Twitter opened its first office in New York City at 340 Madison
Avenue, between 43rd and 44th streets, this morning.
At its official East Coast headquarters in the 22-story building,
the social media company will have 40 full-time employees, with plans to expand in the
coming months, according to a press release from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who officially opened the headquarters this
morning with Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chairman, and City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
“We are proud to welcome Twitter to New York City’s growing technology
sector,” said Bloomberg, whose own Twitter account @MikeBloomberg has
168,922 followers. “New York City has always been a place where big
ideas are born, and we are working to ensure it’s the place where the
next great tech success story is written — from incubating dozens of
start-up ventures to bringing a new Applied Sciences school here.”
At the opening, Bloomberg joked that the company should have opened at
140 Madison Avenue, given the character limit on its social media
service, according to a statement. But Bloomberg also took a moment during his opening remarks
to pay tribute to Apple founder Steve Jobs, who passed away yesterday.
Apple and Twitter, like many technology companies, are choosing office
space on and around Madison Avenue so they connect closely with the
advertising businesses there. The building is also the former headquarters of social media company Facebook, which moved to 355 Madison Avenue.
“New York City’s technology sector has shown tremendous growth in
recent years, and Twitter now joins the expanding roster of high-tech
companies that have established a presence in the five boroughs,” said
Seth Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development
Corporation.
New York State has the largest technology developer
population outside of California in the nation, according to the news release. The 65 city-run
Twitter accounts have about 300,000 followers. As The Real Deal reported this month, many real estate professionals have more than 1,000 followers each.
— Miranda Neubauer