23andMe shrinks with HQ move to South SF

23andMe is testing out a new smaller headquarters.

The biotech and genetic testing firm has moved its headquarters to South San Francisco, where it’s leasing a roughly 65,000-square-foot building at 349 Oyster Point Boulevard, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal, which cited financial filings from the firm.

23andMe previously leased about 155,000 square feet at 223 North Mathilda Avenue — a building the firm moved into in September 2019. Shortly after moving in, the firm put about 35,000 square feet of space at the building up for sublease.

In June 2021, 23andMe decided it needed to shrink its headquarters space and put its entire Sunnyvale footprint up for sublease. The firm holds a lease on the North Mathilda Avenue property — owned by investment firm Stockbridge Capital — through July 2031, according to annual reports.

Since the pandemic, 23andMe has shifted to a hybrid work model, meaning it needs less physical office space. The firm also purchased Lemonaid Health last year — a San Francisco-based company that had operations in the U.K. — which shook up the distribution of employees.

Other firms in the Silicon Valley area have been willing to take up empty space in Sunnyvale in recent months. Last month, Apple leased an entire 382,500-square-foot office campus at 625 and 655 North Mathilda Avenue — a complex owned by Jay Paul Company.

Apple’s new lease signals the firm’s commitment to in-person work, even as it changed up its return-to-office plans in May. The company is now bringing some employees back to the office twice a week on a trial basis, though any worker “uncomfortable” coming into the office could work remotely.

In April, software firm Synopsys signed a long-term lease to take up a 152,000-square-foot building at 674 Almanor Avenue.

[Silicon Valley Business Journal] — Isabella Farr