Another fast-growing tech firm is making the move across the Fort Point Channel into downtown Boston.
CloudHealth Technologies is nearly tripling its office space, signing a lease for 80,000 square feet at the 100 Summer St. tower, as it prepares to add about 200 jobs by the end of next year.
CloudHealth currently leases 30,000 square feet on the other side of the channel at 280 Summer St., in an area that was dubbed the Innovation District by the Menino administration as a way to increase its allure among promising young tech firms.
But now, with General Electric setting up a new headquarters next door in Fort Point, some smaller tech firms are finding better deals downtown. Bullhorn is a perfect example: The staffing software firm moved to 100 Summer last year, and GE is now using Bullhorn’s old offices as its temporary headquarters. Meanwhile, several well-established Boston employers — PwC, Goodwin Procter, Boston Consulting Group — have decamped or are leaving downtown for the South Boston Waterfront.
CloudHealth founder and chief technology officer Joe Kinsella said it was too difficult to find a big floor plate in Fort Point’s old brick warehouse buildings, so the company looked on the downtown side of the channel for space. The new offices, which will open next spring, will be spread among two floors in the tower.
When the firm opened in Fort Point four years ago, it had just five employees, but it has since grown to about 180 in Boston alone. By the end of 2018, the company expects those numbers to increase to 420 worldwide, with 360 in Boston.
CloudHealth specializes in subscription software that helps companies manage their cloud-based data and applications.
CloudHealth’s decision to open a bigger headquarters follows a $46 million investment round earlier this summer led by VC powerhouse Kleiner Perkins, alongside Meritech Capital Partners and previous CloudHealth investors, .406 Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Scale Venture Partners.
Nixon Peabody chief executive Andrew Glincher, a real estate lawyer, noted that the competitive lease rates once available in the waterfront area are disappearing — and big blocks of available space can be hard to find.
“It’s all based on supply and demand, and with companies like GE and Reebok and others going to the wharf area, vacancy rates are much lower today than they were a couple years ago,’’ Glincher, whose law firm is based in the 100 Summer St. tower, said in an e-mail. “It also comes down to location, and while some downtown space may not be viewed as the hippest or coolest, the location is unquestionably favorable.’’
Art Papas, the Bullhorn chief executive, hasn’t regretted the move. He likes the proximity to South Station and the highways. Downtown towers offer wide-open floor plates, he said, and the area is experiencing a restaurant resurgence like the one that took hold in Fort Point a few years ago.
“I like being where the next up-and-coming neighborhood is,’’ Papas said. “I’m calling it Innovation Crossing. The Innovation District is kind of crossing the channel.’’
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com.
