Roblox Grows San Mateo Headquarters With New Lease

Roblox Corporation is growing in Silicon Valley.

The video game company has signed on to pre-lease two forthcoming office buildings at the 80-acre Bay Meadows campus in San Mateo, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

Roblox committed to more than 325,000 square feet in two mid-rise buildings that have been approved for construction and are expected to be completed by 2029, sources familiar with the deal told the Business Times. The lease ranks among the largest office deals in the Peninsula since the pandemic.

Roblox has established its global headquarters at Bay Meadows, now occupying or committing to more than 1 million square feet at the campus. Artificial intelligence startup Skild began subleasing 32,500 square feet of Roblox’s former digs at 970 Park Place in San Mateo last year.

The gaming giant has been growing its headcount in recent years, adding employees at a roughly 15 percent rate annually since the pandemic. Once the new pre-leased buildings at Bay Meadows are complete, the company will have enough space to accommodate 6,000 employees in a walkable hub near housing, retail and the San Mateo Caltrain stop.

The Peninsula is becoming a hotspot for office users looking for premium space outside San Francisco. Approximately 90 percent of leasing in the area last quarter was in high-end buildings filled with amenities, per Colliers data cited by the Business Times. The region saw a second consecutive quarter of positive absorption, with net occupancy gains of 17,674 square feet.

In Burlingame, Upstart Holdings leased roughly 54,000 square feet at the newly built 220 Park office building near the Burlingame Caltrain station. Law firm Paul Hastings is planning a similar move into a modern, transit-adjacent home in 45,000 square feet in downtown Redwood City. Databricks just leased additional offices at Sunnyvale’s new Cityline development, bringing its total presence there to 455,000 square feet across two towers.

Demand for older buildings, on the other hand, is falling behind. Some buildings are slated for housing conversions, including GoPro’s former corporate campus in San Mateo. Harvest Properties and Stockbridge Capital Group acquired the six-building complex last fall for $102 million with plans to build a 225-unit for-sale residential community.

— Chris Malone Méndez