Office vacancy rate rises in San Francisco

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

An amount of office space equivalent to 13 Bank of America buildings sits vacant in San Francisco today as companies continue to shed more square footage than they rent - a trend that won't change until employers start putting more people behind desks.

The 13 million square feet of available space in the first quarter of 2010 translates to a 17.7 percent office vacancy rate, up from 14.7 percent a year ago and nearly one percentage point from the previous quarter ending in December, according to data released Friday by the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

There are cheaper places to do business.