Things are getting “Meta” in Bellevue’s Spring District. The social media company, parent to Facebook and Instagram, has officially leased a fifth building in the new development, bringing its total leased square footage in the district up to 1.4 million square feet.
The company’s latest lease is for 213,000 square feet in a new office tower called Block 13. The building is expected to be nine stories tall, and will be completed sometime in 2024. Block 13 is set to be located between the former REI building and the University of Washington’s Global Innovation Exchange (GIX). The news of this lease comes shortly after Meta also agreed to lease an 11-story, 345,000-square-foot office space called Block 5 earlier this year.
In addition to Block 5 and Block 13, Meta previously leased the unused 400,000-square-foot former REI-headquarters in the Spring District, further cementing the company’s presence in the area. With so many buildings in the neighborhood, Meta has acknowledged that it is creating a campus-like environment for its employees there.
Between South Lake Union, Redmond, and Bellevue, Meta now has more than 7,000 employees and 3.3 million square feet of office space in the area. This makes Seattle and the Eastside the company’s second-largest engineering hub outside of its headquarters in California.
The Spring District holds much appeal for major employers in the area, with its onsite connectivity to East Link light rail, set to open in 2023, serving as a significant convenience for employees who may be commuting from Seattle. In addition to commercial office space, the Spring District will also feature over 800 residential units, retail space, restaurants and seven acres of transit-oriented development. The development is valued at more than $500 million.
This article was originally posted on 425Business by John Stearns.
Image via TheSpringDistrict.com.
