Newmark has hired leasing specialists Sean McCallum and Tyler Paratte to work in its San Francisco office, as a surge of activity among artificial intelligence firms in particular has driven a sense of optimism for the Bay Area’s embattled office market.
McCallum joins the New York-based real estate services firm as an executive managing director and Paratte as a director. The duo is moving over after spending some four years as brokers at Avison Young.
McCallum and Paratte specialize in tenant representation for office and R&D users across a range of industries, including technology, financial services, law and media, said Newmark in a press release. Together, they have provided advice on multimarket real estate strategy and execution to companies such as The Washington Post, Flexport, Gorgias, Elastic, DoorDash, Mistral and Tree Line Capital.
“While the company is new, my focus remains the same — helping office and R&D companies with their real estate needs,” wrote Paratte on his LinkedIn page.
McCallum has advised clients on transactions totaling an estimated 3.5 million square feet, while Paratte “adds a data-driven, analytical mindset backed by a finance background,” having brokered over 500,000 square feet, according to Newmark.
The firm’s emphasis on leasing reflects how tenant activity has driven a nascent recovery in key areas like San Francisco’s Financial District, which even more than other parts of the city has been plagued by weak leasing and company exits between 2020 and 2024, with the vacancy rate soaring from 7% to 30%, according to CoStar data.
But in the first quarter of the year, the city’s commercial center saw its busiest leasing quarter since 2019, thanks largely to expansion in the artificial intelligence sector, as companies like Databricks, a cloud-based data and analytics platform, inked a deal to move into new and expanded offices at One Sansome St. That built on a handful of large leases in the Bay Area that made a difference in the final months of 2024, wrote CoStar Senior Director of Market Analytics Nigel Hughes earlier this month. The biggest deal was in December, when Snowflake leased over 700,000 square feet in Menlo Park, taking over three buildings that social media giant Meta had given back in 2023.
“The Bay Area is a dynamic and essential market for many of our national and global clients,” said Elizabeth Hart, Newmark’s president of leasing, North America, in a statement. “Adding professionals like Sean and Tyler, who bring consultative, analytical approaches and deep regional expertise, reinforces Newmark’s ability to deliver forward-looking, market-leading solutions that drive real results for occupiers navigating complex real estate decisions.”