LMN Architects, via city of Seattle.
Real estate company Capstone Partners, developer of the building that will soon become Facebook’s new Seattle engineering center, has filed plans for another building with up to 165,000 square feet of office space immediately adjacent to the newly constructed building.
In fact, planning documents filed with the city explicitly describe the new construction as an “expansion” to the existing Dexter Station building. Facebook leased the majority of the new 353,000 square foot office building — with room for up to 2,000 people — and plans to start moving in next week, shifting from its existing engineering center near Interstate 5 in Seattle.
Construction of the expansion building will start later this year with or without a signed tenant, Mike Hubbard of Capstone Partners told the Puget Sound Business Journal, saying that the developer would “entertain” a deal with Facebook, but the project ultimately won’t rely on a larger lease with the social networking giant.
The Daily Journal of Commerce was first to report on the planned Dexter Station expansion.
Facebook’s growth is part of a larger boom in engineering centers established by Silicon Valley tech giants in the Seattle region. Google, which led the wave, recently announced plans to move its Seattle engineering center, currently in the Fremont neighborhood, to a new campus in South Lake Union, near Amazon’s headquarters.
Capstone’s willingness to proceed with construction with the expansion of Dexter Station without a tenant signals a general confidence in the tech industry’s ability to continue fueling the regional economy.