Office space in New York will help the company, whose local search and review services are among the most widely used on the internet, grow its already impressive global presence.
Yelp has taken offices on New York’s famous Fifth Avenue, between 15th and 16th streets, with 65 newly-hired employees already operating from the site.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended an opening event at Yelp’s Fifth Avenue offices and welcomed the commitment of another highly renowned technology company to the city.
“Yelp’s new office is the latest proof that New York gets five stars as a home of growing and innovative tech companies,” he said.
Yelp’s founder and chief executive Jeremy Stoppelman said: “We look forward to not only continuing to expand our own presence here but to further help New Yorkers and those visiting discover and support the amazing independent businesses throughout the five boroughs.”
Considerable effort is being made by business leaders and policymakers in New York to help the city compete for the investment of technology and media companies from around the world.
Yelp’s office space opening in New York came just days after Twitter launched a new East Coast headquarters in Manhattan. Both companies were founded in California, arguably the world leader when it comes to successfully establishing and incubating web-based technology businesses.
“New York City is the media capital of the world and we are doing everything we can to meet Mayor Bloomberg’s goal of being the world’s premier digital city,” said Commissioner Katherine Oliver.
“We continue to see terrific companies like Yelp, Twitter, and so many others opening up major New York operations and that is a testament to the idea that you have to make it in New York.”
Editor’s notes: In May 2014, Yelp moved into office space at 11 Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.
Yelp took 140,000 square feet on the 14th and 16th floors of the 30-storey tower. Rents at the time were in the $80s per square foot per annum.
At the time, the property was anchored by Credit Suisse, and Sony also rented 525,000 square feet on the upper floors of the property.