.

And the following empirical data sourced from industry researchers and journalists backs it up.

• San Francisco is on track to see upwards of $4 billion in downtown office building sales this year eclipsing the $3.6 billion posted in 2006 (which was followed by a “bubble-icious” $8+ billion in 2007 and a “drop off the cliff” $340 million in 2009)

• Q1 2011 marked the third consecutive quarter of positive net absorption of downtown office space with leases for more than 1.63 million square feet signed. Overall vacancies are down to 14.2% from over 17% a year ago. Rental rates for downtown Class A office space are up 12% and for Class B space up 17% (Q1 2011 v. Q1 2011).

• Public real estate investment trusts (REITs) most notably Hudson Pacific Properties and Kilroy Realty Corp. have been leading the new crop of investments with acquisitions of 100 First St., 250 Brannan St. 303 Second St., 1455 Market St and 101 Spear St.

• and during the next 12 months we could be seeing new downtown office tower rising as the market has shored up to the point where major developers, the likes of Tishman Speyer, are reported to be out there locking down sites and prospecting for major tenants.

And though I specialize in retail real estate (where empirical data is lacking but anecdotal data abounds) I put forth that the growth in office investment, leasing and development activity relates to growth in retail.

I wanted to cite the "String Theory" to back me up but after reading up on that for the last half hour and still not getting it I think I'll simply rely on the less controversial and more time proven "Dry Bones Theory" which puts forth that ".. the hip bone connected to the back bone, and the back bone connected to the neck bone, and the neck bone connected to the head bone."

p.s. and if Elvis has not come back to your "building" yet keep the faith and enjoy this great song from a great movie - and remember "Elvis is everywhere!"