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Hughes Marino San Francisco: Inside the Design of Our Chic Downtown Office

By Shay Hughes

Reflecting on the second half of 2019, we had quite the exciting and fulfilling whirlwind of a year! With the expansion of our San Francisco team, our next step was to cultivate a new home away from home for our growing team that incorporated our signature warm and welcoming Hughes Marino style, and that also had a distinct personality that reflected the city’s one-of-a-kind persona. In true Hughes Marino fashion, we set out to develop a beautiful new workplace that continued to emulate our award-winning culture, core values and brand in the Golden Gate City, and our team is loving the results!

We led an extensive search for a location in the heart of downtown that provided access to many modes of transportation, and we were elated when we found the perfect home base for our amazing team. Our latest office is sixteen floors above San Francisco’s Financial District in the One California building, a skyscraper on arguably one of the city’s most picturesque streets, complete with the famous cable car line that runs along California Street.

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After months of searching for the perfect space, sourcing art, furniture and fixtures, we are super pleased with the outcome of our newest home away from home. Here is an inside look into Hughes Marino San Francisco. We hope you love it as much as we do!

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Our Whimsical Reception Area

We wanted to create a warm, cheerful first impression for guests when they first visited our office. Walking out of the elevator through the glass double doors into the office, guests and our teammates are immediately transported into a playful, whimsical setting that we can’t get enough of!

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It’s hard not to smile when walking through the entryway. A framed print of “Party Time at the Parker” by world-renowned photographer Gray Malin sets the tone for our entire office, featuring a happy elephant playfully walking through a path of bright and colorful balloons. To complete the welcoming setting, a charming, life-size sheep ottoman (yes—you read that right!), happily greets everyone into our reception area.

We selected a subdued color palette for the sitting area, complete with a soft pink plush velvet couch with white fluffed pillows, pretty gold accents, an oversized original portrait of ballerinas and plenty of inspiring design-oriented coffee table books to thumb through while guests wait.

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A Conference Room with a View

Our conference room features stunning views of the nearby skyscrapers and bustling city streets, and offers a quiet, private space for meetings with clients or the team. This room is flooded with natural light, and features stunning black and white photography by acclaimed editorial photographer, Greg Lotus, which is hung on a black accent wall that adds the perfect contrast, adding even more drama and glam to our conference room.

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A Modern, Central Kitchen

Around the corner from the reception area is our clean, modern kitchen in the center of the office, complete with sleek white and gray countertops, barstools, candy jars, stainless steel appliances and colorful art by James Wolanin!

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By featuring a larger-than-life Ghirardelli square by one of our favorite artists Gary Polonsky, we were able to highlight one of San Francisco’s most beloved and iconic chocolatiers and uphold another Hughes Marino office décor tradition! This art definitely serves as a fun conversation starter, and we placed it right at the entrance of our kitchen to keep the playful vibes flowing throughout the entire office.

A Mix of Private & Open Workspace

To provide workspace for all kinds of situations, we were sure to incorporate a balance of private offices and open workstations. Our operations area has 180-degree views of Downtown San Francisco, showcases a show-stopping fashion art piece by Max Grossman, and a fun cozy corner with comfy seating and a gallery wall with inspiring quotes and colorful imagery. Each of our private offices have their own little personalities, complete with unique art pieces and plenty of space to focus and get down to business.

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Our Cozy Living Room

Walking down the hallway of private offices, past our copy room with yet another fun gallery wall and our playful Kate Moss photography, is perhaps my favorite room of our San Francisco office. Our cozy living room is tucked toward the back of our office and is a fun surprise to find! To tie all of the décor elements together, we kept a similar color palette from our reception area, which includes soft pinks, grays and creams, and brought in all of the elements of home to make this space as beautiful and homey as possible!

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The best living rooms have tons of comfortable sitting space, and that detail did not go unnoticed in our living area! Two leather chairs face out to the wall-to-wall windows with even more breathtaking city views that flood the space with natural light. Two oversized soft gray velvet couches face each other, packed with fluffy pillows that provide the perfect place for our team to relax and bond together. No Hughes Marino living room would be complete without a coffee table with whimsical trinkets and inspiring books, and we had a great time sourcing a collection that perfectly reflected San Francisco. My favorite fun element of our living room? Our amazing collection of vintage Barbie travel art by David Parise! From riding Vespas in Rome, vacationing in Paris and skiing in Aspen, our collection definitely adds an imaginative, fun and quirky touch to the room (and also makes us smile)!

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A Lively Game Area

When our team is looking to engage in a little friendly competition, they definitely have some fun, yet stylish, options to choose from in our game room. Between the white lacquer foosball table imported from Italy, the beautiful ping pong table crafted of solid oak and oversized Scrabble board hanging on the wall, there are plenty of ways to unwind and hold tournaments to keep our team engaged and having fun! It is here where we also feature our signature family photo wall that we have on display in each of our Hughes Marino offices, as one more reminder of our core value #4—Embrace the family spirit!

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We truly enjoyed the journey of developing our latest office in San Francisco, and hope you enjoyed our tour. As with all of our Hughes Marino offices, we are excited to carry on our tradition of creating welcoming and second-to-none workspaces for our team, clients and community in the Bay Area to enjoy, and we look forward to welcoming you for a visit!

Shay Hughes is president & COO of Hughes Marino, an award-winning commercial real estate company specializing in tenant representation and building purchases with offices across the nation. Shay writes about business leadership and company culture on her blog, Lead from Within. Contact Shay at 1-844-662-6635 or shay.hughes@hughesmarino.com to learn more.



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