SUNNYVALE — Lab 126, Amazon’s research and development unit, has struck a deal to occupy two big buildings in a lease that could bring more than 2,000 workers to Sunnyvale, city officials said Wednesday.
The buildings are part of a Sunnyvale office complex known as Moffett Towers. The lease was arranged through a Cornish & Carey commercial realty team led by broker Phil Mahoney. Mahoney declined to comment about the transaction.
City officials and industry insiders with direct knowledge of the deal say Lab 126 has leased 581,000 square feet. One of the buildings totals 357,000 square feet and the other is 224,000 square feet.
A lease that size could enable Lab 126 to move 2,600 workers to Sunnyvale.
“We are extremely pleased that Sunnyvale continues to attract major tech companies,” city Mayor Tony Spitaleri said in an interview with this newspaper. “We are looking forward to having Lab 126 here.”
It wasn’t immediately clear when Lab 126 would move into the buildings.
The lease also is a coup for San Francisco-based development firm Jay Paul. The company is the developer and principal owner of Moffett Towers. The 2-million-square-foot office complex is now completely full.
“Lab 126 is a prime example of the expansion of Silicon Valley,” said Chad Leiker, a vice president with commercial realty brokerage Kidder Mathews. “They are not slowing down their growth.”
The tech boom has helped Sunnyvale play a hot hand in terms of being a magnet for tech giants that need to expand.
Apple (AAPL) has agreed to a string of leases for more than 1 million square feet in Sunnyvale. In recent weeks, At the end of August, LinkedIn said it would occupy a campus of about 580,000 square feet.
Plus, Google (GOOG), Hewlett Packard (HPQ), NetApp, Juniper, Nokia, Microsoft, Motorola Mobility, Rambus, Financial Engines and Comcast have also expanded or moved into Sunnyvale for the first time in the last year or so.
“Have I seen it like this where you have a perfect storm of growth? No I haven’t,” said Gary Luebbers, Sunnyvale’s city manager. “Companies want to be in a place where their people can have a lot of interaction.”
Contact George Avalos at 925-977-8477. Follow him at twitter.com/george_avalos.
