TO UPDATE: Elon Musk confirmed in a post on X on July 16 that X is moving to Austin.
There is growing speculation that another Elon Musk-owned company could come to Austin.
X, his social media company formerly known as Twitter, is looking to sublease its 800,000-square-foot headquarters in San Francisco, creating a large gap in office space. In recent months, the company has “inquired about 500,000 square feet in the Austin area for large office buildings,” according to Steve Triolet, senior vice president of research and market forecasting at Partners Real Estate.
A deal is not imminent, Triolet cautioned, but earlier this year the company announced it would form a 100-person content moderation team based in Austin. Shortly after buying the company in 2022, Musk reportedly told employees he had “no plans” to move the company to Texas but was open to the idea of a “two-seat” X in California and Texas.
“This is consistent with Musk's previous statements about consolidating operations and creating a technology center in Austin,” Triolet said. “A likely move and/or expansion in Austin makes perfect sense.”
X did not respond to a request for comment.
As he spends more time in Texas, Musk has moved several of his companies to the state or increased their presence there. Earlier this week, his computer implant company Neuralink filed an application to build an office in Del Valle. The facility will be near a site used by the Boring Company and Musk's rumored “Project Amazing,” a 100-home housing complex with Lennar. Tesla alone reportedly employs nearly 20,000 people in the Austin area, including at its Gigafactory in Pflugerville.
A lease by X would be a real growth boost for the ailing office market in Austin.
According to JLL, the city hit a record vacancy rate of 25 percent last quarter. Technology companies have long been the dominant player in Austin's office market. Last year, IBM signed the city's largest lease, leasing 320,000 square feet at Hines Domain Northside.
But a downturn in the industry has prompted several firms to rethink their space. In 2022, Meta took over 589,000 square feet at the corner of Sixth and Guad, but offered the space for sublease later that year. Google, which has been planning to move into the roughly 800,000-square-foot space at 601 West 2nd Street since 2019, has not yet moved in.
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