Cambridge-based Sonos is relocating to Downtown Boston

BosInno | By Nate Boroyan | September 17, 2014

Cambridge-based audio-tech company Sonos is relocating to Downtown Boston.

Developers, The Abbey Group, announced Wednesday that Sonos will be taking up a combined 169,606 square feet of space, on the third and fourth floors, inside the recently-renovated Lafayette City Center (LCC), at 2 Avenue de Lafayette, Downtown Crossing. The company's move has been slated for August 2015.

“The renewed energy and rapid growth of LCC and the Downtown Crossing neighborhood as a whole perfectly complement Sonos as we continue our own period of rapid growth,” said Michael Giannetto, Chief Financial Officer at Sonos, in a statement. “Aside from its location in a transportation hub and amenity rich area, the building itself provides a robust infrastructure and ease of future expansion, all making it the right place for Sonos to locate its current and future employees.”

Fellow tech company and LCC tenant Carbonite has plans of its own to shift approximately 275 of its employees from its previous Back Bay headquarters, 177 Huntington Ave., to its new Downtown Crossing digs this October. Carbonite is expected to fill nearly 53,000 square feet of sixth-floor space with about 350 employees, inside the LCC.

“We’re excited to make the move to Downtown Crossing, which is quickly becoming jam-packed with Boston’s hottest tech startups, Carbonite VP and General Counsel Danielle Sheer said in a previous statement. "It’s important to our culture to be surrounded by fresh energy and ideas.”

Sonos is initially expected to fill its DTX offices with 375 employees next August. Terms of the tenant agreement, however, include additional space for the company to grow its operations in the coming years. Commercial real estate firm Colliers International represented Sonos during the transaction.

“This transaction is one of the most significant and exciting to hit Boston, as it validates the re-development of Downtown Crossing as a high-energy, dynamic work-play environment,” said William P. Barrack, Managing Director of commercial real estate firm JLL, the marketing and leasing agent for LCC, in a statement.

The Abbey Group finished a $5 million restoration of the LCC last May, giving the 615,000-square-foot office and retail building an updated lobby and facade.