Google's unprecedented growth in the technology space is forcing the company to expand its real estate holdings beyond its Mountain View, California headquarters. The search engine giant recently inked a deal with NASA to build a new corporate campus on 42 acres of vacant land on the aeronautic organization's Silicon Valley base, the Mercury News reported.
Under the agreement with NASA, Google will build a 1.2 million square-foot corporate campus that includes fitness and daycare facilities, corporate housing and general office space. The project, which is scheduled to commence in 2013, will allow Google to create an integrated office and residential complex that looks out over the San Francisco Bay.
Google has yet to release any other specifics on the upcoming campus, including how many people will work and live there, according to the news source.
Michael Marlaire, director of the NASA Research Park Office at the California base, said that Google did not need to release the plans because it is "proprietary information a company has made available to the government which would be likely to cause the company substantial competitive harm if released."
Gregory Davies, a vice president with commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley CPS, told The Mercury News that Google is being forced to step away from its Mountain View, California headquarters because there is simply no space left to expand. The company's main corporate campus is boxed in by Highway 101, NASA's campus and another business park.
"You don't have a normal market," Davies told the paper. "You have one of Silicon Valley's biggest users of real estate in a development-constrained location. The equation is strongly in favor of Google. They are the 800-pound gorilla in that sandbox."
In related news, Google is said to be in negotiations with its Manhattan landlord to purchase one of New York City's largest buildings, which currently houses the search engine giant's East Coast headquarters as well as other large corporations, according to a New York Post report.
If consummated, the deal would give Google complete ownership of the 18-story building located between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the upscale Chelsea district.
Beecher Tuttle is a TechZone360 contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Tammy Wolf
