LinkedIn, the professional social networking website, has reportedly signed a deal with Tishman Speyer Properties to lease a full 26-story office building coming up at 222 Second St. in San Francisco.
The website announced the deal Tuesday without revealing any financial details of the transaction. The 450,000-square-foot building, which started work last year, is expected to complete construction by 2016. The tower will not only offer office space but will also dedicate 8,500 square feet to retail, reports Bloomberg.
The announcement was made in the presence of San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee and officials of both LinkedIn and Tishman Speyer.
"As a national leader in job creation, San Francisco is the perfect home for a company that is connecting people to jobs, and I am pleased that LinkedIn is significantly expanding their presence here. LinkedIn's decision to grow in the Innovation Capital of the World demonstrates, once again, investor confidence in our City," Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement.
LinkedIn already occupies about more than 100,000 square feet in the city at One Montgomery Tower and planned on taking up another 87,000 square feet on 505 Howard St. but that deal backfired, SF Gate reports.
Just recently, LinkedIn announced that it had reached a 300 million users milestone. With the increase in its user base, the tech giant hopes on expanding its workforce to serve their customers better. Also the company hopes on making use of the growing tech population of the area.
"With this new building, LinkedIn is committed to expanding in San Francisco, giving us even more access to some of the most talented professionals in the world across a variety of functions, including technology, sales and operations. We look forward to San Francisco becoming a larger part of our growing Bay Area presence." Jim Morgensen, head of workplace at LinkedIn added in the statement.
Hani Durzy, director of corporate communications at LinkedIn said that considering the fast pace of their growth, they needed to make room for more staff. The firm currently has more than 5,000 employees of which 2000 work in their Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
San Francisco has become a tech hub with companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook all setting up shop in the area. California's tax incentives and encouraging business environment have also added to the tech explosion.
LinkedIn doesn't intend on moving its headquarters. It is also building office space in Sunnyvale. The company was recently hunting for office space in Dublin as well. It is working with IDA Ireland, a popular government agency, to lease about 160,000 square feet of office space in the capital city.
