Chicago may have missed on Amazon HQ2, but another west coast tech giant is making some significant expansion plans in Chicago.
Salesforce announced Friday that it plans to add 1,000 new jobs in Chicago over the next five years and move into a new 57-story tower on the riverfront, dubbed Salesforce Tower Chicago. Salesforce has leased 500,000 square feet of space in the building, and expects to pay $475 million over 17 years for the Chicago riverfront property, according to the Tribune. Salesforce could receive up to $41.5 million in tax credits if it hits certain job requirements.
The jobs announcement would almost double Salesforce's current Chicago headcount. The software company has around 1,000 employees in its current Chicago office at 111 W. Illinois St.
Salesforce Tower Chicago is expected to be completed in 2023. It will sit on Wolf Point, a site on the north bank of the river next to the Merchandise Mart, which has become a hub for technology as it houses startup incubator 1871, Braintree, Motorola and other tech businesses.
The Chicago building is one of six towers Salesforce has announced, including spaces in San Francisco, New York, London, Indianapolis and Atlanta.
“From small start-ups to international industry leaders like Salesforce, technology remains Chicago’s fastest growing industry area,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. “The City is home to one of the largest tech talent pools in the United States, and we are thrilled that Salesforce has made the commitment to further that growth."
Salesforce has become one of the largest tech employers in Chicago and is a regular buyer of local startups. Earlier this year the company acquired CloudCraze, an enterprise commerce platform founded in 2009. Other local startup acquisitions include Gravitytank, ÄKTA, Model Metrics and Instranet. It also bought G2 Crowd founder Godard Abel’s price-quoting startup SteelBrick for $300 million in 2015.
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has been a vocal proponent for legislation that would tackle homelessness in San Francisco, where the company is based. In Chicago, Salesforce has focused on other giving initiatives such as education and workforce development. Through its work with Chicago Public Schools, i.c. Stars and Year Up, Salesforce has granted more than $1 million in funds to support Future Ready initiatives in Chicago, the company said. Salesforce also announced Friday that its employees in Chicago are committing to deliver 40,000 total employee volunteer hours towards local schools and nonprofits in 2019.
Salesforce Tower Chicago was designed by architects Pelli Clarke Pelli, and developed by the Kennedy Family and Hines.
