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A county property record shows that OpenAI OpCo LLC signed a lease recorded on March 9, 2026, for space at 1411 Harbour Way South in Richmond, the address of the Portside Commerce Center, a 202,371-square-foot industrial warehouse on the Port of Richmond that has been seeking a tenant since alternative energy startup Moxion Power collapsed in 2024.
Richmond battery start-up Moxion abruptly “furloughs” workers
Richmond’s Moxion Power, the purveyors of “Good Energy and Radical Power,” notified its staff last week that their jobs would be “furloughed,” leaving employees scrambling to find other job opportunities. Last month, Moxion filed a WARN notice with the Employment Development Department, stating the planned layoffs in August would
Linda Hemmila
What OpenAI plans to do there isn't clear from the lease record alone. But a Business Insider investigation published in January 2026 may offer some context.
According to that reporting, OpenAI had been quietly building out a humanoid robotics lab and told employees in December 2025 that it planned to open a second lab in Richmond, California, with a job posting listing Richmond as the location for a "robotics operator" role placed through the company's contracting agency.
Inside OpenAI’s renewed push into robotics
OpenAI has rapidly scaled its robotics lab over the past year and plans to open up a second lab, insiders say.
Grace Kay
The Business Insider story described OpenAI's existing San Francisco robotics facility as operating three shifts around the clock, with roughly 100 data collectors teaching robotic arms to perform household tasks using teleoperated controllers. The company has been scaling the program rapidly, with the lab having more than quadrupled in size since its launch in early 2025.
Brookfield Properties had been marketing the Portside space as a potential logistics center, describing it as "a unique industrial development with maritime access on the Port of Richmond." The building sits on a 15.75-acre parcel on Harbour Way South, with 6,757 square feet of office space and a 202,371-square-foot warehouse.
Portside Commerce Center seeks new tenant after Moxion meltdown
Richmond’s nearly completed Portside Commerce Center is now available for lease after its first tenant, Moxion Power, vaporized last summer, leaving a hundred or so employees scrambling for employment and making the building’s future occupancy unclear. Brookfield Properties is offering the massive space for an undisclosed amount and marketing it
Linda Hemmila
It would be a significant expansion of footprint for a robotics program that, according to Business Insider, is still in its early stages but appears to be growing fast.
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