Zillow Expands to 270 KSF at Russell Investments Center, Seattle

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Zillow Inc. is going through a growth spurt so the company is adding a little more–well, a lot more–elbowroom to its national headquarters with the expansion of its lease at the Russell Investments Center in downtown Seattle.

The mobile and Web-based real estate marketplace operator committed to an additional 113,500 square feet, paving the way to increase its total occupancy to 268,500 square feet in early 2017.

Developed at 1301 Second Ave. in 2006, the Russell Investments Center is owned by CommonWealth Partners, which acquired the nearly 900,000-square-foot property in 2012 for $480 million. Zillow wouldn’t comment on the length of the lease or whether or not the name of the building would be changed to reflect the fact that the tech company is now the building’s largest tenant.

The new lease adds five floors to Zillow’s office digs, ultimately giving it the run of floors 29-40 of the 42-story tower. The company has a staff of 750 at the Russell Investments Center and is currently seeking to fill 120 additional positions.

Staying put at Russell Investments Center was one of only a few options available to Zillow, short of staking a claim to a yet-to-be-built property.

“Companies are being forced to pre-lease space in buildings that are both under construction and planned,” according to a third quarter report by real estate services firm Transwestern, “New office construction increased in the current quarter, signaling a push from developers to help deliver large chunks of space which are becoming scarce.”