Google Announces $1 Billion New York Campus

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Google has announced plans to develop a New York campus costing $1 billion as the company doubles the size of its workforce in the city.

The New York Times reports that Google has now announced plans to develop a $1 billion campus in the West Village of New York City with plans to double the size of its 7,000-employee workforce over the next ten years. The St. John’s Terminal building on Washington Street will act as the central hub of 1.7 million square foot campus with plans for the company to also occupy two nearby buildings on Hudson street.

Ruth Porat, Google’s chief financial officer, commented on the company’s plans in a statement saying: “New York City continues to be a great source of diverse, world-class talent. That’s what brought Google to the city in 2000, and that’s what keeps us here.” This is Google’s second push for development in the city, in March the company spent $2.4 billion on a Chelsea Market building where they already operated offices, a Google spokesperson also said that the company also planned a redevelopment of Pier 57 on the Hudson River.

Google isn’t the only tech firm expanding their reach in New York, e-commerce giant Amazon also recently announced plans to add 25,000 employees to a Long Island City facility in Queens. Outside of New York, Apple revealed a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas. The new Austin campus will mark Apple’s third in the city, where the company already employees 6,200 workers. The latest campus will be approximately 133 acres, making it the largest private employer in the city of Austin.

Google has not been quite as aggressive as Amazon which has maintained a rapid growth rate across the country, William Floyd, Google’s head of external affairs in New York commented on Google’s slower expansion saying: “We’ve been growing steadily for the past 18 years without heralding trumpets, or asking for support from the government. We’ve done it by the dint of our own work.”

The New York Times reports that not all New Yorkers are happy about the company’s expansion, however, with some Chelsea residents complaining that the Google’s presence nearby has been a gentrifying force while some restaurant owners claim that the company’s free-food-at-work policy has affected their business in the area.

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