Glassdoor expands in Fulton Market district

The job listing site Glassdoor said Friday it will expand its offices in the Fulton Market district with a plan to add up to 500 jobs in Chicago over the next few years.

Glassdoor, which has 300 people in Chicago, said it will occupy two floors of a new office building at 1375 W. Fulton beginning in summer 2020. The company said it will maintain operations at a nearby office, 1330 W. Fulton.

“Chicago has quickly grown into one of Glassdoor’s largest employee bases, in large part due to the region’s impressive talent pool,” Glassdoor CEO Christian Sutherland-Wong said. “We look forward to adding exciting job opportunities to Chicago’s economy and continuing to build a world-class team that will fuel Glassdoor’s global growth.”

The company said that in less than three years, its Chicago employee base has grown from 30 to 300 across sales, customer service, product, engineering and other teams.

The new space in a building developed by Trammell Crow Co. will cover 52,000 square feet, accommodating up to 400 people. The building will be called West End on Fulton, appropriate because it is on the western edge of a neighborhood burgeoning with office and apartment construction.

State records show Glassdoor qualified for a $6.2 million credit on its state income taxes for its initial creation of 240 jobs in Chicago. The company was approved for the credit in 2016 but has not claimed it, said a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

She said Glassdoor has not applied for a credit tied to its expanded presence here. The credit is available under Illinois’ Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE program, that subsidizes job creation. A Glassdoor executive had no immediate comment on subsidies.

Founded in 2008, Glassdoor employs about 900 people worldwide and is based in Mill Valley, California. It’s been rumored to be a candidate for an initial public offering of stock, but has yet to take the plunge.

Kyle Kamin and Dan Persa of CBRE Group represented Glassdoor in the lease negotiations, while CBRE’s Sara Spicklemire and Kelsey Scheive represented Trammell Crow.

A CBRE spokesman said West End on Fulton is due to be finished in April 2020.