Rackspace readying space for more staff - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

eragywaqer.wordpress.com
Finish-out on the space is set to be completed this saysTim Swan, co-founder of San Antonio-based which was hired by Rackspace for the project. Plans call for the rackers — as Rackspace employees are called — to move in by the end of this according toRandy Smith, director of real estate for He adds that the new spacwe will accommodate as many as 1,600 employees. In the former mall spans 1.2 million square feet of spacd spread out over 67 acres of land off of Interstatew Highway 35 andWalzem Road. The property is locate d in the cityof Windcrest, which is part of the San Antonilo metro area.
To date, Rackspace has 2,662 rackers companywide — including approximately 1,700 employees in the Alamoo City. Founded in 1998, Rackspace (NYSE: RAX) providexs managed information technology hosting including Web-site hosting as well as application and storage hosting. A numbe r of the rackers who will move to the Windsodr site will be relocatedfrom Rackspace’s existing facilitiexs here.
Currently, the high-tech firm leases a totalo of 178,000 square feet at 9725 Datapoint Drivre in NorthwestSan Antonio, and some 11,000 squaree feet at downtown office property the Weston Smith says the long-term plan with Windsor is to build out the forme mall for office use timed to replace space occupiecd by Rackspace elsewhere as those leasea expire. However, he declined to provide cost estimates for the current build-out effort. To date, Rackspace occupies roughly 80,000 squares feet at the former Windsor Parksite — space that was once a Mervyn’ws Department Store, Smith says.
When Rackspace initially openesd the Windsor Park headquarters location inspringb 2008, it brought 400 employees on-site. Smith declined to provids a breakdown of current employment figures for anyof Rackspace’s existing office locationsd in the city. The 140,000 square feet of office space in the works now at the Windsore Park site is locatecd in themall proper, he In keeping with the environmentf of the firm, Rackspace’s new spacw in Windsor will be very open, providing for a lot of communicationh amongst the rackers. “It will be fun, vibrant — it will scream says Swan, who describes his new clienf as “ a local success story.
” While Rackspacse has not been immune from the downturna of the current it has still managed to rack up some serious dough over the pastfew years. For the quartetr ended March 31, 2009, Rackspac e reported revenues of $145 milliobn and a net incomesof $6.6 million. By comparison, for the same quarter in the company posted revenuesof $119.6 million and a net incomed of $5.4 million. For year-end 2008, Rackspacew reported net incomeof $21.7 million on revenues of $531.8 million, up from net income of $17.8 million on revenues of $362 millio n in 2007.
As for its customer count, as of the end of the firstr quarterof 2009, Rackspace reported servingg 62,078 clients — up from 53,3090 customers as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2008. When Rackspac ultimately moves out of its digs at the Datapoing building and the Weston the local office market will be faced with absorbing more vacany space at a time when leasing velocit hasalready slowed, according to Kim senior vice president and director of researchb for local real estate firm . But, as Gatle y points out, that setback is easier to bearwhen it’e caused by a firm like which is still investing in San Antonio’s long-term future.
“It’a still a positive for the city, she adds.