Tableau Software is slowly becoming the top space commander in the “Center of the Universe.” The maker of data visualization software is expanding its footprint in Seattle’s quirky Fremont neighborhood, affectionately known as the “Center of the Universe.”
Tableau has secured a 10-year lease for the Sound Mind & Body gym — located at 437 N. 34th St. along the Lake Washington Ship Canal. Tableau plans to take over the 38,000 square foot building, and add another 12,000 square feet to the structure in order to accommodate its growing staff. The red-facade building is located just a few blocks from Tableau’s main headquarters and next door to Google’s Fremont campus.
“The company will use the space to hire additional employees bringing more high tech jobs to Fremont. Tableau has been a part of the Fremont community since moving their headquarters there in the mid 2000’s,” according to a press release from real estate company Stephen C. Grey & Associates. Mark Grey, who oversaw the transaction and manages the building, called the deal a “win-win-win” for everyone involved. “It is great for Fremont,” said Grey, adding that the neighborhood is turning into an important tech corridor with companies such as Impinj, Adobe and Google.
The news was first reported by The Daily Journal of Commerce.
No word yet on whether Tableau will keep any of the gym’s amenities, such as the basketball and squash courts, though those could make some nice perks for the company’s staffers. We’ve contacted Tableau for more details about its plans with the building, which has operated as a gym for the past 29 years. The gym will close on March 31 since longtime owners — Richard and Vickie Harrington — were looking to retire.
Tableau, which went public last year and now commands a $5.2 billion market value, certainly is growing fast. In an earnings call earlier this week, the company said that it employed 1,212 people at the end of 2013— a 62 percent increase in employees year-over-year. Executives said that it would continue to hire at an aggressive clip in 2014.
Now, it will have a little extra room in which to place those folks.
Tableau CEO Christian Chabot has always been proud of the company’s Seattle — and Fremont roots. The company moved to Fremont shortly after it was founded at Stanford University in Silicon Valley.
“Building a company here in Seattle over the last 10 years has made us realize that in many ways, I think Seattle is the promised land in startup America. It’s one of the best decisions we ever made,” Chabot told us at a GeekWire event last year.
