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San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
OpenAI close to leasing more space in S.F. neighborhood that's becoming popular with tech companies
OpenAI is reportedly close to taking space in a fourth building in San Francisco's Mission Bay that would add to its growing campus in the neighborhood that stretches along the city's waterfront. The maker of ChatGPT, widely regarded as a pioneer in the artificial intelligence space, is said to be in talks to lease space at a building that has long been home to biotech companies, including Nektar Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that has had its headquarters based in the property. The talks potentially involve OpenAI's nonprofit arm, according to sources familiar with the deal. The building that is the focus of the negotiations, located at 455 Mission Bay Blvd., spans about 210,000-square-feet and is part of Alexandria's Center for Life Science and Technology, a cluster of life sciences buildings that were constructed by Pasadena-based developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities, or ARE. Neither OpenAI nor ARE, which today owns a minority stake in the larger campus, responded to inquiries from the Chronicle seeking to confirm the pending lease, which an individual with insight into the deal described as being 'close' to completed. CBRE Investment Management, which several years ago acquired a stake in the Alexandria Center campus, also did not respond to messages seeking comment. In recent years, OpenAI has leased massive chunks of space in Mission Bay. The leases come at a time when overall new leasing activity remains subdued in San Francisco, which saw many companies shift to remote work as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last fall, OpenAI leased a 300,000-square-foot building at 550 Terry Francois Blvd., which constituted the city's largest office lease of 2024. The building previously served as the headquarters for Old Navy — Gap Inc., which is Old Navy's parent company, exited the property in 2021. And in October 2023, OpenAI forged a blockbuster lease deal a block from Old Navy's former building, by subleasing two office buildings for a total of 486,600-square-feet from Uber, at 1455 Third St. and 1515 Third St. The 455 Mission Bay property is adjacent to OpenAI's Third Street buildings, and two blocks north of the Chase Center. Inside, about 150,000 square feet are currently available, a majority of which is sublease space, according to real estate insiders. Nektar Therapeutics, which has occupied the building since 2009 and is credited with helping to usher in Mission Bay's biotech boom, has been seeking to sublease its space, according to real estate insiders. In 2023, the company reduced its workforce in the city to just 55 employees. It is unclear whether OpenAI plans to take over the entire building as leases expire. Reports earlier this year indicated that the company was in the market to lease at least 200,000-square feet of additional office space in Mission Bay, which would grow its footprint in the neighborhood to just over 1 million square feet. OpenAI's plan for 455 Mission Bay could be to 'gut it and rebuild it out as office,' particularly if the space is reserved for its nonprofit division, one source told the Chronicle. The source also confirmed that the current lab vacancy in Mission Bay is nearing 50%. Public Records show that ARE last month made moves to expand the amount of office space allocated to its Mission Bay campus, which is currently limited to just over 24,000 square feet. In an application filed with the city's Planning Department, the developer requested that over 500,000 square feet of office space be allocated to the campus, indicating that it plans to pivot from lab to office space there. San Francisco's Proposition M, a law passed decades ago, limits how much office space can be built in the city every year. A total of 950,000 square feet of office space becomes available for allocation in October of each year, of which a majority is reserved for 'large cap' projects of 50,000 square feet or more. But due to a lack of new office developments that have advanced in the city in recent years, the city has seen significantly fewer developers line up for Prop. M office allocation — as of last quarter, nearly one-third of the city's total existing office space sat empty. According to ARE's recent application, nearly 2.5 million square feet of 'Large Cap office space' were available for allocation in the city as of October 2024. If approved, ARE's proposed 500,000 square-foot office allocation in Mission Bay would reduce the amount of office space available for new construction projects to about 2 million square feet, the developer said in its submission to the Planning Department. But with OpenAI and other AI startups increasingly setting their sights on the neighborhood, more office space is needed, the developer stated. The application underscores the neighborhood's gradual evolution from a life sciences hub anchored by UCSF and leading biotech firms, to a hotbed for AI startups and other tech companies. Mission Rock, a new mixed-use campus developed by the San Francisco Giants and Tishman Speyer that has risen within the Mission Bay neighborhood in recent years, has been a target of tech companies looking to expand or relocate. The development recently finalized leases with fintech company Coinbase and Nvidia, America's leading chip maker. 'The AI real estate footprint in the city now exceeds 5 million square feet, including a rapidly expanding presence in Mission Bay, and is leading the recovery of San Francisco's commercial real estate market,' ARE said in its application. The growth in AI is bringing significant investment, talent, and jobs to San Francisco,'
Los Angeles Times
29-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Former Netflix employee sues over wrongful termination, alleges discrimination and retaliation
