Education Office Arbitrage

Taking advantage of heavily discounted commercial real estate in San Francisco to create distributed educational campuses, leveraging the current market where companies are taking massive write-offs on their real estate holdings.

Key Points:

• Market Opportunity:

  • Commercial real estate available at 1/4 of traditional cost ($20/sq ft vs $90/sq ft)
  • 10 million square feet of vacant/subleasable space (up from 3 million in 2019)
  • Major companies taking large write-offs (Dropbox: $400M, plus Salesforce, Uber, PayPal, Zendesk)

• Business Concept:

  • Create distributed campus locations for established educational institutions
  • Target online programs like Harvard Business School Online
  • Provide physical presence in prime downtown locations across multiple cities
  • Enable "study abroad" style programs in major cities that were previously cost-prohibitive

• Value Proposition:

  • Lock in premium real estate at unprecedented discounts
  • Offer prestigious schools physical presence in key markets
  • Create hybrid learning environments combining online programs with physical spaces
  • Target high-end clientele who want access to prime downtown locations

• Alternative Uses Mentioned:

  • Cloud kitchens
  • Cloud grocery/convenience stores
  • Co-working spaces