Dropbox is dropping out of Mission Bay and OpenAI is seemingly preparing to make itself at home in its space.
Dropbox will vacate its headquarters at 1800 Owens Street just a few weeks after inking major sublease deals for its remaining space in the building, the San Francisco Business Times reported. When Dropbox signed on to occupy the entire 750,000-square-foot complex in 2017, it was the largest office lease in San Francisco history at the time.
After the outbreak of the pandemic sent many office workers to their homes, Dropbox began subleasing its space at the four-building complex, known as The Exchange. Vir Biotechnology subleased 133,896 square feet in late 2020. BridgeBio Pharma subleased 52,604 square feet the following year.
An annual Dropbox report filed Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that the company completed a 282,000-square-foot sublease at 1800 Owens last month. The tenant’s name was not identified, though news surfaced last month that OpenAI was in advanced negotiations for as much as 250,000 square feet of offices at The Exchange. The sublease is expected to begin this month and is for a term of three years with an additional four-year extension option.
Various subleases disclosed Friday filled up the 1800 Owens building, including Dropbox’s space. Dropbox also extended and grew an existing sublease in the building by 95,000 square feet. That tenant was also unidentified.
Dropbox said in 2021 that it planned to cut down its footprint at 1800 Owens to roughly 90,000 square feet. That space has served as its headquarters since then. That year, Dropbox listed more than half of its space at the complex for sublease.
Where Dropbox will end up after leaving 1800 Owens remains unclear. The company has reportedly been looking at the 56,000-square-foot 50 Hawthorne Street in the Financial District in recent months, though it has not been confirmed if Dropbox has formally signed any new headquarters lease.
— Chris Malone Méndez
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