A rendering of the Block 5 office building planned for the Bellevue Spring District. (Image via SpringDistrict.com)
Facebook Takes More Space in Sprawling Spring District Development in Bellevue, Wash., Securing Lease for Block 5, an 11-story, 345,000-square-foot office building slated to open in 2023.
The social media giant has established a significant presence in the Seattle area with more than 7,000 employees and approximately 3.3 million square feet of office space. The engineering center is the company’s largest outside of its headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
The Puget Sound Business Journal first reported on the new lease, calling Facebook the “pilot” of Wright Runstad & Co.’s $ 2.8 billion Spring District project. Last fall, Facebook announced that it was paying $ 367.6 million to purchase a brand new 6-acre, 400,000-square-foot complex in the development that was originally intended to be REI’s new headquarters.
In addition to this space and Block 5, Facebook has signed leases for more than 800,000 square feet of office space in three buildings under development in the Spring neighborhood: Blocks 6, 16 and 24.
“Considering the area’s hyper-competitive real estate market, we are always looking for opportunities to accommodate our growing teams,” said Tuesday at. Facebook spokesperson Tracy Clayton. “The block 5 lease was a natural opportunity to develop where we are already present. “
This interactive map shows the Spring District-oriented transit-oriented layout east of downtown Bellevue.
Rajeev Rajan, vice president of engineering and head of Facebook for the Pacific Northwest, previously told. the company’s enthusiasm for its growing presence in Bellevue.
“We think it could be very similar to what we call the ‘classic campus’,” Rajan said. “This provides an opportunity for many talented Eastside who previously might not have wanted to cross the lake to commute.”
Facebook has a relatively new office complex in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, and Rajan has said there are no plans to leave that area.
“We’re expanding in the region in general… and we’re definitely looking to tap into the capacity in the Pacific Northwest,” Rajan said. “So we’re going to look for real estate everywhere. “
Amazon is also expanding in Bellevue, building what is essentially the tech giant’s second headquarters, with new and leased towers and plans for up to 25,000 employees in the city across Lake Washington since Seattle.
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