Seattle’s Office Leasing Rebound Offers Lessons for Boise Commercial Real Estate

The office market may not be back to its old normal, but something important is happening in Seattle: companies are signing bigger leases again.

That matters beyond the Pacific Northwest’s largest office markets. Seattle can provide an early look at how companies are thinking about office space after years of downsizing, remote work and uncertainty. For Boise commercial real estate, the takeaway isn’t that every empty office will suddenly fill. It’s that the best buildings may recover much faster than everything else.

According to reporting by Elliott Krivenko of CoStar Analytics, downtown Seattle posted its strongest quarter of new office leasing since 2019 during the second quarter of 2026. The original CoStar News article provides the complete market analysis.

The numbers suggest office demand isn’t disappearing. Instead, companies appear to be getting much more selective about where they want employees to work.

Bigger Companies Are Making Bigger Commitments

Downtown Seattle’s traditional office core recorded more than 550,000 square feet of new leases during the second quarter, according to CoStar.

Looking at the previous 12 months, leasing reached approximately 1.4 million square feet—the strongest trailing annual total since early 2020.

There was another encouraging signal: lease size.

The average new commitment increased to roughly 9,500 square feet, the highest average since 2024.

Several major transactions drove that activity.

Docusign signed approximately 115,000 square feet at JPMorgan Chase Center. The transaction was a downtown relocation rather than a true expansion, which is an important distinction. The company had previously reduced its real estate footprint.

But the decision still matters.

Instead of abandoning downtown Seattle, Docusign made another major commitment to the urban core.

Stripe provided an even more interesting signal by leasing close to 55,000 square feet at Madison Centre. Unlike a simple relocation, CoStar reported that the transaction expands Stripe’s existing Seattle footprint.

Professional services companies were active as well. Arnold & Porter committed to nearly 40,000 square feet at One Union Square, while Aurora Innovations took slightly more than 28,000 square feet at Hill7.

That variety is important because the activity isn’t coming from just one industry.

The Office Recovery May Be a Flight to Quality

There is a larger lesson hiding inside these leasing numbers.

Companies may need less office space than they did before 2020, but that doesn’t mean they want cheap or mediocre space.

In many cases, the opposite appears to be happening.

When companies reduce their overall square footage, they can sometimes afford to spend more per square foot on a better building.

That can mean newer construction, better views, upgraded common areas, stronger parking, fitness facilities, restaurants nearby and locations employees actually want to visit.

CoStar’s Seattle analysis points toward continued demand for newer, amenity-rich downtown properties.

For landlords, that’s an important distinction.

An office market can have high overall vacancy while its best buildings perform reasonably well.

At the same time, older buildings without strong amenities can struggle even when leasing activity improves.

That’s why simply asking whether the “office market” is improving can be misleading.

There may increasingly be two office markets operating at the same time.

What Seattle Could Tell Us About Boise Office Space

Boise isn’t Seattle.

Our building inventory, rents, commute patterns, employment base and downtown environment are different.

But tenant behavior can travel across markets.

The Boise office market has faced many of the same questions affecting cities nationwide: How much space do companies actually need? How many employees will work remotely? What makes someone want to come into the office? And how much will a tenant pay for quality?

Seattle’s latest leasing activity provides one possible answer.

Companies may still commit to substantial office footprints when the space supports their broader business goals.

That creates several implications for Boise commercial real estate.

For tenants, today’s market can create opportunities to upgrade.

A company occupying an older office may be able to move into better space under terms that would have been difficult to negotiate several years ago.

For landlords, investing in the tenant experience becomes more important.

Lobby improvements, conference facilities, outdoor areas, fitness amenities, natural light, modern finishes and better technology aren’t simply cosmetic improvements anymore. They can help determine which buildings make a tenant’s shortlist.

And for investors, office acquisitions require much more building-specific analysis.

Buying an office property simply because it looks inexpensive compared with historical pricing can be dangerous.

The bigger question is whether tenants will actually choose that building.

Occupancy Still Has a Long Way to Go

Seattle’s stronger leasing numbers shouldn’t be mistaken for a complete office recovery.

CoStar reported that occupied square footage was still declining through the second quarter.

The positive development is that those losses have slowed compared with the sharper contractions earlier in the decade.

That difference matters.

Commercial real estate markets don’t usually move directly from decline to rapid growth.

The first stage of stabilization can simply be that things stop getting worse as quickly.

Then leasing improves.

Large move-outs decline.

Vacant space gradually gets absorbed.

Landlords regain some pricing power.

Eventually, new construction becomes financially feasible again.

Seattle appears to be showing some of those early stabilization signals, although elevated vacancy remains a major challenge.

Boise landlords and investors should watch for the same sequence locally.

Local Insight: The Best Boise Offices Could Win First

My biggest takeaway from Seattle isn’t that office real estate is suddenly “back.”

It’s that quality is becoming more important than quantity.

Before remote and hybrid work became widespread, many employees had little choice about going to the office.

Today, employers have to think harder about why workers should come in.

Real estate becomes part of that answer.

A dark, dated office with poor amenities isn’t competing only against another building anymore. In some cases, it’s competing against an employee’s home office.

That’s a major change.

For downtown Boise office properties, that puts more emphasis on walkability, restaurants, coffee shops, parking, building amenities and the overall experience around the property.

The same concept applies in suburban Boise, Meridian and other Treasure Valley employment centers. Easy access, parking, nearby services and modern space can help a building stand apart.

I also think this creates an opportunity for tenants.

Companies that believe in having employees together may be able to use current market conditions to secure better office space and negotiate attractive lease terms.

For Boise office landlords, however, waiting for the market to improve may not be enough.

Properties that invest in the things tenants actually value are more likely to capture the demand when it returns.

Seattle’s leasing surge offers an encouraging signal, but it also reinforces an important lesson for Boise commercial real estate:

The office recovery probably won’t lift every building equally.

The winners are likely to be properties that give companies—and their employees—a compelling reason to be there.

Mike Gioioso (joy-OH-so)
has for 16+ years been helping companies of all sizes buy, build, and lease perfect places for business in greater Boise, Idaho and beyond.
www.streetsmartidaho.com mike@streetsmartidaho.com 208-209-9166

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