Facebook grows in Bellevue’s Spring District – KIRO 7 News Seattle

BELLEVUE, Washington – Facebook has leased another new building in Bellevues Spring District, expanding its presence in the greater Seattle area to 3.3 million square feet of office space. Facebook reported that about half of that space is in Bellevue.

The tech giant was looking for a place to create a campus environment. It found the Spring District to be the perfect fit.

“We’re really excited because it’s not just the space, it also creates the campus feel. If you look at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, we have this campus. We call it the classic campus, and it’s amazing. There are many buildings together. You can go outside. You can hold spontaneous meetings. There are food stalls and such. That’s why we wanted to recreate that kind of campus feeling in Bellevue, ”said Rajeev Rajan, Vice President of Engineering and Head of Facebook for the Pacific Northwest.

Facebook had already rented space in buildings nearby and bought the REI headquarters building. The latest lease relates to Block 5, an 11-story building across the street. It will house 345,000 square meters of office space.

Matthew Gardner, chief economist at Windermere Real Estate, thinks this is a step in attracting new talent and creating a presence on both sides of Lake Washington.

“I see the campus there more like a traditional campus – unlike Seattle – and look more to the East Side to attract new talent who may be based on the East Side and don’t want to come across the bridge to Seattle,” said Gardner .

When it comes to commuting, the light rail arrives in 2023, and there is a station on campus.

For Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson, it is exactly what she was hoping for.

“It just confirms all the work we have done in preparing for it. We planned to have that kind of expansion and business and that’s where we want it to be. So I’m really excited, ”said Robinson.

Facebook has more than 7,000 jobs in the greater Seattle area, the second largest site for Facebook outside of Menlo Park, California.

“It speaks to the level of talent, the depth and breadth of talent we have in the region,” said Rajan.

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