A former labor relations employee at Netflix is suing the company, claiming she was wrongfully terminated after raising concerns over her superiors' discrimination against women of color and allegations of sexual harassment. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleges that the employee's managers broke laws and policies that protect employees from race- and gender-based discrimination, and from retaliation for reporting alleged discrimination or harassment. Nhu-Y Phan was hired at Netflix as legal counsel in labor relations in May 2021. She was fired due to 'unspecified performance issues' in September 2024, her lawsuit said. According to the complaint, Phan had never been subject to any discipline and had received overwhelmingly positive performance reviews and feedback throughout her time at the company. She is seeking punitive damages, emotional distress damages, past and future lost income and other forms of relief, as well as a jury trial. A Netflix spokesperson said in a brief statement the claims outlined in the suit 'lack merit and we intend to defend this matter vigorously.' For the first year of her Netflix career, Phan was supervised by Ted Sinclair, who is named as a defendant in the suit. Phan alleges that Sinclair repeatedly excluded her and other women of color on her team from professional opportunities that he offered to white colleagues, and that he 'encouraged a white employee' to take credit for her work. Phan made multiple verbal and written complaints about this unequal treatment, including through meetings with both the human resources department and with Sinclair directly, but was still denied opportunities, the lawsuit said. She asked to be removed from Sinclair's direct supervision in the summer of 2022. Later, a female colleague confided in Phan, alleging that her new supervior, Jonah Cozien, was sexually harassing her, the complaint said. Cozien is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Phan reported the behavior to human resources, and after doing so, Cozien became 'frequently hostile' toward her, limiting her professional opportunities and giving her critical feedback despite never having provided feedback before she made the report, according to the suit. Sinclair and Cozien did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and their lawyers could not be identified. After Phan was fired, her lawyers say Netflix filed a lawsuit against her to compel arbitration. Brian Olney, one of the attorneys from Pasadena-based Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai who is representing Phan, said forcing her into arbitration proceedings is a violation of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, which became law in 2022. Because records in arbitration are protected, employers that have arbitration clauses in their employment contracts can avoid public attention on cases involving sexual harassment and assault. The House Judiciary Committee said passing the law would bring justice to victims who were 'locked out of the court system and are forced to settle their disputes against companies in a private system of arbitration that often favors the company over the individual.' 'Netflix fired Nhu Phan and tried to force her into secretive arbitration proceedings to silence her voice,' Olney said in a statement. 'With her lawsuit, she is standing up to this corporate bully and their outrageous and despicable conduct.'
Los Angeles Times
16-06-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Pasadena Solar Firm Acquired by Florida Energy Company for $10 Million
Pasadena-based Heliogen Inc. agreed to be acquired by Zeo Energy Corp., a Florida-based provider of residential solar and energy efficiency solutions, for $10 million. The transaction is currently expected to close in the third quarter of 2025 and has been approved by the boards of both companies. 'Heliogen brings a set of practical solutions to customers, particularly data centers, looking for longer duration energy storage with substantially lower costs than alternatives on the market,' said Tim Bridgewater, chief executive of Zeo Energy, in a statement. Piper Sandler & Co. acted as financial advisor and Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP acted as legal counsel to Zeo. Pickering Energy Partners is the financial advisor and Cooley LLP is legal counsel to Heliogen. Information for this article was sourced from Heliogen.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
FCC commissioner sounds alarms about free speech 'chilling effect' under Trump
Federal Communications Commissioner Anna M. Gomez traveled to Los Angeles this week to sound an alarm that attacks on the media by President Trump and his lieutenants could fray the fabric of the 1st Amendment. Gomez's appearance Wednesday at Cal State L.A. was designed to take feedback from community members about the changed media atmosphere since Trump returned to office. The president initially expelled Associated Press journalists from the White House, for example. He signed an executive order demanding government funding be cut to PBS and NPR stations. Should that order take effect, Pasadena-based radio station LAist would lose nearly $1.7 million — or about 4% of its annual budget, according to Alejandra Santamaria, chief executive of parent organization Southern California Public Radio. 'The point of all these actions is to chill speech,' Gomez told the small crowd. "We all need to understand what is happening and we need people to speak up and push back." Congress in the 1930s designed the FCC as an independent body, she said, rather than one beholden to the president. But those lines have blurred. In the closing days of last fall's presidential campaign, Trump sued CBS and "60 Minutes" over edits to an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging producers doctored the broadcast to enhance her election chances. CBS has denied the allegations and the raw footage showed Harris was accurately quoted. Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, upon taking office in January, revived three complaints of bias against ABC, NBC and CBS, including one alleging the "60 Minutes" edits had violated rules against news distortion. He demanded that CBS release the unedited footage. The FCC's review of Skydance Media's pending takeover of CBS-parent Paramount Global has been clouded by the president's $20-billion lawsuit against CBS. The president rejected Paramount's offer to settle for $15 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, which said Trump has demanded more. Two high-level CBS News executives involved in "60 Minutes" were forced out this spring. Gomez, in an interview, declined to discuss the FCC's review of the Skydance-Paramount deal beyond saying: "It would be entirely inappropriate to consider the complaint against the '60 Minutes' segment as part of a transaction review." Scrutinizing edits to a national newscast "are not part of the public interest analysis that the commission does when it considers mergers and acquisitions," she said. Read more: Trump, '60 Minutes' and corruption allegations put Paramount on edge with sale less certain For months, Gomez has been the lone voice of dissent at the FCC. Next month, she will become the sole Democrat on the panel. The longtime communications attorney, who was appointed to the commission in 2023 by former President Biden, has openly challenged her colleague Carr and his policies that align with Trump's directives. She maintains that some of Carr's proposals, including opening investigations into diversity and inclusion policies at Walt Disney Co. and Comcast, go beyond the scope of the FCC, which is designed to regulate radio and TV stations and others that use the public airwaves. The pressure campaign is working, Gomez said. 'When you see corporate parents of news providers ... telling their broadcasters to tone down their criticisms of this administration, or to push out the executive producer of '60 Minutes' or the head of [CBS] News because of concerns about retribution from this administration because of corporate transactions — that is a chilling effect,' Gomez said. Wednesday's forum, organized by the nonprofit advocacy group Free Press, was punctuated with pleas from professors, journalists and community advocates for help in fending off Trump's attacks. One journalist said she lost her job this spring at Voice of America after Trump took aim at the organization, which was founded more than 80 years ago to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II. The Voice of America's remaining staffers could receive reduction-in-force notices later this week, according to Politico. Latino journalists spoke about the difficulty of covering some stories because people have been frightened into silence due to the administration's immigration crackdown. Read more: How Trump's FCC chairman is stoking the culture war For now, journalists are able to carry out their missions "for the most part," said Gabriel Lerner, editor emeritus of the Spanish-language La Opinión. But he added a warning. "Many think that America is so exceptional that you don't have to do anything because fascism will never happen here," Lerner said. "I compare that with those who dance on the Titanic thinking it will never sink.' The White House pushed back on such narratives: 'President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history. He regularly takes questions from the media, communicates directly to the public, and signed an Executive Order to protect free speech on his first day back in office," spokesperson Anna Kelly said. "He will continue to fight against censorship while evaluating all federal spending to identify waste, fraud, and abuse.' Traditionally, the five-member FCC has maintained an ideological balance with three commissioners from the party in power and two from the minority. But the senior Democrat — Geoffrey Starks — plans to step down next month, which will leave just three commissioners: Gomez, Carr and another Republican, Nathan Simington. Trump has nominated a third Republican, Olivia Trusty, but the Senate has not confirmed her appointment. Trump has not named a Democrat to replace Starks. Some on Wednesday expressed concern that Gomez's five-year tenure on the commission could be cut short. Trump has fired Democrats from other independent bodies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Gomez said if she is pushed out, it would only be because she was doing her job, which she said was defending the Constitution. Read more: The network evening news is in flux: Why an American TV institution is under pressure Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Indio) applauded Gomez's efforts and noted that he's long appreciated coordinating with her on more routine FCC matters, such as ensuring wider broadband internet access. "But now the fight is the survival of the free press," Ruiz said. He noted that millions of people now get news from non-journalist sources, leading to a rise of misinformation and confusion. "What is the truth?" Ruiz said. "How can we begin to have a debate? How can we begin to create policy on problems when we can't even agree on what reality is?" Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
FCC commissioner sounds alarms about free speech ‘chilling effect' under Trump
