Google To Splash Out $1bn On New Manhattan Campus

Google has said it plans to spend $1 billion (£790m) on a new presence in New York City, enabling it to roughly double the 7,000 workforce it currently employs there.

The new 1.7 million square-foot campus is to be based in the Hudson Square area of the lower west side of Manhattan.

Google said it plans to lease buildings at 550 Washington Street and at 315 and 345 Hudson Street in the West Village.

New York was Google’s first base outside of California, in 2000, and in March the company purchased Manhattan’s Chelsea Market, north of the new site, for $2.4bn.

Staff boost

The company said it sees the city as a “source of diverse, world-class talent”.

“Our investment in New York is a huge part of our commitment to grow and invest in US facilities, offices and jobs,” said Google chief financial officer Ruth Porat in a blog post.

Staff are to move into two of the new buildings by 2020 and the third by 2022.  Google said it plans to house its global commercial operations there.

The move follows Amazon’s announcement it would build its HQ2 campus in Long Island City in the New York borough of Queens.

Apple said last week it would build a new $1bn campus in Austin, Texas as part of US expansion plans.

Expansion

The current presidential administration has placed tech companies under pressure to create more US jobs.

While Amazon encouraged cities to compete with financial incentives to become the location for its second headquarters, Google said it did not receive any special financial deal.

Google’s employment plans for the city are comparable to Amazon’s goal of hiring some 25,000 staff in New York.

Amazon finally split its planned HQ2 into two facilities and is looking to build the second HQ2 campus in Crystal City, Virginia.