the shorenstein brand is a national real-estate investor. but really, i think our brand is the strongest here in san francisco, where the roots of the company are. here, we have an opportunity to invest at least $80 million into renovation. and spend a lot of time leasing the property, something we have been able to do over good cycles and bad cycles in san francisco. and the space is definitely different, which is not what the shorenstein companies typically known for doing. but we have had success in other markets doing it. we think that there's this big demand sector that is growing in san francisco for creative office space. it is not just tech. it is advertising, architectural firms, and consulting. so we're pretty excited about the project. lastly, i think that what really made us keenly interested in this project is an opportunity for a grenade -- brand-name company like shorenstein to make a significant investment into a troubled area in san francisco. and we're very thankful to twitter for hanging in there with us, and i think that

they and the shorenstein properties are getting their buildings ready to be retrofitted for seismic safety. >> this is on new employees with in a special area. >> that is right. >> and they have other employees outside of that area, and they will pay the normal payroll tax on those. >> that is right. if they are located in that area, than those net new employees will be exempted. >> do you believe twitter would have left the city had you not come up with a compromise like this? >> yes, it was serious on their part. we met at their offices were there at today. in net -- in addition to meeting the cfo's and ceo's, i asked if i can meet with the employee is separately. they allowed me to do that, i asked what they liked about the city. one of the things they said to me was they enjoy the diversity that the city has, all of its culture and arts, but i really like is dedicated bike lanes. they really want not to have to drive to work. we have been working very hard on that. >> they ask for anything else? >> they asked that our city keep its innovative spirit. i think a lot of the young workers

as we talk about their building and as we work with shorenstein and we realize that they want to go gold platinum on that building for this indication, they're doing the best they can to retrofit the building. the jobs that will be offered in the building from building maintenance, janitorial work, architecture work, a lot of jobs will be part of that. >> and it is pretty clear. even though they're not paying payroll tax for these supplies, the economic benefits of them -- >> are huge. today, this year alone, we leased out 4.6 million square feet of office space in the city. 1.6 million of that was technology companies using that space. >> can you put that into context? how much office space to tech companies currently have? >> there's 1503 technology companies in the city today, and they employ just south of 28,000 employees. that is a huge, huge market. >> sounds great. thank you very much. >> thank you. [applause] >> i do not live here. if i did, i would definitely vote for you. but i do not. is there any last thing you want to say to the san francisco residence to convince them that

on what you think twitter and the shorensteins for doing this. $80 million in retrofitting the building. then twitter comes in. one decision, $95 million immediate infusion into our economy right there at ninth and market. i just opened the offices of zen desk, the online help desk. they actually have a cubicle for me with my picture and my wife's picture. they promised that cubicle will be ready if something happens i do not expect on voting day. [laughter] they will grow from 80 to 150 employees right there as central market. i also want to say that these tech companies are not really big job-creators. i have to say, certainly, as you know already with the contributions to our wonderful city and with the owner of zen desk, in their one night of amassing $5 million to build a children's hospital. we're looking at people joining the great names of levi's and rosenbergs and charles schwab and others to be the new generation to add to our philanthropic corporate citizenship peter i am excited about that. new small businesses along a central market, local -- huckleberry bicycles, at san fr

california pacific medical center, the realty corporation, shorenstein, sterling bank, tng partners, and wilson, menni, sullivan. thank you to all but you will see our sponsors on the cover of our june 24 san francisco structures special edition. there are copies available here at our table. it is a full look at the project progress and it's sort of economic future of san francisco. a develop it -- a development mac always at the center of it. you can read the work of real- estate reporters and our economic development reporter. and our senior editor always takes great ownership of this project. we're very proud of it. i am going to assume you have all read it and seen it because you were all subscribers. if you are not, as i always say, why not? but we do have a special offer today that would save $15 off the price of a subscription. just go to the business times table right back there. you can also enter a contest. there is a $200 amex gift card. you may want it that if your portfolio has gone down. so put your car in to get that. also signed up for a subscription. you get full acc

things and go going a different direction and i got basically bailed out by a guy named alex at the shorenstein center and called me and said would you like to come here and be a fellow? i thought, i had never been a fellow. now i never understood what i fellow did. that is better than being a nobody. i never dreamed of a million years that i could get through the door at harvard. like i said i graduated the lowest in my class. here i went to harvard and i'm sitting in the kennedy school and i got a researcher and i could tell her -- she was helping me research the book. i had a book contract by this time and along came this opportunity. a funny thing happened to me. all these kids started coming up to me and i took them to lunch. he was the editor of "the harvard crimson" and he said to me, you know we have this luncheon talks about all the things i had done and he said at the end of the lunch, i want to be you. i said, what? he said, i want to do exactly what you did. i said, are you crazy? everybody i know is being laid off, fired are unemployed and you want to be like me? he said that you r