Federal Communications Commissioner Anna M. Gomez traveled to Los Angeles this week to sound an alarm that attacks on the media by President Trump and his lieutenants could fray the fabric of the 1st Amendment. Gomez's appearance Wednesday at Cal State L.A. was designed to take feedback from community members about the changed media atmosphere since Trump returned to office. The president initially expelled Associated Press journalists from the White House, for example. He signed an executive order demanding government funding be cut to PBS and NPR stations. Should that order take effect, Pasadena-based radio station LAist would lose nearly $1.7 million — or about 4% of its annual budget, according to Alejandra Santamaria, chief executive of parent organization Southern California Public Radio. 'The point of all these actions is to chill speech,' Gomez told the small crowd. 'We all need to understand what is happening and we need people to speak up and push back.' Congress in the 1930s designed the FCC as an independent body, she said, rather than one beholden to the president. But those lines have blurred. In the closing days of last fall's presidential campaign, Trump sued CBS and '60 Minutes' over edits to an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, alleging producers doctored the broadcast to enhance her election chances. CBS has denied the allegations and the raw footage showed Harris was accurately quoted. Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, upon taking office in January, revived three complaints of bias against ABC, NBC and CBS, including one alleging the '60 Minutes' edits had violated rules against news distortion. He demanded that CBS release the unedited footage. The FCC's review of Skydance Media's pending takeover of CBS-parent Paramount Global has been clouded by the president's $20-billion lawsuit against CBS. The president rejected Paramount's offer to settle for $15 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, which said Trump has demanded more. Two high-level CBS News executives involved in '60 Minutes' were forced out this spring. Gomez, in an interview, declined to discuss the FCC's review of the Skydance-Paramount deal beyond saying: 'It would be entirely inappropriate to consider the complaint against the '60 Minutes' segment as part of a transaction review.' Scrutinizing edits to a national newscast 'are not part of the public interest analysis that the commission does when it considers mergers and acquisitions,' she said. For months, Gomez has been the lone voice of dissent at the FCC. Next month, she will become the sole Democrat on the panel. The longtime communications attorney, who was appointed to the commission in 2023 by former President Biden, has openly challenged her colleague Carr and his policies that align with Trump's directives. She maintains that some of Carr's proposals, including opening investigations into diversity and inclusion policies at Walt Disney Co. and Comcast, go beyond the scope of the FCC, which is designed to regulate radio and TV stations and others that use the public airwaves. The pressure campaign is working, Gomez said. 'When you see corporate parents of news providers ... telling their broadcasters to tone down their criticisms of this administration, or to push out the executive producer of '60 Minutes' or the head of [CBS] News because of concerns about retribution from this administration because of corporate transactions — that is a chilling effect,' Gomez said. Wednesday's forum, organized by the nonprofit advocacy group Free Press, was punctuated with pleas from professors, journalists and community advocates for help in fending off Trump's attacks. One journalist said she lost her job this spring at Voice of America after Trump took aim at the organization, which was founded more than 80 years ago to counter Nazi propaganda during World War II. The Voice of America's remaining staffers could receive reduction-in-force notices later this week, according to Politico. Latino journalists spoke about the difficulty of covering some stories because people have been frightened into silence due to the administration's immigration crackdown. For now, journalists are able to carry out their missions 'for the most part,' said Gabriel Lerner, editor emeritus of the Spanish-language La Opinión. But he added a warning. 'Many think that America is so exceptional that you don't have to do anything because fascism will never happen here,' Lerner said. 'I compare that with those who dance on the Titanic thinking it will never sink.' The White House pushed back on such narratives: 'President Trump is leading the most transparent administration in history. He regularly takes questions from the media, communicates directly to the public, and signed an Executive Order to protect free speech on his first day back in office,' spokesperson Anna Kelly said. 'He will continue to fight against censorship while evaluating all federal spending to identify waste, fraud, and abuse.' Traditionally, the five-member FCC has maintained an ideological balance with three commissioners from the party in power and two from the minority. But the senior Democrat — Geoffrey Starks — plans to step down next month, which will leave just three commissioners: Gomez, Carr and another Republican, Nathan Simington. Trump has nominated a third Republican, Olivia Trusty, but the Senate has not confirmed her appointment. Trump has not named a Democrat to replace Starks. Some on Wednesday expressed concern that Gomez's five-year tenure on the commission could be cut short. Trump has fired Democrats from other independent bodies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Gomez said if she is pushed out, it would only be because she was doing her job, which she said was defending the Constitution. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Indio) applauded Gomez's efforts and noted that he's long appreciated coordinating with her on more routine FCC matters, such as ensuring wider broadband internet access. 'But now the fight is the survival of the free press,' Ruiz said. He noted that millions of people now get news from non-journalist sources, leading to a rise of misinformation and confusion. 'What is the truth?' Ruiz said. 'How can we begin to have a debate? How can we begin to create policy on problems when we can't even agree on what reality is?'
