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With virtual reality gaming acquisition, Facebook joins Capitol Hill’s office space mix

It’s a small project as far as the tech giant is concerned but for those who have fostered hopes of office space bringing more workers and activity to Pike/Pine, there will be a bit of celebrating in welcoming Facebook to Capitol Hill.

According to city construction and land use permits, the tech giant is making plans for a new office space project above 10th Ave and Cal Anderson Park on an upper floor of the historic Odd Fellows Building. The tenant improvement will create new offices on the fourth floor of the building, joining an upstairs tenant mix including the Century Ballroom. Street level tenants of the building include the Oddfellows cafe, the Molly Moon’s ice cream shop, and the Fleet Feet running shoe store.

The Odd Fellows office project is part of Facebook’s acquisition of multiplayer virtual reality game maker BigBox VR. The 30-person company has called the building home for five years.

Facebook maintains offices with around 7,000 employees around the Seattle area but this is the first major space we know of on Capitol Hill. The company has not responded to our inquiry about the project. National architecture firm DLR Group is leading the design of the new space.

(Image: King County Records)

Developing and improving office real estate on Capitol Hill and especially in downtown-adjacent Pike/Pine has been a goal for many developers and density advocates seeking to better balance the area’s nightlife strength with a more robust presence of workers and activity during the day. CHS reported here on projects including efforts from popular neighborhood developer Liz Dunn that opted for office space over new housing.

The development included the arrival of WeWork on 11th Ave in December 2019 in the office and retail project that created the Kelly Springfield building out of the bones and the auto row-era facade of the 102-year-old structure.

The pandemic and COVID-19 restrictions have since created new work habits — and major questions about the future of office real estate. But any concerns may be relatively short-lived. The Capitol Hill WeWork is reportedly busy with plans from companies large and small looking for an easier way to dip their toes back into opening office space for workers. And new deals continue.

This summer, CHS reported Capitol Hill-based digital marketing firm Add3 was under contract to purchase the 1917-built Bothell Motors garage building at E Pine and Boylston formerly home to R Place.

 

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Case
Case
2 years ago

No one I know is celebrating the destruction of more seattle arts spaces ..

James
James
2 years ago
Reply to  Case

Please point me to where it mentions this in the article? Couldn’t find it.

CKc
CKc
2 years ago
Reply to  Case

I’d prefer FB be at arms length in SLU, but ironically the company they bought hires actual artists and pays them well you know?