Yelp headquarters3/24/2023 ![]() ![]() Last year, once the developers decided to rework the building as an office block, work began on the ambitious renovation. Initially, the developers planned to convert the building to a residential condominium, but the recession and financial crisis put those plans on ice. The current owners, developers Wilson Meany and Stockbridge Capital Partners, bought the iconic building in 2008 for $118 million, with that price including a nearby parking garage. Which ended up merging with SBC and the vestiges of Pacific Bell/Telesis), moved out in 2007. The high-rise had been unoccupied since AT&T Today, the business-review site, which has been growing steadily but losing money since it was founded in 2004, occupies nine floors in the recently reopened building. “We are kind of the new Pac Bell or AT&T,” said John Lieu, director of real estate and facilities for Yelp. The Bell system logo remains above the front entrance to 140 New Montgomery, a reminder that Yelp’s headquarters was once home to Pacific Telephone & Telegraph. Googleplex, Pacific Telephone developed ways to keep its employees inside the building, with a cafeteria for employees - most of whom were women - and an auditorium for special events, lectures, parties, bridal showers and exercise classes. The building, now named for its address, 140 New Montgomery, was designed by the well-regarded local architect Timothy Pflueger. The 26-story Art Deco building was once owned by Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co., or PT&T, one of the Baby Bell subsidiaries of AT&T Inc. Unlike the sanitized office parks that Silicon Valley is famous for, Yelp’s new offices are in one of San Francisco’s earliest skyscrapers, a relic of the building boom of the Roaring ’20s. Several characteristics would be familiar to anyone who’s visited one of Silicon Valley’s tech campuses - casual attire, areas for fun and games, espresso bars - but in other respects a location in the city helps create a unique environment. Lastly, the new Yelp offices feature a distinctive lighting concept that echoes the reception area’s custom DC map and doubles as an intuitive wayfinding system to lead staff through major circulation paths and designate collaborative areas, furnished in the style of their surrounding neighborhood.Over Labor Day weekend, Yelp moved into its new offices in a recently renovated skyscraper a stone’s throw from the city’s Financial District. Designers further allude to the capital’s character through materials such as exposed brick and veneers as well as reclaimed masonry. A beer garden, with custom-stenciled checker boards, wood walls, and ceiling slats punctuated by Italian white lights, is adjacent to the pantry. A sunken lounge, adorned with hand applied graffiti, channels the vibe of U Street’s 9:30 Club and the 2,000-square-foot café, complete with a barista-staffed coffee station, reflects the playfulness of the Georgetown waterfront. A focal thoroughfare, structured to compensate for an 18-inch height difference between buildings, pays homage to the National Mall through abstract cherry blossom graphics and flooring comprised of carpet and stained concrete in subtle green hues. From the reception area to the smallest collaboration room, the design references the unique architectural character of the capital’s most storied neighborhoods. To foster the vibrant sense of community that defines the Yelp brand, our designers expressed the floorplan as a series of neighborhoods – a concept that expands upon the organizational principle of the New York offices, albeit with a distinctly Washingtonian emphasis. Located in Washington’s Central Business District, the new Yelp offices span two interconnected buildings and are designed to communicate the corporation’s unique culture to a newly hired staff immediately upon occupancy. Yelp is a multinational company that develops, hosts, and markets go-to digital platforms noted for crowd-sourced business reviews. ![]()
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