Uber is opening massive new offices in Chicago and Dallas despite recent cost-cutting efforts
- Uber has plans for massive new offices in Chicago and Dallas, the company has confirmed in recent weeks.
- The expansion could mean the ride-hailing giant's San Francisco headquarters is dwarfed by larger satellite offices.
- In Chicago, Uber Freight is looking to be the next service to piggy-back on the "Uber for everything" model that Uber Eats found so successful.
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Uber is still losing massive amounts of money, but it's not letting recent cost cutting moves get in the way of continued expansion.
The company this month inked deals for massive new offices in Chicago and Dallas as it continues to staff up growing business areas like freight
In Texas, where Uber already has a sizable presence in Austin, the company will open a new office in Dallas capable of supporting up to 3,000 workers. When fully operational, the hub will be the largest Uber office outside of San Francisco, the company said, surpassing Chicago. 400 of those employees will be hired or relocated by the end of the year, local news reports said.
For now, Uber's employees in the Metroplex will be mainly focused on finance, human resources, and sales, the company's senior manager of public policy, Chris Miller, told the Dallas Morning News. But in coming years, that could shift, as the company ramps up air taxi services, where Dallas is set to be one of the first markets.
"Dallas became the first city in Texas where the Uber app was available in 2012, and since then Texas has been a hub of innovation for our platform," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a press release distributed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
"Uber is excited to bring this major investment to Texas and to increase our commitment to the City of Dallas. We are grateful for our partnership with Governor Abbott, Mayor Johnson and Judge Jenkins and their leadership in making this a reality."
The company this week confirmed plans to lease nearly half a million square feet in the city's old Post Office with construction beginning in the spring of 2020. The massive, 2.8-million-square-foot building has been sitting mostly empty for two decades, and is now in the midst of a massive redevelopment by the architecture firm Gensler.
Details are scant for Uber's expansion in its already second-largest city, but company representatives said more announcements are forthcoming on the company's plans to scale up freight operations in the Windy City - a fitting touch for Chicago and its old post office.
Other confirmed tenants also leasing space in the building include Walgreens, the Chicago Tribune reported, as well as Ferrara Candy, and Home Chef. Uber's lease is the largest office deal in downtown Chicago this year.
"Uber is excited to deepen its roots in Chicago," a company representative Kelley Quinn told the Tribune. "The city continues to attract the top talent that Uber needs to continue to thrive, and we remain committed to working together to have a positive impact in the local community."
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