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Data storage company Snowflake has signed the largest office lease in the Bay Area since before the pandemic, agreeing to take over 773K SF in Menlo Park previously occupied by Meta.
Snowflake will occupy four buildings at 124-135 Constitution Drive and 100-150 Independence Drive in the Menlo Gateway project, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The deal brings Snowflake’s total office leasing volume this year to more than 1M SF.
The Menlo Park office will be the company’s largest in North America, but it is sticking with its 2021 declaration that it will not have an official headquarters, according to the Chronicle. The company employs about 7,000 people worldwide.
The deal runs counter to the pandemic-era trend among tech companies of abandoning office space, but it also demonstrates the relative strength of Silicon Valley’s office market compared to downtown San Francisco.
Office vacancy in Silicon Valley topped 20% for the first time in 20 years, according to third-quarter data from CBRE, with 139K SF of negative net absorption and downward pressure on rents. Still, conditions are much grimmer in San Francisco, which carried a 36.9% vacancy rate in the same period.
It is unclear if the lease indicates a shift among Snowflake’s leadership toward a more robust in-office presence. A statement from Snowflake Vice President of Workplace and Real Estate Warrick Taylor quoted by the Chronicle said the decision was driven by the Bay Area’s reputation as the epicenter of technology, but it did not mention workplace strategy.
Snowflake did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bisnow.
Former CEO Frank Slootman called the idea of being in the office from 9 to 5 every day “nonsense” in a 2021 CNBC interview and said the changing dynamics of the workplace would reduce the real estate footprint some companies have.
Slootman was replaced as CEO earlier this year by Sridhar Ramaswamy, reportedly because of his expertise in artificial intelligence. Slootman remained as chair of the board at Snowflake at the time of his resignation.
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