Happy moving day, Facebook!
After almost a year of construction and renovation, Facebook NY has announced that it will be moving its NYC location from Madison Ave in midtown to a building in downtown Manhattan, at 770 Broadway.
Coincidentally enough, this also happens to be the same building where AOL (and TechCrunch NY) are headquartered, as well as other media and advertising companies such as Billboard, Adweek, and Backstage.
Right now, Facebook has more than 100 engineers in the New York offices working on Pages, Location, Newsfeed, mobile, AI, and infrastructure, but 2014 represents a growth year in terms of NYC hires. More than 320 people work in FBNY overall. With more space in the office, and plans to hire more engineers, that number should rapidly grow throughout the next year.
The move will also put Facebook much closer to the center of NYC’s burgeoning tech scene. Most startups, and tech-related businesses, line the streets of Broadway from Madison Square Park to deep in Soho. Though I personally hate any moniker that piggy backs off of Silicon Valley, many have lovingly nicknamed the stretch of road “Silicon Alley.”
Facebook’s new office is squarely in the middle of that stretch of Broadway, rather than in stuffy Midtown where Grand Central pours out thousands of commuters each day.
“New York has always attracted some of the best creative minds in arts and culture, fashion, finance, academics, and Tech,” said Carolyn Everson, VP of Global Marketing Solutions. “So, it’s only fitting that we continue to invest in our presence here. There’s no better place for a company with the tireless mission of connecting the world than the city that never sleeps.”
Today will be the first day of business in the new office, but construction is still underway.
Here’s what Serkan Piantino (NY Site Director and head of engineering) had to say in a blog post:
Being a part of the tech community in NYC and its expansion over the past 2 years has been a humbling experience. I’ve seen the energy in our office compound as we grow in size, take on bigger challenges and prototype the next Facebook products. The city has done the same, emerging as a center where new ideas are realized and people build great teams and fulfilling careers.
Today, Facebook New York begins our first day of business at our new offices at 770 Broadway. We’re excited to join the Astor Place neighborhood and continue to invest in the great tech community here. Finding this space took months of searching and design, and even now it’s still being built around us. We have plenty of work ahead as we continue to grow.
Today is our first day at new desks and with a new view of the city. There’s a lot of history around us: John Jacob Astor sailed here from England after the American Revolution and built an empire selling beaver pelts and other fur. You can see the ceramic beaver plaques in the subway station that commemorate his trade. Astor bought huge parcels of land in Manhattan because he was convinced it would become a key port and metropolis. Not long after, Peter Cooper believed in education for everyone and made his college available free of charge to anyone with a willingness to learn. My father studied architecture there.
We are really looking forward to being part of the neighborhood. We plan to host tech meetups and share what we’re working on here in NYC. We’ll even throw a party now and then. We’ll bring talent to the city and partner with the other industries that live here.
