Facebook Begins Moving Into New NYC Office

Many buildings in Manhattan walk the fine line between maintaining their lush histories and upgrading their interiors and amenities to keep up with today’s needs, and Facebook’s new office at 770 Broadway is no exception, as many of the social network’s New York-based employees found out Monday, which was moving day into the Frank Gehry-designed space. The Astor Place area of Manhattan is home to several creative companies and educational institutions, most notably New York University. The social network said that while move-in day was Monday, all construction work on the space is expected to be completed later this spring, when the new office will officially open. The new space is geared toward the more than 100 Facebook engineers working in New York, with an eye toward further growth, and the social network said some features being worked on by its Big Apple core of engineers include pages, location, News Feed, mobile, artificial intelligence, and infrastructure. Facebook New York Site Director Serkan Piantino discussed the new space in a Facebook post: Being a part of the tech community in New York City and its expansion over the past two 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 meet-ups and share what we’re working on here in New York City. 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. We’re excited to invest here and bet on New York. Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions Carolyn Everson chimed in with a post of her own: While I am in Barcelona, something exciting is happening at Facebook New York. We’re beginning the move into our new home at 770 Broadway at Astor Place, a building that holds a special place in the history of advertising and media, from its origin as John Wanamaker’s department store to now being not just Facebook’s new home, but also the headquarters for AOL, Adweek, Backstage, and Billboard. New York has always attracted some of the best creative minds in arts and culture, fashion, finance, academics, and tech, 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. :) The past few years in New York have been wonderful for us, as we’ve been able to get closer to our clients and attract top talent. When I started three years ago, we only had about 80 people working out of FBNY. Now we have four times that number. My colleagues and I look forward to welcoming you to our new home, and to officially opening the office later this spring. We are 1 percent done with our journey. Readers: What do you think of Facebook’s new space in New York?

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Facebook Begins Moving Into New NYC Office

David Cohen

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David Cohen