Apple announces new office and 2,000 new hires

Written by Katie Fustich
Published on Jun. 24, 2019
Dexter Ave
image via kilroy

This afternoon, the Seattle Mayor’s Office and Apple announced 333 Dexter Avenue as the new location of Apple’s local office.

Back in December, the tech giant announced its plans for a major expansion in the Seattle area, and if the rumors are any indication, Apple fully plans to make good on that promise. The 333 Dexter Avenue site boasts two 12-story towers that total 630,000 square feet of space.

Apple’s original projections saw a headcount of 1,000, but that number is getting a serious boost. In a Monday afternoon press conference, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan said that the company will make 200 hires before the end of 2019, and 2,000 total hires over the next five years. 

Per GeekWire’s calculations, the square footage is suitable for up to 4,500 employees.

That said, Apple will still likely be competing for talent with its neighbors. The new office location is situated in the bustling South Lake Union neighborhood, which is quickly becoming a tech hub in its own right. Both Amazon and Facebook have large-scale offices of their own just a stone’s throw away.

Apple has been a fixture of Seattle’s tech scene since it opened an engineering office in the city back in 2014. The company’s current Seattle outpost, located at Two Union Square in Downtown, can host up to 500 employees — a drop in the bucket compared to the expected deluge of new talent in the months to come.

If Apple’s current job listings (the company currently lists 50 open roles in Seattle on its website) are any indication, though, the Seattle team will continue its work on artificial intelligence and automation. Many of the company’s current openings involve working on AI personal assistant, Siri.

Both Mayor Durkan and Apple expressed excitement over the office expansion, with Durkan calling Apple’s move “another sign that Seattle is thriving.”

“It’s a reminder that our city has become a real economic and technology superpower,” said Durkan. “Apple fits so well into what Seattle is and what Seattle will become.”

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