Google Plans $1Billion Expansion in NYC
John Jordan | December 17, 2018
NEW YORK CITY—Add Google to the list of mega US tech companies that are planning major expansion initiatives in New York City.
Ruth Porat, senior vice president and CFO of Google and its parent company Alphabet Inc., announced in a blog released this morning that Google plans to invest more than $1 billion in capital improvements to establish a new New York City-based campus, “Google Hudson Square.”
The more than 1.7 million square-foot Google Hudson Square campus will encompass leases at 315 and 345 Hudson St. and a signed letter of intent for space at 550 Washington St.
Earlier this year, Google purchased the Manhattan Chelsea Market for $2.4 billion and announced at that time it intended to lease additional space at Pier 57.
“We hope to start moving into the two Hudson Street buildings by 2020, followed by 550 Washington St. in 2022 once the building is complete,” Porat states.
Google Hudson Square will be the primary location for the firm’s New York-based global business organization.
Porat notes that with its New York City investments in 2018 in Google Chelsea and Google Hudson Square, the firm will have the capacity to more than double its New York workforce over the next 10 years.
Reports are that the company currently employs more than 7,000 workers in the New York City area at present.
“Our investment in New York is a huge part of our commitment to grow and invest in U.S. facilities, offices and jobs. In fact, we’re growing faster outside the Bay Area than within it, and this year opened new offices and data centers in locations like Detroit, Boulder, Los Angeles, Tennessee and Alabama. And as we continue to grow across the country, we look forward to calling New York City home for many years to come,” she added.
Oxford Property Group and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board acquired the former St. John’s Terminal warehouse complex at 550 Washington St. for $700 million in January and unveiled plans in late October to redevelop the 1.3-million-square-foot complex, according to the Commercial Observer.
The 315 Hudson St. property, owned by Jack Resnick & Sons, is in the final stages of a $65-million redevelopment. Google intends to occupy 280,000 square feet at the 500,000-square-foot office building. The lease deal brings the property to 100% occupied.
At 315 Hudson, Google will create a modern and highly-collaborative office environment encompassing five full floors (six through 10), as well as portions of the fifth floor. The Google space will include open workspaces and amenities like a rooftop garden, indoor and outdoor event spaces to host clients and community events, and a cafe. There will also be a dedicated lobby on the ground floor and a bicycle storage room on the lower level, according to Jack Resnick & Sons.
Other major tenants at 315 Hudson St. include Galvanize Inc. and Bed Bath & Beyond, which currently houses its creative team at the property.
“We are thrilled to welcome Google to 315 Hudson Street,” said Jonathan D. Resnick, president of Jack Resnick & Sons. “We recognized about a decade ago that Hudson Square was destined to become a hub for New York’s growing creative, technology and office users. We’ve been hard at work transitioning our buildings to serve the needs of today’s most innovative companies who are looking for large, highly-collaborative spaces located within the city’s most vibrant live-work communities.”
Google was represented by Ken Rapp, David Hollander, Doug Lehman and Brendan Herlihy of CBRE. Jack Resnick & Sons’ Brett Greenberg and Adam Rappaport represented building ownership in-house, along with a Newmark Knight Frank leasing team led by David Falk, Peter Shimkin, Jason Greenstein and Danny Levine.
Google’s expansion plans follow a recent announcement by Apple last week that it will be spend $1 billion to build a new campus in North Austin, TX; establish new sites in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City and expand operations in New York, Pittsburgh and Boulder, CO over the next three years.
Last month, Amazon announced that it would spend approximately $4 billion to house a portion of its second corporate headquarters in Long Island City, Queens. The e-commerce giant plans to spend another $4 billion to establish facilities in Northern Virginia.
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