A few months ago there were rumours that BlackBerry was shedding some of its office space in Waterloo. This was caused by the organizations cost cutting initiative that included severe job losses in the region.
According to a press release we received, the University of Waterloo has acquired five buildings and much of the surrounding land from BlackBerry for a cool $41 million. U of W says the deal is set to close by February 14th, 2014, and will see them occupy three of the buildings, though BlackBerry will remain a tenant in the other two “for up to five years.” The purchased buildings are BlackBerry 1, BlackBerry 2, BlackBerry 3, BlackBerry 4, and BlackBerry 16, and the company will lease BlackBerry 2 and BlackBerry 4.
Tim Jackson, vice-president, university relations stated, “Space is our biggest constraint, so the opportunity to get space that is essentially on our campus was one that we couldn’t let slip by. The purchase of existing buildings on land contiguous with our campus allows us to strategically consider our accommodation footprint to help us meet our strategic goals.”
This will bring the university 300,000 square feet of additional space and over 1,000 parking spaces.
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