14 DAY TRIAL // For months now, it’s been rumored that Google was on a real estate shopping spree. Now, new information shows that the company is spending $1.6 billion in California alone.
Bloomberg reports that Google is spending $585 million to buy more than half of a Silicon Valley office park. The company has also agreed to lease an entire campus in development to make space for even more employees.
This information adds to the sum that was already reported several days ago. According to a quarterly report that was filed two days ago, Google has signed office leases for a total of about $1 billion through 2028 and bought land and buildings for an additional $585 million without disclosing any specifics.
Experts are amazed at how much money Google has spent on real estate, saying that there’s probably no other major tech company that has taken so much real estate in a short period of time. “Google is a huge employer and they’re putting their stake in the ground and saying Silicon Valley is our home base,” said Mark Kuiper, senior VP with Colliers International in San Jose, California.
As of the end of September, Google has 55,030 full-time employees, which is 19 percent more than it had in the same period of the previous year.
The campus that Google is leasing space in is in Redwood City, about 11 miles away from the Mountain View headquarters. The campus includes sports fields and a park and is next to the restored wetlands that are part of the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge.
The company has purchased about 934,200 feet of Class A office space and an additional 38,000 square foot fitness center that includes a gym, pool and spa, proof of how much the company puts price on the perks it offers employee.
Google's growing property
Google has been trying to expand to more and more areas as the company grows, hiring more and more people. Google has a pretty straight policy about how its offices have to be arranged to allow people the necessary space to work. That means that even if the office spaces are pretty big, they won’t house that many people since Google’s spaces are never over crowded.
The company has had quite a few troubles with the San Francisco citizens who are blaming Google and all other Silicon Valley tech giants for the rising rent prices. The company is making it pretty clear that it has no intention of going anywhere.