Google Plans to Spend Over $1 Billion on New York City Campus
By Todd Spangler
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Google has set plans to dramatically boost its footprint in New York City: The internet giant said it will invest more than $1 billion to establish a new 1.7-million-square-foot campus, Hudson Square, in Manhattan. The move is a major part of Google’s expansion plans in the city that will let it more than double its headcount in NYC, to over 14,000 workers, over the next decade.
Google Hudson Square will become the company’s primary HQ in NYC, CFO of Google and parent company Alphabet Ruth Porat wrote in a blog post Monday. “Our investment in New York is a huge part of our commitment to grow and invest in U.S. facilities, offices and jobs,” she wrote.
Google expects to start moving into two buildings in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood — at 315 and 345 Hudson Streets — by 2020. (Pictured above: Artist’s rendering of 315 Hudson St., which is currently undergoing redevelopment by its owner, real-estate firm Jack Resnick & Sons.) That will be followed by the nearby St. John’s Terminal building, at 550 Washington St., in 2022 once the building is complete.
Earlier this year Google announced a $2.4 billion deal to buy the Chelsea Market shopping and office complex, where it has several floors of offices, and plans to lease an additional 320,000 square feet of space at Pier 57.
After establishing its first NYC offices in 2000, Google currently has more than 7,000 employees in the Big Apple. All told, with Google Hudson Square and other expansion plans, Google will have office space to be able to more than double the number of staffers in New York over the next 10 years, according to Porat.
Google’s newest Manhattan project come as Amazon, another internet-industry giant, also picked for a massive new outpost. Last month, Amazon announced that it will establish dual East Coast headquarters located in Long Island City , in the NYC borough of Queens, and the in Arlington, Va. Amazon said it would hire some 25,000 workers in each location. Meanwhile, Apple last week unveiled a $1 billion expansion project of its own in North Austin, Texas, along with plans to boost headcount in additional cities, including Culver City, Calif.
According to Porat, Google is growing faster in areas outside its home base of the San Francisco Bay Area, noting that the company this year opened new offices and data centers in locations including L.A.; Detroit; Boulder, Colo.; Tennessee; and Alabama.
Google has contributed more than $150 million in grants and employee-matched giving to New York nonprofit institutions since 2011, according to Porat. Projects have included outfitting the New York City Public Library System with free Wi-Fi hotspots for public school students and families without home internet access.
Pictured above: Artist’s rendering of 315 Hudson St.
