In January 2020, the San Francisco-based short-term rental giant Airbnb signed a lease at a two-building office campus totaling 300,000 square feet under construction in Santa Clara. The Silicon Valley office vacancy rate was an extremely tight 4.3% at the time, reflecting the Bay Area’s booming tech economy.
Then everything changed. The world shut down just two months later, and the company never moved in. Instead, it put 4301 and 4401 Great America Parkway on the market.
Last spring, cybersecurity firm Zscaler quietly subleased the space. Based in nearby San Jose, the cloud-based company's rising fortunes reflected a growing surge in demand for cybersecurity services coinciding with the artificial intelligence boom as well as rising digital scams and online hacking. Inked at a moment when the region, one of the country's hardest hit, was still struggling to emerge from the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic, it marked the biggest lease in the South Bay region since 2023. That helped garner it a 2026 CoStar Impact Award, as judged by real estate professionals with knowledge of the market.
The deal also reflected a gathering sense of cautious optimism in the Bay Area’s office leasing market. In 2024, AI office leasing in the San Francisco Bay Area more than doubled companies' existing footprints.
About the deal: The sublease pointed to the company’s rapid growth and its need for a state‑of‑the‑art workplace to support its expanding workforce. It reminded real estate players of the area's enduring appeal even in the age of remote work.
What the judges said: It served as a reminder of the importance of having an office "in the technology capital of the world," said Institutional Property Advisors Senior Director Alex Tartaglia. It was also a sign of success, "of the Silicon Valley dream," said Devon M. Stout, a senior vice president at Compass Commercial.
They made it happen: The deal was brokered by Nathan Zoucha, Jennifer Haeg and Rich Hoyt of Newmark.