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Epic Games is buying an old mall – with nearly a million square feet of space – and plans to convert it into its new global headquarters by 2024.
The deal, first reported by the Triangle Business Journal, gives Epic the 980,000 square foot Cary Towne center for $ 95 million. The Cary Towne Center is approximately 2 miles from Epic’s current headquarters.
Epic Games has been based in Cary, North Carolina since 1999, and has 2,200 employees in its global workforce. The company, best known for the development of the Unreal Engine and Fortnite, has about two dozen subsidiaries and studios in other locations around the world, acquiring or creating more than half since Fortnite Battle Royale launched at the end of 2017.
Sitting on 87 acres, the Cary Towne Center, like many shopping malls in the United States, has struggled to stay open as key tenants have left or closed completely thanks to online shopping trends. WRAL-TV of Raleigh noted that only a few stores remain open there and much of the mall is blocked off. Its current owners picked it up in 2019 for $ 31 million and then asked Cary City Council to approve its rezoning, which would allow the use of offices, hotel rooms and multi-family units in addition to the commercial spaces.
It’s unclear how many of these plans will go forward under Epic, but due to rezoning, Epic can start on its new campus immediately. The company said it would work with the town of Cary on a $ 193 million sports and recreation center that had been planned for the site. A spokesperson for Epic Games told the Triangle Business Journal that the campus will include office buildings and recreation spaces.
Private company Epic Games announced $ 1.78 billion in new funding in August 2020, valued at $ 17.3 billion. The company planned to expand its existing location in Cary, which it has held since 2015, with a 500,000 square foot facility that can accommodate up to 2,000 employees. Those plans are extinct, WRAL reported.
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