Salesforce.com announced the purchase of approximately 14 acres of undeveloped land in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco from Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. The company plans to build a facility that will become its new headquarters.

The land, which is adjacent to the University of California, San Franciso campus on one side and the San Francisco Bay on the other, is part of the San Francisco Mission Bay redevelopment area. It is located directly on the San Francisco Muni T line at the UCSF station, and is also directly accessible from the Mariposa Street exit off of 280.

�We are excited to start work on building a new San Francisco global headquarters,� says Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of salesforce.com. �Our planned, nearly 2 million-sq-ft campus over 14 acres at Mission Bay will help us continue to attract and retain talented, world-class employees. This new home for salesforce.com will provide an innovative, dynamic environment for our future growth.�

The purchase price for the eight parcels of land, including parking rights in an existing garage and other entitlements and improvements associated with the land, was approximately $278 million.

No date for construction has yet been set on the land, which includes the undeveloped portions of Mission Bay lots 26 and 27 and all of Mission Bay lots 29 to 34.

Currently, Salesforce.com occupies about 500,000 sq ft in several downtown buildings with its office at The Landmark @ One Market being the headquarters space.

�Salesforce.com has made an extraordinary investment in the future of San Francisco that will mean thousands of jobs and anchor our status as a global center for innovative companies,� says Mayor Gavin Newsom. �The decision by salesforce.com to build their global headquarters in Mission Bay is a testament to the company�s vision and unwavering commitment to San Francisco.�

�We are proud of our contribution in attracting innovative companies like Salesforce.com to Mission Bay,� says Joel Marcus, CEO of Alexandria Real Estate Equities. �As a developer of state-of-the-art laboratory/office facilities which we pioneered for life science tenants in San Francisco, we see this move bringing us closer to the fulfillment of Mission Bay as a unique intellectual center.