The Challenge
• Sonos was new to the Seattle market, having offices in Cambridge and Santa Barbara as well as an international presence.
• Amazon was a competitor of theirs, both in product and employees, so avoiding their South Lake Union campus was key, while also finding an area that catered to the same employee base.
• At the time we toured, Sonos only had one employee, with ambitions of growing aggressively. Finding a lease with flexibility in size was a major focus.
Strategy
• Given Sonos was new to Seattle, we toured through every submarket Seattle had to offer, explaining the positives and negatives to each as well as who the major companies were that existed in each.
• Before looking at any building, we confirmed with each owner they would have flexibility in our take down of space. This upfront work saved substantial time and set the precedent of our needs from the get go.
• A shorter terms lease was also of value as the ambition was to grow out of this initial space after the original term. Find a short-term space that allowed a scheduled take down would be difficult.
Results
• Capitol Hill was a market that catered to the tech employee and had very little in the way of any major competition at the time. Sonos could truly plant their flag and “own” the submarket.
• We leased space at Bullitt Center, the greenest building in the country, which was a fantastic PR play for a company entering the Seattle market for the first time.
• We understood from a relationship with the owner as well as transacting in the building with other clients, that they would have a floor and a half coming available – the perfect size for us. The half floor still had an obligation remaining from another company, so occupying one floor immediately and being able grow into the
expansion space as the other company moved out fit our goals perfectly
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