Salesforce is celebrating the capping of the tallest building west of Chicago, and the views are astounding
Tech
Salesforce is celebrating the capping of the tallest building west of Chicago, and the views are astounding
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and San Francisco officials are marking the laying of the final beam — a construction milestone known as "topping off" — at its new global headquarters in downtown San Francisco.
"They take the last structural beam and everybody signs it," Elizabeth Pinkham, Salesforce executive vice president of global real estate, said in advance of Thursday's planned ceremony. "Then they hoist it up to the top."
The building rises 1,070 feet high and is the tallest U.S. office building west of Chicago. Salesforce, a cloud-computing company that specializes in customer relationship management, is the "anchor tenant" and will occupy floors three to 30 and the top two levels, 60 and 61. Rather than designating the two top floors for executive offices, Salesforce will keep them open to all employees and their guests, Pinkham said.
Other tenants will include Salesforce partner Accenture, which wanted proximity to the enterprise tech company, CBRE and Bain & Company. Construction is set to be completed in July. The landlords are Boston Properties, which has a 95 percent stake in the building and Hines, which owns the rest.
Right now, the building still looks like a construction site — there is no trace yet of the fancy office furniture synonymous with tech company offices — and construction workers are in the process of building out the skeleton of the building and installing the windows.
"I'm used to being up there with no windows, so it's going to be weird with windows," said Pinkham.
Click ahead for a first look.
— By CNBC's Harriet Taylor
Published 6 April 2017
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Biggest tech employer in San Francisco
Salesforce is the largest tech employer in San Francisco, with more than 6,000 local employees. The company has its name on all kinds of buildings downtown.
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To the top
We visited this week and took a ride to the top. The elevator feels wobbly, but none of the construction workers seem concerned.
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60th floor
Salesforce's Pinkham takes us on a tour around the 60th floor, which still has few windows, although there is a guard rail.
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Big windows
These giant windows offer unobstructed 360-degree views.
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Silicon Valley view
Here's the view south toward Silicon Valley.
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Bay Bridge
The Bay Bridge from 60 floors up.
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Towering over the skyline
We tower over everything else in downtown San Francisco.
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Dwarfing the pyramid
At 1,070 feet, Salesforce Tower even dwarfs the iconic pyramid-shaped Transamerica Tower, which is 853 feet high.
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Not quite the highest
There's one point in the city that's higher still: The top of the Sutro TV tower, located on top of a peak in the middle of town. The structure is 977 feet high, shorter than the Salesforce Tower, but it's sitting on a peak that's 834 feet above sea level.
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Those windows
Here's how the windows look once they're installed.
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Back to Earth
Heading back down, we saw these construction workers hard at work on the 5th floor.
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Park connection
Workers are also building the park next to Salesforce Tower. Employees will be able to cross over to the park from the 5th floor.
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Tree line
These trees, the first greenery to arrive, are waiting to be planted.
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