Google has confirmed that it will be investing about $1 billion on a new campus in the city of New York. Google becomes the second major tech company to pick the Big Apple as the next base of operations after Amazon confirmed that it will also be building part of its second headquarter in this city. The move is expected to bring new investments into the city and create local jobs. The new campus will be known as Google Hudson Square and it will cover approximately 1.7 million square feet. The plan at the moment by the tech giant is to have the campus ready for occupation by the start of 2022.
The company is also planning to double the number of employees in its New York office to 14,000 over the coming decade. Investing in new developments away from the main headquarters is a new trend that many large tech companies have been exploring. In addition to Amazon’s second headquarter in two cities in the US away from the company’s base in Seattle, Apple also announced that it will build a new campus in Austin, Texas. The campus will cost about $1 billion.
Many experts believe that the growing preference for New York is a perfect reflection of the city’s growing stature as a center of innovation and incubator technology companies. New York offers millions of white-collar workers as well as a top of the line infrastructure. This makes investments to build such campuses less costly and more feasible in the long run. Google said in a statement that the investment in New York is part of a concerted effort by the company to invest in new facilities around the country. The tech giant also noted that the decision to choose New York was very “sensible” due to the massive amount of talent available in the city. Besides, New York has been at the center of Google’s advertising business, one of the company’s core revenue generators at the moment.
In addition to this, a lot of US companies have come under increasing pressure from the White House to create local jobs. American companies that have moved production overseas have faced an increased backlash from the president. It’s not likely that this was a factor in Google’s decision to build the new campus in New York but it’s something worth pointing out. But Google already has a presence in New York. This is not the first campus the company is building. The company’s office at 111 Eighth Avenue is one of the largest buildings in the city. Google purchased the building back in 2010 for about $1.77 billion.
Earlier this year, the company also finalized a deal to acquire the Manhattan Chelsea Market. The tech giant is also leasing more space on Pier 57 where a four-block campus is expected to be built. This is a clear indication that the search engine giant wants to expand into new cities and build a presence beyond its headquarters in Mountain View California. Details about when the work on the new $1 billion campus will begin are still not clear but the facility will be up and running in three years.
