NEW YORK CITY — Search engine giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) plans to invest $1 billion to create a new office campus in Manhattan’s Hudson Square district. Situated just south of West Village, the 1.7 million-square-foot campus is a crucial next step for the company’s goal to double its New York workforce to 14,000 over the next 10 years.
Google has signed two leases and a letter of intent to establish the campus, to be named Google Hudson Square. The tech firm will occupy 315 and 345 Hudson St. beginning in 2020 and move into 550 Washington St. when it wraps up construction in 2022.
The campus will be the primary location for the company’s New York-based Global Business Organization. The site is located near Pier 40 at Hudson River Park and the Holland Tunnel.
According to the owner of 315 Hudson, Jack Resnick & Sons, Google will occupy five full floors and portions of another at the 500,000-square-foot building. Google’s new 280,000-square-foot office space will feature open workspaces, a café, rooftop garden and event space.
CBRE represented Google and Newmark Knight Frank represented the owner in the lease transaction, which brings the redeveloped office building to full occupancy. Google will join 315 Hudson’s existing tenants including Galvanize Inc. and Bed Bath & Beyond’s creative team.
Google will occupy 180,000 square feet at 345 Hudson St.
Google signed a 180,000-square-foot lease at 345 Hudson with Trinity Hudson Holdings, a joint venture partnership comprising Hines, Trinity Real Estate and Norges Bank Real Estate Management. CBRE represented both Google and the landlord in the lease negotiations.
The lease brings the 980,000-square-foot building to full occupancy, according to Hines. The property at 345 Hudson is one of 12 assets in the Hudson Square Properties joint venture.
Google has signed a letter of intent to anchor 550 Washington St., a redevelopment of the historic St. John’s Terminal freight warehouse. (Rendering courtesy of COOKFOX Architects)
The remainder of Google Hudson Square will be located at 550 Washington, the historic St. Johns Terminal that offers 600 feet of frontage along the Hudson River. Oxford Properties Group is the owner of the former freight warehouse spanning 1.3 million square feet. Google has signed a letter of intent with Oxford to anchor the redevelopment.
Another Bite of the Big Apple
New York City has been the epicenter for several tech expansions in recent months. Google’s announcement comes nearly one month after Amazon selected Queens for one half of its $5 billion HQ2 operation. The New York Times also reports that Apple, IBM, Facebook, LinkedIn and Uber have expanded in the Big Apple recently.
Google has already made several hefty investments in Manhattan this year. In March, Google purchased Chelsea Market from Atlanta-based Jamestown Properties for $2.4 billion.
In February, the company announced it was expanding its lease at RXR Realty and YoungWoo & Associates’ Pier 57 mixed-use project fronting the Hudson River. Google will now lease 320,000 square feet of office space, in addition to 50,000 square feet of public space for cultural events and educational programs.
Google is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., but is growing faster outside the Bay Area than within it, according to Ruth Porat, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc. So far this year, Google opened new offices and data centers in Detroit; Boulder, Colo.; Los Angeles; Montgomery County, Tenn.; and Jackson County, Ala.
“As we continue to grow across the country, we look forward to calling New York City home for many years to come,” says Porat. “Our investment in New York is a huge part of our commitment to grow and invest in U.S. facilities, offices and jobs.”
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998. Since then, the company has grown to more than 80,000 employees worldwide and established or purchased products and platforms like Search, Maps, Ads, Gmail, Android, Chrome and YouTube.
In October 2015, Alphabet Inc. became the parent holding company of Google.
Alphabet Inc.’s stock price closed on Monday, Dec. 17 at $1,029.35 per share, down from $1,085.09 a year ago.
— John Nelson