Accounting and professional services firm PwC, formerly known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, will stay in Boston's Seaport District through at least 2036.
The firm will slightly reduce its footprint at 101 Seaport Blvd. from 360,000 square feet to 335,000 square feet when it extends its lease. PwC moved into the newly constructed Seaport office building in fall 2015, with its original lease set to expire in 2030.
David Foss, the managing partner of PwC's Boston office, said the firm didn't consider other locations or neighborhoods when contemplating its next steps.
"The environment is perfect for professional services," Foss said in an interview. "It was a pretty easy decision to say: 'Hey, we'd like to stay.'"
The lease extension comes as Boston's office market has struggled to regain its footing following the COVID-19 pandemic, with vacancy rates reaching 21.3 percent in the third quarter, according to research from real estate brokerage Newmark.
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Lease extensions and renewals by existing office users -- as opposed to deals from new tenants -- have been the primary drivers of office leasing activity of late. Vertex Pharmaceuticals earlier this year renewed its 550,000-square-foot Seaport headquarters lease after exploring other options throughout the neighborhood, while Bain Capital and Arrowstreet Capital have renewed their 378,284-square-foot and 119,532-square-foot leases at 200 Clarendon St. in Back Bay, Newmark research shows.
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Some 3,200 employees are assigned to PwC's Boston office. Foss said the "vast majority" are on a hybrid work schedule requiring 50 percent in-person time -- either in the office, at a conference, or visiting a client.
"The reality is we have been living in a flexible work arrangement for a very long time, because of the nature of the work that we do," Foss said.
PwC intends to refresh some areas of the office, keeping an eye on how to allow for both solo and team work. Foss expects the firm will add in some work stations to areas where there are couches and other comfortable furniture that's not all that frequently used.
"It's really nice space to have, but you don't necessarily want to sit there the whole day," he said. "That's the challenge that organizations are faced with -- how do you fit it in such that people ... can get individual work done, but have places for collaboration? It's trying to balance all of that."
Catherine Carlock can be reached at catherine.carlock@globe.com. Follow her @bycathcarlock.