Google is searching for new space in New York. Real estate agents familiar with the hunt tell The Wall Street Journal they need room for more than 3,000 employees.
For Google, that means it's eyeing about 600,000 square feet. For reference, that's half the Chrysler Building. It would mark a roughly 80 percent expansion for the company in NYC. (Via Google, Wikimedia Commons / Misterweiss)
And that's right on trend, according to Realty Today, who writes, "The influx of techies into the city has heated up the office rental market in Manhattan."
Numbers reported in WSJ say tech, advertising and media jobs have grown from about 265,000 in 2006 to 327,100 today. Financial services jobs, however, have fallen to 434,500 from about 449,000 in 2006. (Via CNN)
Currently, Google's New York employees live here, at 111 Eighth Ave. The company purchased the building for $1.9 billion in 2010. It has 2.9 million square feet. (Via Wikimedia Commons / Scott Roy Atwood)
"But because the last landlord had all sorts of long-term leases, they can't move, expand enough in it quickly." (Via The Wall Street Journal)
The real estate hunt is still in its early stages, though.
For now, Google just leased an extra 75,000 square feet in the Chelsea Market building across the street from its NY HQ. It already had 320,000 square feet there. (Via Crain's New York Business)
Add that to another 360,000 at another building nearby, and you can see a kind of NY Google campus forming. (Via Google)
The primary reason for the growth, according to company executives, is to attract engineers that want to live in New York, not in California.
Geek speculates Google might also be hiring for NY Fiber, its high-speed Internet service. It points to an employment listing for a "Google Fiber Regional Sales Manager."
The listing says candidates will "evangelize Google Fiber services to MDU (multi-dwelling apartments and condos) and large SMB owners." Sounds a little New York-y.
Still, this would be slightly surprising because when the company announced Fiber expansion into 34 new cities earlier this year, New York was not on the list.
