The company declined a request for an interview but said in an email statement that it now employs approximately 300 people in the Lower Mainland in job functions that range from sales and marketing to services and development
“Our investments in British Columbia continue to grow,” said the company.
In its second-quarter report on the Lower Mainland office market, CB Richard Ellis Ltd. said Microsoft leased 37,000 square feet at 840 Cambie Street, which is an office tower owned by Cushman, Wakefield, Lepage Ltd.
The report said Microsoft has given GWL Realty Advisors, which owns Richmond’s Crestwood Corporate Centre, notice that it’s leaving Richmond in 2010’s third quarter, vacating more than 80,000 square feet in the centre.
That’s in addition to the 55,000 square feet of vacant space that Microsoft still has available for sublease in the centre.
The report said Microsoft could terminate its lease in 2011’s second quarter.
“The amount of space coming back to the market will be a significant setback for the Richmond market when one considers that the 10-year annual average absorption rate is approximately 46,000 square feet,” said CB Richard Ellis.
Microsoft made a big splash when it held a grand opening for its development centre in Richmond in September 2008, with Premier Gordon Campbell helping unveil the centre.
The company recruited 300 employees for the centre in less than a year.
Lisa Brummel, Microsoft’s senior vice-president of human resources, told Business in Vancouver in September 2008 that most of Microsoft’s employees in Richmond were brought there after being blocked from working in the U.S. by the limited number of H-1B visas, which permit skilled foreign workers to live and work in that country.
She noted at the time that long-term growth at the centre would depend on the economy and the projects tackled at the facility.