Revealed: the location of Alibaba's new recruiting office in Seattle

The team that will start Alibaba's Seattle office will have access to some sizzling steaks and perhaps a climbing wall.

That's because Amazon.com's big new threat is moving into the Decatur Building at 1511 Sixth Ave., about two blocks south of Amazon's future high-rise campus that will total 4.1 million square feet.

An Alibaba sign is taped to the front door of the Decatur, a historic, four-story building where the Morton's steakhouse operates on the first floor.

This is the Chinese e-commerce giant's second U.S. office after a space opened recently in Silicon Valley. Alibaba has been recruiting engineers in Seattle, but the location of the office was not revealed.

Dan Dahl, a commercial real estate broker with Colliers International, on Tuesday said that Alibaba is subleasing 8,000 square feet on a short-term basis from Synapse Product Development, whose headquarters office is in the Decatur. Dahl, who did not work on the transaction, said that he has heard that Alibaba is looking for a longer term office with as much as 60,000 square feet.

Based on commercial real estate standards, 8,000 square feet would be enough room to house around 40 employees, and 60,000 square feet would accommodate around 300 workers.

Dahl said that there are few 60,000-square-foot spaces available for lease in Seattle, meaning that Alibaba – if it grows to need that much space – may have to go to a new building.

Another broker with more direct knowledge of the Decatur deal said that Alibaba's lease runs through the end of 2015. Alibaba, which went public last month with a record-setting $21.8 billion IPO, is launching a recruiting office in the Decater, said the broker, who declined to speak for attribution. The amount of space that Alibaba takes long term will depend on how the initial Seattle office's launch goes, the source said.

Marc Stiles covers commercial real estate and government for the Puget Sound Business Journal.