Technology giant Google has a worldwide footprint and is now planning to expand its local presence by growing its NYC office — the company’s second-largest office location.
Google has had an established presence in NYC for over two decades and now employs about 12,000 New Yorkers. On Tuesday the company announced plans to further its commitment to the Big Apple by purchasing St. John’s Terminal for $2.1 billion. This is the most expensive sale of a single United States office building since the start of the pandemic, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The former freight facility-turned-office space at 550 Washington Street will be the cornerstone of Google’s new Hudson Square campus in Manhattan. In the midst of the ongoing pandemic, the company is working to adopt a flexible hybrid approach for its employees, and this location will offer enough space to grow its NYC workforce by about 2,000 people in the coming years.
Google’s Hudson Square campus spans 1.7 million square feet and will serve as the headquarters location for the company’s Global Business Organization, which encompasses its sales and partnership departments.
The addition of St. John’s terminal builds upon the company’s existing plans to put $250 million toward its Manhattan presence this year. The tech giant also announced plans in March to add “thousands” of new roles across four U.S. cities: New York, Atlanta, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
One of Google’s priorities is making commitments to racial equity, an initiative it’s working toward by expanding its headcount in diverse communities like NYC. As it deepens its commitment to the city, Google is currently working on a construction project at nearby Pier 57.
“[Pier 57] will provide new opportunities for us to engage with our community neighbors, and will include office space occupied by Google, a public food hall, community space, galleries, the city’s largest public rooftop space, and educational and environmental programs run by the Hudson River Park Trust,” the company said in a blog post.
The St. John’s Terminal transaction is set to close in Q1 2022, and Google is looking to open the new space sometime mid-2023. Until then, the giant is currently hiring to fill more than 700 roles in NYC, the majority of which span its engineering and technology teams. It’s also onboarding talent across business strategy, design, sales, marketing and more.
