Airbnb, a major tech company with an online marketplace for temporary home and vacation rentals, recently entered into a lease deal that would increase its footprint in Silicon Valley. Currently based in San Francisco at 888 Brannan St., the company has decided to move beyond its current WeWork shared office space that it has occupied in San Jose for the past year and sign a lease for two buildings on Great America Parkway.
“We are excited to establish a permanent home in the South Bay that builds on our commitment to help create high-quality jobs that support the Bay Area’s economy,” stated an Airbnb spokesperson. “This expansion will allow us to tap into the region’s robust talent pool as we continue to grow our team and business.”
The total leased space in Santa Clara is 300,000 square feet, divided about evenly between 4301 Great America Pkwy. and 4401 Great America Pkwy. nearby Levi’s Stadium and owned by the Sobrato Organization, built in 1984. The space had previously been leased to Palo Alto Network, which has since moved out.
The two-building campus is scheduled to be delivered in two phases. The first phase is expected to open in early 2021, while the second phase is anticipated to open in 2024. The new office space will be the latest addition to the company’s network of 34 regional offices across five continents worldwide. Airbnb has over seven million rental listings worldwide in 100,000 cities and over 220 countries.
Last fall, the company announced that it intends to become a publicly traded company sometime in 2020. Representatives also shared that the company earned more than $1 billion in revenue in the second quarter of 2019. Airbnb was founded in 2007.
Following several recent incidents including a fatal shooting at an Halloween party in Orinda last year, Airbnb’s CEO, Brian Chesky said, “We are banning ‘party houses’ and we are redoubling our efforts to combat unauthorized parties and get rid of abusive host and guest conduct, including conduct that leads to the terrible events we saw in Orinda.” He said that the company will be using risk detection technology to flag high-risk reservations and create a rapid response team to deal with “party house” situations.
Part of the City of Santa Clara’s zoning code update is expected to include regulations for short-term rentals offered through platforms such as Airbnb.