Salesforce slaps its name on Sydney's tallest office tower

It used to be Sydney's most infamous late night haunt, had an "entry refused" list longer than its menu and was subject of a bitter ten year legal legal brawl between two of the town's leading pub barons.

But the bar known as Jacksons on George is coming back thanks to Mark Benioff. 

Salesforce on Tuesday revealed it had grabbed the naming rights to a massive new 53-storey $1.5 billion office tower just off Circular Quay that will be home to employees from “late 2022” as the vendor conspiculously muscles onto the harbourside money strip once the domain of investment banks.

It's a big statement too. Software companies once used to confine themselves to the more sedate North Shore or green belt business parks like North Ryde and Macquarie Park, but with co-working spaces shooting up all over the CBD the serious tech money now wants harbour views. 

[See the gallery of what the new building and surrounds will look like.]

Salesforce reckons said that, once completed, Salesforce Tower Sydney “will be the tallest in the city and the second tallest in Australia as well as one of the country’s most sustainable buildings.”

The project in Sydney is one of ten worldwide; its HQ, Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, is similarly the tallest building in that city.

That said the development previously known as 180 George or Circular Quay Tower is one of the CBD's major projects  for Barangaroo developer Lendlease and is the result of an international design competition held in conjunction with the City of Sydney.

Aside from the rebirth of Jacksons, which will now be a swanky three level gastro pub located proudly at the front of the development, the build will feature a large new public plaza and retail strip that connects to nearby CBD locations via'activated laneways'.

“The design includes a new façade which wraps the building in a porous veil of ceramic tiles," said Kimberly Jackson, project director of the Circular Quay Tower project in an earlier Lendlease press release.

"The building material is inspired by the classic Australian pub tile and the shimmer of the water on Sydney Harbour, while the curved form is influenced by the history of the site as a former boat yard” Stewart.

Salesforce said that it expected to create around 1000 new roles in Sydney over the next five years.

But Jacksons may have competition.

Other details about the actual site include what Salesforce is calling “a top ‘Ohana Floor’ – an open hospitality space for Salesforce employees, customers and partners, which will also be available for non profits and local education groups on weeknights and weekends at no cost.”

Ohana is often used in Salesforce marketing when referring to the community built around the company’s products.

Corporate spaces - such as those owned by Australia’s Big Four banks, as well as innovation arms like WooliesX - are increasingly used to host meetups and other technical gatherings for IT workers.