The Massachusetts-based robotics division of Amazon is close to signing a lease on 250,000 square feet of space in the old Zynga building at 650 Townsend, as SF’s Design District quickly fills up with a variety of AI and tech firms.
Amazon Robotics is reportedly in the final stages of negotiating a lease for roughly 250,000 square feet at 650 Townsend Street in San Francisco's Design District, as the Chronicle reports, though the company has yet to confirm. (As a side note, the Chronicle refers to the neighborhood by its more obscure name, “Showplace Square,” which was featured in a Jeopardy question that stumped local Redditors last year.)
Amazon’s Massachusetts-based robotics division, which develops the autonomous systems used throughout its warehouses and fulfillment centers, reportedly spent months scouting sites around San Francisco and the East Bay before settling on the Design District location.
According to the Chronicle, the company is also planning to develop a 6-acre site nearby at 900 Seventh Street for its logistics division, which hasn’t yet launched.
If finalized, the deal would make Amazon Robotics one of the Design District's largest new tenants, as the neighborhood has rapidly emerged as a hub for AI and robotics companies in recent months. Scale AI recently leased about 180,000 square feet at 650 Townsend, while Together AI, Physical Intelligence, Abridge, and Sam Altman's Tools for Humanity have reportedly all leased significant space nearby. Sleep technology company Eight Sleep has also signed a lease in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood has undergone several transformations over the years: 650 Townsend housed Zynga throughout the 2010s, and Airbnb also rented space there as part of its sprawling campus.
As SFist reported at the time, Zynga bought the building in 2012 for $228 million during the height of the decade's tech boom, then reportedly sold it to Beacon Capital Partners in 2019 for roughly $600 million — one of the more lucrative real estate plays of the era. Per the Chronicle, Zynga continued renting space there after the sale.
Prior to SF’s various tech booms, much of Showplace Square served as San Francisco's wholesale furniture and design district, garnering it the "Design District" moniker.
Related: Zynga HQ Officially Worth More Than Zynga
Image: CBRE
