SolidFire to triple size, move HQ

Cloud storage company heads to Boulder’s new PearlWest.

At times, its Boulder office space was so tight, SolidFire engineers worked at back-to-back monitors in the kitchen.

Relief will arrive next year for the cloud storage maker. SolidFire snapped up 62,000 square feet in PearlWest, the four-story office and retail building going up at 11th and Pearl streets on the former site of the Daily Camera building.

At the new location, SolidFire will triple its space. Its 250 local employees, currently scattered across three buildings a few blocks to the east, will have room to stretch — and add another 150 workers.

“We see people talking about Boulder being collaborative, and that same spirit happens at SolidFire,” said Jay Prassl, the company’s vice president of marketing. “But you can never underestimate the division a road can have, even though our (existing) buildings are across the street from each other.”

Other PearlWest tenants include Galvanize, the tech-education startup hub, at 27,000 square feet; Crestone Capital Advisors, an investment firm taking 30,000 square feet, and a first-floor restaurant from the Eureka! restaurant group.

Developers are also in talks to bring in an art-house movie theater, plus retailers to occupy spots facing Pearl Street.

Limited office space remains in the 175,000-square-foot building, said Lynda Gibbons of GibbonsWhite Inc., one of the site’s developers along with The Nichols Partnership.

Tenants can move in next spring, though SolidFire expects to move in the fall of 2016.

Gibbons declined to offer a range of leasing prices but said that “leases are just right at market.”

According to CBRE, a real estate broker that tracks such rates, downtown Boulder charges the most in the region. The average lease rate is $42.13 per square foot for the best and newest “Class A” office space. By comparison, the Denver metro area is at $28.84 per square foot.

SolidFire designs flash-memory storage used by the cloud computing industry. CEO Dave Wright started the company in 2009 in Atlanta and moved it to Boulder two years later with about 10 employees.

Over the years, the company has added buildings, including its current headquarters at 1600 Pearl St. It is about to add a fourth space of 13,800 square feet at 18th and Pearl streets.

Its rapid growth has everything to do with the growth of cloud computing. Companies are moving to do nearly every aspect of business with online software tools — from HR and payroll systems to employee collaboration and data storage.

“One of the things that is really important for us as we grow is that we make sure we have space for everyone,” Prassl said. “It’s a hard thing to do, especially in downtown Boulder. The addition of the 18th and Pearl office, that space is absolutely required. We will fill that and

probably exceed it within the time it takes us to get the PearlWest property.”

After the move to PearlWest, Prassl said, SolidFire will keep its current four office spaces and sublease them in case it outgrows PearlWest.

According to market researcher Forrester Research, the cloud computing market is growing faster than expected, and it revised its 2020 forecast last year up 20 percent to $191 billion in revenues.

Many of SolidFire’s recent hires are in engineering and marketing jobs. While other local tech companies lament the difficulty of finding qualified workers, Prassl said that SolidFire has found it easier to attract workers because of its reputation, funding history (it has raised $150 million in venture capital) and its downtown location.

“We are not afraid to help someone move out here,” Prassl said.

SolidFire employs 419 worldwide, with about 250 in Boulder.