Scope: California · Property types: Office and industrial
What Happened
The brokerage reports for the second and third quarters name the tenants, and the list is more specific than "tech and logistics."
In Los Angeles, Cushman & Wakefield counted the most active office occupier industries in the second quarter: legal at 297,354 square feet, manufacturing at 226,472, financial at 222,251 and professional services at 175,166. The notable leases it lists include Amwins at 54,216 square feet downtown and Morgan Lewis at 50,970. Kidder Mathews' third-quarter list for Los Angeles adds Mattel at 206,300 square feet, Innocean at 101,000, PwC at 67,860 and Funko at 53,668.
In industrial space, Kidder reports South Bay demand from defense tech, advanced manufacturing and space and satellite users, with Castelion leasing in North Torrance. In San Diego, Cushman & Wakefield counted Waymo moving into 230,000 square feet across three buildings. In the East Bay, Kidder lists Quanta Services at 200,000 square feet in Newark. In Sacramento, Cushman & Wakefield lists Redwood Beverage Group at 236,716 square feet in West Sacramento.
The Bigger Picture
San Francisco is the AI story. Lee & Associates' largest recent leases there are the City and County of San Francisco at 505,275 square feet, Google at 429,795 and Anthropic at 419,172, and Savills says AI and technology firms are the key drivers of the quarter's leasing.
In the Inland Empire, CBRE ranks logistics as the most active tenant type, then retail, then manufacturing. It does not publish percentage shares.
The jobs data explains why office demand is selective. California added 138,500 jobs over the year to August, according to the state's Employment Development Department. But information lost 22,600, professional and business services lost 15,500 and financial activities lost 13,000. Education and health services added 131,500. Hiring is growing in sectors that lease little traditional office space.
Labels: tenant names, sizes and industry totals are confirmed facts from each named source. Job figures are state data. The reading, that demand is concentrated, is TenantScout analysis.
What It Means for Tenants
Competing tenants are specific. A growth company looking in San Francisco is bidding against AI balance sheets for large blocks. A manufacturer looking in the South Bay is bidding against defense and space users.
Industry demand is local. Legal and financial firms are the active office users in Los Angeles. Logistics leads in the Inland Empire. The same state, different markets.
Moves also go the other way. Cushman & Wakefield recorded Jeld-Wen leaving 110,000 square feet in Vista and Honeywell leaving 101,000 in Otay Mesa in the same quarter Waymo moved in.
The Broker Angle
The pitch that works names who is leasing the submarket. An owner with 60,000 square feet in the South Bay should hear which defense, space and advanced-manufacturing users are looking, not that "industrial demand is strong." A landlord in downtown Los Angeles should hear that legal, financial and professional services firms are the active occupiers.
For tenant reps: your client's closest competitors for space are the industries above. Know who else is touring.
What We're Watching
- Whether defense, space and advanced manufacturing keep leasing after the South Bay's third quarter.
- Whether AI leasing spreads beyond San Francisco into Silicon Valley and the East Bay. Kidder had Silicon Valley's third-quarter leasing nearly double the year before.
- Office-using job growth. Until information, professional services and financial hiring turns, office demand stays selective.
Sources: Cushman & Wakefield MarketBeat Q2 2026 (Los Angeles office; San Diego, East Bay and Sacramento industrial); Kidder Mathews Q3 2026 (Los Angeles office and industrial; East Bay industrial); Lee & Associates, San Francisco office Q2 2026; Savills, San Francisco Q3 2026; CBRE Inland Empire Industrial Figures Q2 2026; California EDD, August 2026.