Back in late 2010, Google acquired 111 Eighth Avenue to act as the company's New York headquarters. The building is huge, with some 2.9 million square feet of usable space making it bigger even than Apple's new spaceship office construction. However, Google wants more space, and it settled on leasing from the Chelsea Market across the street.
Now, as The Real Deal reports, Google is about to go a step further and acquire the entire Chelsea Market building for a price north of $2 billion.
Google has been renting space in the 1.2 million square foot building for years, with over 400,000 square feet used by Google at a cost of around $60 per square foot. The tech giant shares the building with a food hall, shopping mall, TV production company, and other companies using general office space.
If the deal concludes, Google will take full control of the building meaning it then owns both sides of the street. As for what this means for other tenants, nothing has been said but it is thought Google intends to allow the retail areas of the building to continue as is. But with further expansion clearly planned, some businesses will inevitably be forced out.
$2 billion works out to around $1,600 per square foot, but Google has more than enough cash to pay for the building and will save millions in rent each year by doing so. The company will also get more of that money back over time from the other businesses continuing to rent space there.
