Editors’ Weekly News Roundup November 3 – November 7
The rise of artificial intelligence isn’t translating into real estate demand only in the data center sector. It’s also benefiting the office sector in tech-oriented cities, and nowhere more so than in San Francisco. That’s the market dynamic underpinning the past week’s most-read story on Connect CRE, San Francisco Now Top U.S. Office Market for Space Demand.
Previously a laggard in office market recovery from the pandemic, the home of the Transamerica Pyramid and the birthplace of sourdough bread experienced a 112% year-over-year increase in space demand during the third quarter of 2025, according to VTS. New York City, which had led the recovery, now ranks a distant second.
A breaking news story from the previous week carried enough momentum into this past week to rank as the second most-read article. Originally published on Connect CRE’s sister website, Connect Money, a follow-up report on the Federal Reserve’s latest actions drilled down into the implications of the central bank’s rate-cutting and more.
Titled FOMC Analysis: Fed Delivers Second Straight Rate Cut, Pauses Balance Sheet Runoff, the story quoted Jason Wolf, managing principal of WCRE CORFAC International, as saying, “The real catalyst will be consistency—one cut alone won’t materially shift fundamentals unless it marks the start of a more predictable easing cycle.”
Ranking third among the week’s five most-read stories was West Shore Financing Marks 2025’s Third-Largest Multifamily Transaction. Newmark arranged a $600-million loan package that refinanced existing debt on five stabilized apartment properties and provided funding for the acquisition of three assets across the Sunbelt and Midwest.
For Boston-based West Shore, the closing represented its second SASB transaction in the past 12 months. The company now owns more than 18,500 rental units across nine states.
The past week’s top five was rounded out with two regional stories. Ranking fourth was another story centered around a company headquartered in the Boston region. Cabot, Cabot & Forbes Adding Office and Lab Space at Former Superfund Site reported that the developer was poised to break ground on The Bolt, a 180,000-square-foot complex being built on spec.
The Bolt is the latest element of CC&F’s $400-million investment near the Anderson/Woburn MBTA station in Woburn, MA. It was preceded by a 289-unit luxury multifamily housing/retail development and a proposed 250-unit multifamily project that will also incorporate retail.
In fifth place was another account of building anew on a site that previously served a different purpose. Connect CRE reported in Vintage Athens Hotel to be Razed, Student Housing on Way that Core Spaces plans to convert the site of Hotel Abacus, a 122-room inn built in the 1970s, into a mid-rise student housing development that could accommodate more than 1,200 residents. The project is half a mile from the University of Georgia.
The project will be Core Spaces’ second in Athens, GA in recent months. It is also building accommodations for Georgia Tech students in Midtown Atlanta, on the site of the former Cheetah Lounge.