Dolby Secures New 354,000-SF San Francisco HQ

SAN FRANCISCO-Those who follow @GlobeStcom on Twitter and @GlobeStLIVE may have seen a post teasing announcement already, but GlobeSt.com has learned that Dolby Laboratories Inc. plans to purchase 1275 Market St. in the city’s mid-Market neighborhood from DivcoWest which owned the property along with TMG Partners. Dolby will fully occupy the 354,000-square-foot building.

According to Kevin Yeaman, president and CEO of Dolby Laboratories, this investment will support the company’s current needs and future growth. He points out that it will foster a collaborative environment and will help “attract and retain the best employees.”

According to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee in a prepared statement, “Companies like Dolby are transforming the Central Market neighborhood into a vibrant hub for entertainment, culture, and innovation and are proving that our economic strategy for companies to start here, grow here, and stay here is working.”

The company has been a longtime member of the San Francisco business and technology community since establishing its headquarters in San Francisco in 1976.

While firms involved didn’t respond to GlobeSt.com queries for purchase price or further information, an unidentified source not involved in the deal tells GlobeSt.com that the building is going for $310 per square foot or just around $110 million. DivcoWest didn’t respond to GlobeSt.com inquiries on reasons for selling by deadline.

The JV purchased the property in 2011 for $44 million, according to the unidentified source.

"Dolby Lab's purchase speaks to the heightened interest among a widening range of corporate users in the city's revitalized Mid Market and has been a wonderful solution for tenants seeking large blocks of ‘creative’ space," Jones Lang LaSalle San Francisco research manager, Julia Georgules, tells GlobeSt.com. "Twitter, One Kings Lane and Yammer have already committed to Mid Market and Dolby's action builds upon the high tech industry's concentration there as Mid Market becomes one of the city's newest and most vibrant office submarkets."