Google Moving into $1.8 Billion Chelsea Building

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Yes, we checked the numbers, they’re true.

In 2010, Google acquired an 18 story, full city block, red brick building at 111 Eighth Avenue, between 15th and 16th Streets, for $1.8 billion.

It used to be the headquarters of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The building holds a total of 2.9 million square feet of space. That makes it New York City’s third largest office tower in total floor space and much larger than the total size of Google’s main headquarters in California.

The $1.8 billion Google paid for the building was more than the $1.65 billion in stock they paid for YouTube in 2006. But they had a good reason, other than having enough space to finally give God that job interview.

It’s because 111 Eighth Avenue sits on top of a fiber optic highway and its infrastructure is unusually suitable for data centers — say industry analysts.

According to a report in Crain’s, Google is expected to expand into as much as 500, 000 more square feet of office space in its Chelsea building by the beginning of 2015.

Google will transfer staff from nearby offices that it currently rents at 85 10th Ave. and Chelsea Market.

Built in 1932, the office tower went through renovations in 1999 in which its elevators, electrical systems, and security systems were all upgraded.

The building’s other tenants, which include Nike, Barnes & Noble and the ad firm Deutsche Inc., are reportedly being paid by Google not to renew their leases.

The move makes sense financially for Google as rents in the neighborhood have been skyrocketing. 111 Eighth Avenue is valued today at as much as $2 billion. So they got it for a song. It is also more productive for a company to have all of its offices under one roof, rather than spread out over several locations.

Now they’ll get everybody inside, close the door, and only come out after the colonization star fleet is ready to take off.