Oculus has been on quite the hiring spree as of late, with over a hundred positions currently advertised on the company’s career website aimed at bringing hardware and software engineers into the Seattle area. Now, a report from real estate analysis firm BuildZoom estimates parent company Facebook has spent over $88 million in Redmond-based labs and office space for Oculus this year alone.
To arrive at the number, BuildZoom analyzed 180+ filed, issued, and finaled (inspection-passing) building permits for Oculus projects provided by the City of Redmond, which includes 11 buildings across the city—right in Microsoft’s backyard.
An additional 72,000 sqft (~6700 m²) and a 200,000 ft² (~18.500 m²) leased location in Redmond haven’t been counted in the overall estimation.
Overall, the firm maintains Facebook has spent more than $106 million on Redmond-based labs and offices since it began its expansion into the Seattle area back in July 2015, with the $88.3 million of it spent in 2018 so far.
BuildZoom includes some healthy caveats in their estimations, which could put the final cost at a higher sum: building permits don’t reflect all of the project’s costs, and the quoted amounts are “minimum estimates and may not include permits for demolition work, temporary structures, FF&E, engineering, or other public infrastructure improvements.”
Additionally, the firm says the data “may not be exhaustive and is based on what has been made available by the City of Redmond, Washington.”
Speaking to Road to VR earlier this year regarding its recent VR/AR hiring spree, an Oculus spokesperson said this: “Overall, the growing number of job openings across AR and VR are an indication of the level of commitment that Facebook/Oculus is making in the VR space.”
So it appears Facebook is putting both feet forward as they continue investment in Oculus, bringing more dedicated VR/AR labs and offices to what’s quickly become America’s next big tech hub.