Verizon will relocate and expand its East Coast Innovation Center from a Waltham office park to Boston’s North Station in 2021 after leasing 440,000 square feet at The Hub on Causeway office tower, the state’s top economic development official said today.

The telecom giant opened the 196,000-square-foot Waltham center on Sylvan Road in 2011 as one of two Innovation Centers developing high-speed wireless technology and applications, and collaborating with startups to develop applications that use its network. The other center is in San Francisco.

The Waltham facility originally employed 300 engineers and developers, who will relocate to Boston, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Jay Ash said today. The total number of employees in Waltham and size of the Boston workforce was not available, but the size of the lease is expected to provide space for approximately 2,500 people.

Verizon has not asked for any incentives from the state, Ash said.

“They talked to us just briefly and really late in the game,” he said. “They had been rumored for a while to be looking around and we’ve been up to Waltham several times to talk to them. They didn’t talk to us about this actual space until very close to the end.”

Verizon again declined to comment, issuing a statement that it is “exploring ways to enhance its presence in Boston, a city with which we have a long and meaningful history.”

Verizon is the second tech company leasing space at The Hub on Causeway, following the lead of online security firm Rapid7 which will occupy most of the low-rise podium building that’s under construction. The 1.9-million-square-foot mixed-use project is a partnership between Boston Properties and TD Garden owners Delaware North Cos.