Irvine-based data analytics software maker Alteryx Inc. has struck a deal to more than double its local footprint, with a 183,000-square-foot lease at the city’s new Spectrum Terrace office development.
Starting next fall, Alteryx (NYSE: AYX) will move all of its employees from its current 70,000-square-foot base in the Park Place office complex near John Wayne Airport to a full four-story building, and more than half of another building, at the Irvine Co. office project in the Spectrum area.
It’s the largest local office lease in about two years, according to brokerage data.
It also marks full occupancy for Spectrum Terrace’s first phase of development, which wrapped construction earlier this summer (see story, this page).
“Our new headquarters will help us scale to support both current and future global growth and is indicative of our continued investment in the Orange County business community,” co-founder and CEO Dean Stoecker told the Business Journal last week.
Alteryx ranks No. 1 among Orange County’s fastest-growing midsized public companies—those with between $100 million and $500 million in revenue—with two-year sales growth of 127% (see list, starts on page 28).
New Digs
Alteryx’s new seven-year lease, starting early next year, is for the entirety of 17200 Laguna Canyon Drive, and spills over into 17100 Laguna Canyon Drive, where it will take up part of the first floor and all of the third and fourth floors.
The move will accommodate a hiring push by Alteryx, which plans to add dozens more employees, bringing its local headcount close to 300.
It’s a far cry from when the firm was founded in 1997, when it counted only three employees on its roster.
“We look forward to welcoming our associates, customers and partners to our new playground for innovation and collaboration,” Stoecker said.
Also making the move across town? The company’s lovingly restored Volkswagen Microbus that has become a symbol of the company’s journey, and doubles as a mini-conference room at Park Place.
The company has north of 1,000 employees across 18 offices in 12 countries, and counts among its customers some of the world’s best-known companies, including Unilever, Audi, Hyatt and Dell.
No Stop Signs
Alteryx’s growth—by stock price, employee count, and sales—has been one of OC’s big success stories in the tech industry this decade.
Outgrowing its current space is a new sign of proof that the OC firm has been “growing like weeds,” Stoecker said in a July interview with the Business Journal.
Alteryx has been growing at 50% per year and its share price reached a high of $147.79 in early September as it grabbed more customers and revenue.
The surge pushed Alteryx into taking over the No. 6 spot on the Business Journal’s list of largest public companies by market value.
Lately, its stock has slipped, falling to as low as $87.68 last week, giving it a valuation around $5.6 billion. Based on the number of shares Stoecker holds—he counts some 9 million—the fall has also knocked him out of the membership in the billionaire’s club that he reached during the summer.
Stoecker still seems to have plenty to celebrate, with strong annual growth since the company went public in 2017 at $14 per share, adding services, customers and employees along the way.
The company’s proprietary software helps its pool of about 5,000 customers solve a variety of problems, creating what it calls “data-ha” moments.
The Alteryx analytics platform allows data workers to turn huge amounts of data into actionable business solutions, providing one analytic process and enabling users to share insights, apps, and models across their organizations.
It’s been pairing up in recent years with other artificial intelligence companies through acquisitions, which Stoecker previously said he consistently keeps an eye out for.
Alteryx in April said it paid $20 million for Menlo Park-based ClearStory Data, which provides analytics software for complex and unstructured data.
More recently, it snapped up Feature Labs, a machine learning and artificial intelligence software firm launched from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that automates feature engineering for machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.
The company is on the hunt for “anything that’s in and around data science and machine learning.”
In addition to helping other companies in their decision making process, Alteryx benefits from its own products.
Among the company’s varied uses for its AI software is a tool that helps the company narrow down its search for new offices.
Perhaps data is to thank for the company’s new digs.
Green Light for Phase 2 At Spectrum Terrace
Fast-growing companies, fast-selling office project.
That seems to be the story of Spectrum Terrace, Irvine Co.’s newly built office complex just off the San Diego (405) Freeway that has secured a full roster of tenants for its first phase, just three months after it wrapped construction.
The quick leasing has led to the company’s decision to accelerate construction on the 340,000-square-foot second phase. Tenant interest is already lined up, representatives of the landlord told the Business Journal last week.
The first 350,000-square-foot phase counted a trio of office buildings running three and four stories, plus a pair of smaller amenity buildings.
Some early-stage ground work at the site of the second phase was underway last week.
Full-Building Leases
Alteryx Inc.’s (NYSE: AYX) recently inked 184,000-square-foot lease is the latest and the largest at the complex, topping New York-based WeWork’s 116,000-square-foot deal to take up the entirety of 17300 Laguna Canyon Drive.
“Adding a forward-thinking technology company like Alteryx further validates Spectrum Terrace’s growing reputation as the ultimate business address,” said Tom Greubel, vice president leasing for Irvine Co., last week.
Spectrum Terrace will hold about 1 million square feet of office space, with nine main buildings at buildout.
The 73-acre site is about the same size as Fashion Island in Newport Beach, which Irvine Co. also owns.
From investing a “significant premium” to buy the best glass available for the floor-to-ceiling windows in each office building, to planting over 2,000 trees and a bevy of amenities, Irvine Co. has touted the project as its best mid-rise office campus to date—a bold claim for a company with more than 500 offices to its name.
The first phase of construction included a 6,000-square- foot Kinetic fitness facility with indoor and outdoor fitness classes and Peloton bikes, as well as a 5,600-square-foot Terrace Kitchen.
A planned 5,800-square-foot conference and event center, called Apex, is part of the second phase.
The campus, not unlike those of Silicon Valley tech companies, also features a 1.5 mile-long jogging and walking trail that connects to the Quail Hill open space.
For more on OC tech companies and AI, see our fastest-growing public companies Special Report.
