SAN FRANCISCO — Social media giant Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) has signed a long-term lease to fully occupy Park Tower at Transbay, a 43-story office tower under construction in San Francisco’s Financial District.
According to the San Francisco Business Times, the transaction is the largest office lease in the history of the city and will make Facebook the market’s third-largest tech tenant by square footage.
Park Tower is co-owned by MetLife Investment Management, the asset management arm of MetLife Inc. (NYSE: MET), as well as Chicago-based owners and developers The John Buck Co. and Golub & Co. The ownership group plans to deliver the 764,700-square-foot office tower in the fourth quarter of this year.
“We’re pleased to welcome Facebook to Park Tower,” says Joel Redmon, San Francisco-based managing director for MetLife Investment Management’s real estate business. “We’ve worked hard to design an office of the future that will facilitate technological innovation and provide a great foundation for Facebook’s future success.”
Designed by Goettsch Partners and Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Park Tower at Transbay will feature approximately 26,000 square feet of outdoor and open space that includes 14 sky decks. The project will also feature a three-story, open-air lobby, and about 70 percent of Park Tower’s floors will offer views of San Francisco Bay.
JLL represented the ownership group in the lease transaction.
Last year, Facebook signed a large office lease at the adjacent 181 Fremont, a 70-story, $665 million mixed-use tower. It was the first office lease for Facebook in the city. Before that deal was signed, Facebook would shuttle its San Francisco-based employees to its headquarters in nearby Menlo Park, according to local media reports.
Facebook’s stock price closed on Monday, May 21 at $184.81 per share, up from $148.24 a year ago.
— John Nelson