Square Signs Lease for CIM’s Uptown Station Building in Oakland

Square, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) and CIM Group announced today that Square has signed a lease for the entire office space in the iconic Uptown Station building in Oakland, expanding Square’s Bay Area presence. Square anticipates it will begin taking occupancy of Uptown Station in the fourth quarter of 2019 and plans to maintain a significant presence in San Francisco within its current office at 1455 Market Street.

“We’re excited to join the Oakland community as a partner, an advocate, a neighbor, and a customer of local businesses,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square. “As we continue to grow, we want to support our employees wherever they are so they can work and invest in the communities in which they live.”

Square works to foster growth in communities nationwide through small business educational programs, events, and local partnerships. Square will be an active partner with the city and community of Oakland, and is evaluating how to use its space at Uptown Station to create a supportive environment for local businesses and entrepreneurs. For example, in lieu of building a large-scale corporate cafeteria for Square, CIM Group will convert Uptown Station’s first-floor into a public marketplace, designed as a grand paseo featuring a variety of local restaurants and retailers.

“Oakland is committed to attracting businesses whose values align with our community, whose workforce reflects our inclusivity, and whose greatest priority is the long-term prosperity of every Oakland resident. With their proven commitment to empowering new and local entrepreneurs, I believe Square can be that company,” said Mayor Libby Schaaf. “There are few locations in the region that offer such an array of social, economic, and transportation benefits as Uptown Station, and Square could not have selected a more ideal location. My administration looks forward to working with the team at Square over the next year to ensure a demonstrated plan for economic empowerment, form partnerships with our local organizations, and build a diverse workforce that will serve our city and small businesses well.”

CIM Group is in the final stages of completing the transformation of a 1920s-era former department store located at 1955 Broadway into Uptown Station, a 356,000-square-foot, eight-story Class-A creative office building with a multi-story atrium lobby and 35,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Uptown Station is situated at the nexus of three key arteries, Broadway, Telegraph Avenue, and 20th Street in downtown Oakland’s Uptown district, a hub for arts and entertainment and located directly above a BART station.

“Building a fair and equitable economy requires partnership, and we’re glad to see Square proactively taking steps to collaborate,” said Catherine Bracy, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the TechEquity Collaborative, an Oakland-based organization that works to build an inclusive tech-driven economy in the Bay Area. “We’re looking forward to working with Square to engage with and support the Oakland community.”

“We acquired Uptown Station almost a year ago believing that repurposing this building to modern creative office space in a transitioning district would be an attractive option for Bay Area businesses like Square that have significant space requirements and seek environments that foster collaboration and innovation,” said Avi Shemesh, Co-founder and Principal of CIM Group.

About Square
Square, Inc. (NYSE:SQ) creates tools that help sellers start, run, and grow their businesses. Square enables sellers to accept card payments and also provides reporting and analytics, next-day settlement, and chargeback protection. Square’s point-of-sale software and other business services help sellers manage inventory, locations, and employees; access financing; engage buyers; build a website or online store; and grow sales. The Cash App is an easy way to send, spend, and receive money, and Caviar is a food-ordering platform. Square was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, Ireland, and the UK.

About CIM Group
CIM is a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator and lender. Since 1994, CIM has led more than $56 billion of projects in communities across the Americas on behalf of its own account and for its partners and co-investors. CIM’s broad in-house expertise includes decades of research, acquisition, credit analysis, development, finance, leasing and asset management experience in urban real assets, net-lease assets and other associated credit strategies. Using its disciplined approach and extensive in-house expertise, CIM seeks to create value in projects, which ultimately enhances communities. For more information, visit www.cimgroup.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the commencement of occupancy, Square’s presence in San Francisco, Square being an active partner with the city and community of Oakland, and the use and design of Uptown Station’s first floor, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of uncertainties and risks.

These risks include, among others, the pace of construction and remodeling of the space, obtaining the necessary approvals and permits, and economic conditions, as well as other risks described in the Square’s latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K, which is on file with the SEC. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to the company as of the date of this press release, and Square assumes no obligation to update any of these statements in the event facts or circumstances subsequently change.

Media contacts:
For Square:
press@squareup.com

For CIM Group:
Karen Diehl
310-741-9097
karen@diehlcommunications.com