The Real Deal Reports Boston Among the Nation’s Leading AI Office Leasing Markets
David Greaney, Founder and CEO of Synergy, was featured in The Real Deal‘s analysis of how artificial intelligence companies are reshaping office markets beyond Silicon Valley. Greaney spoke to how Boston’s real estate and economic development community responded once San Francisco’s AI boom took hold.
Just Below the Bay Area and New York
Boston and Seattle now rank just below the Bay Area and New York City in cumulative AI leasing activity between 2019 and the first quarter of 2026, according to CBRE data cited in the report. AI tenants have taken nearly 4 million square feet of commercial space across the market since 2019, and JLL found the office market absorbed more than 590,000 square feet in the first half of this year — its first back-to-back quarters of occupancy gains since 2019. Nationally, the tech industry’s share of U.S. office space has reached an all-time high of 23 percent.
Boston’s response to San Francisco’s AI dominance, Greaney told The Real Deal, was essentially “we’re not going to let that happen.” The ecosystem, he said, then doubled down on attracting and retaining AI companies.
A Market Rewriting the Leasing Playbook
The nature of AI demand is reshaping how Boston owners approach deals. Rather than the decade-long commitments that once defined the market, many AI firms are signing shorter terms in spaces under 10,000 square feet — then expanding as they scale. Owners positioned to move quickly and support tenants through growth are the ones capturing that momentum.
That approach is central to how Synergy operates more than 30 commercial assets across Greater Boston, pairing local expertise with a hospitality-driven mindset that prioritizes tenant relationships from first conversation through build-out and expansion.