Mayor Lee Welcomes Idle Games to New SOMA Location
Gaming Company Opens Expanded Office with Plans to Add 120 New Jobs & Joins Four Other Tech Firms to Occupy 93,000 Square Feet on Howard Street; Mayor Announces 40 Tech Tenants Looking for More than 1.9 Million Square Feet of Office Space in San Francisco
10/13/11— Mayor Edwin M. Lee today welcomed and toured the new offices of Idle Games, a social gaming company located in the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood. Idle Games currently occupies 33,000 square feet at 875 Howard Street with plans to grow to more than 185 employees within the next 18 months.
A number of growing technology companies including Pivotal Labs, Kiva, Strobe and Playhaven will join Idle Games at the Howard Street location to collectively occupy more than 93,000 square feet – space for an estimated 625 tech jobs.
“The growth of companies like Idle Games highlights why San Francisco is leading the nation in tech job creation,” said Mayor Lee. “The City is continuing to work harder than ever to ensure that tech companies of all sizes can start, stay and grow right here in San Francisco. I am proud to welcome Idle Games, Pivotal Labs, Kiva, Strobe and Playhaven to their new home in SoMa and look forward to the games, products and services they will be providing to our City and the world.”
“Simply put, San Francisco is THE nexus of technology and creativity,” said Idle Games Co-Founder & CEO Jeffrey Hyman. “Idle Games focuses on quality, creativity and originality. While our goal is nothing short of revolutionizing Facebook games, we cannot achieve these goals without the right people and culture. No other city in the world can compete with San Francisco’s population of highly talented residents and the vibrant start-up culture that is pervasive throughout the entire city. When you combine San Francisco, its people, culture and the forward thinking policies and efforts of Mayor Lee, there is simply no other choice for a start-up to call home.”
Today’s event coincides with the release of a report by real estate firm Colliers International that reports there are currently 40 technology companies looking for more than 1.9 million square feet of office space in San Francisco – the equivalent of nearly four Transamerica Pyramids. According to the report, the City has seen 1.6 million square feet of net new office space leased in 2011 – the highest positive net absorption in the last 4 years. The City’s office vacancy rate was 12.9 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011, down from 14.9 percent a year ago.
The 875 Howard building, the former temporary home of the California Academy of Sciences, underwent a full renovation designed by architecture firm Lundberg Design. The 161,000 square foot, six-story building, owned by Hudson Pacific Properties, was developed as a creative office space with collaborative open plan layouts for tech users. In a bid to encourage alternative commuting methods, the building includes bike storage and men’s and women’s shower rooms for tenants biking to work. The building is now fully leased.
About Idle Games
Idle Games has created The Idle Engine, a distributed simulation platform designed to provide an unsharded game world with patent-pending synchronous and asynchronous social game mechanics. Idle Games is also the creators of Idle Worship, the world’s first polytheistic god game with exploding bunnies. Idle Games is located South of Market in San Francisco.
10/13/11— Mayor Edwin M. Lee today welcomed and toured the new offices of Idle Games, a social gaming company located in the South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood. Idle Games currently occupies 33,000 square feet at 875 Howard Street with plans to grow to more than 185 employees within the next 18 months.
A number of growing technology companies including Pivotal Labs, Kiva, Strobe and Playhaven will join Idle Games at the Howard Street location to collectively occupy more than 93,000 square feet – space for an estimated 625 tech jobs.
“The growth of companies like Idle Games highlights why San Francisco is leading the nation in tech job creation,” said Mayor Lee. “The City is continuing to work harder than ever to ensure that tech companies of all sizes can start, stay and grow right here in San Francisco. I am proud to welcome Idle Games, Pivotal Labs, Kiva, Strobe and Playhaven to their new home in SoMa and look forward to the games, products and services they will be providing to our City and the world.”
“Simply put, San Francisco is THE nexus of technology and creativity,” said Idle Games Co-Founder & CEO Jeffrey Hyman. “Idle Games focuses on quality, creativity and originality. While our goal is nothing short of revolutionizing Facebook games, we cannot achieve these goals without the right people and culture. No other city in the world can compete with San Francisco’s population of highly talented residents and the vibrant start-up culture that is pervasive throughout the entire city. When you combine San Francisco, its people, culture and the forward thinking policies and efforts of Mayor Lee, there is simply no other choice for a start-up to call home.”
Today’s event coincides with the release of a report by real estate firm Colliers International that reports there are currently 40 technology companies looking for more than 1.9 million square feet of office space in San Francisco – the equivalent of nearly four Transamerica Pyramids. According to the report, the City has seen 1.6 million square feet of net new office space leased in 2011 – the highest positive net absorption in the last 4 years. The City’s office vacancy rate was 12.9 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2011, down from 14.9 percent a year ago.
The 875 Howard building, the former temporary home of the California Academy of Sciences, underwent a full renovation designed by architecture firm Lundberg Design. The 161,000 square foot, six-story building, owned by Hudson Pacific Properties, was developed as a creative office space with collaborative open plan layouts for tech users. In a bid to encourage alternative commuting methods, the building includes bike storage and men’s and women’s shower rooms for tenants biking to work. The building is now fully leased.
About Idle Games
Idle Games has created The Idle Engine, a distributed simulation platform designed to provide an unsharded game world with patent-pending synchronous and asynchronous social game mechanics. Idle Games is also the creators of Idle Worship, the world’s first polytheistic god game with exploding bunnies. Idle Games is located South of Market in San Francisco.