Tech’s Oakland Opportunity

Uber’s partial retrenchment from its future Oakland outpost appeared to be another example of the big tech companies spurning San Francisco’s eastern neighbor. Instead of relocating a few thousand employees to the building it acquired in 2015, Uber will instead have a few hundred there, at least initially. 

But it could work in Oakland’s favor. Uber is continuing its renovation of the building and has told local real estate brokers about half of the office space will be ready for another tenant by next year. That will help solve one of the biggest problems facing startups that have mulled relocating employees to Oakland: a lack of suitable office space that provides room to grow.