Infosys to be Salesforce Tower tenant, Benioff says

Editor's note: Infosys announced May 23 that it plans to lease 35,000 square feet in OneAmerica Tower in downtown Indianapolis. Asked later that day about his statements three days earlier that the company would occupy space in Salesforce Tower Indianapolis, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said via text that he might have misheard . “Accenture is moving into Salesforce Tower in San Francisco to partner more deeply with us, so I may have gotten mixed up,” he said. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said on May 23 that it's his understanding OneAmerica Tower will be Infosys' only home for now but that as the company grows it might look elsewhere "and obviously Salesforce Tower would be a logical place to expand."

Tech behemoth Salesforce.com Inc. recently began moving its employees into Salesforce Tower Indianapolis. Another large tech firm, Infosys, might be joining them.

In an interview with IBJ on Saturday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff mentioned that Infosys plans to take up office space in the 48-story building, which until recently was known as Chase Tower. The India-based company announced earlier this month that it planned to add 2,000 jobs in the Indianapolis area by 2021, but that real estate considerations were still being determined.

Benioff was asked about the impact that other tech companies' hiring plans had on his own company's hiring efforts. When the Infosys was mentioned as an example of firms looking to add local jobs, Benioff interjected: "We're good partners with them. They're going to be in our tower. Yeah, they'll be in our tower."

Reached by phone Saturday, Infosys President Sandeep Dadlani, declined to confirm or deny Benioff's remarks, only saying: "We're not in a position yet, so we'll let you know." He offered no timeline of when such plans might be disclosed.

Asked about Infosys' potential as a Salesforce Tower tenant after speaking at a grand-opening festival for the building Saturday, Gov. Eric Holcomb, said, "We'll let Infosys" address that.

Benioff also seemed to allude to Infosys' real estate plans on stage at the festival, which took place on Monument Circle and drew at least 3,500 people.

"We've already seen some of our customers follow our lead and open up offices right here in Indianapolis and create even more jobs," Benioff said. "In fact, the governor and I were just talking about one of Salesforce's closest partners, who's also moving here to Indianapolis and taking more space in Salesforce Tower as well."