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Google's massive Hudson Square outpost at 550 Washington Street gets craned and $973M in financing

In late 2018, Oxford Properties Group partnering with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPPIB) filed plans to build a 588,000-square-foot, nine-floor addition to the St. John’s Terminal building located at 550 Washington Street in Hudson Square where The Wall Street Journal broke the news that the internet tech-giant Google will lease the entire 1.3 million square feet of office space to be created inside. The deal was finalized finalized last summer. Last week, The Observer reported that Wells Fargo had been selected to lead the $973 million construction loan for the project. Simultaneously, two towering kangaroo cranes have since been erected on-site atop the old warehouse structure, signifying construction is now in full swing.

The adaptive re-use plan designed by COOKFOX Architects involves salvaging the 1934-built former freight terminal of the High Line and building above it. A recent pass by the site reveals that work has started at Google/Oxford's nearly 600-foot-long portion spanning south of West Houston Street between Washington and West streets. The northern sections of the St. John's Building, which includes the bridge over Houston Street has been demolished (alas!). The section of the terminal building that stretched from West Houston to Clarkson Street will be developed with housing and retail, tentatively known as Clarkson Square.

The conversion/addition is expected to be finished in 2022. The plan, in addition to Google's forthcoming expansions within Hudson Square, at Pier 57 and at Chelsea Market, has the potential to nearly double the search giant’s local headcount to at least 14,000 employees. Google's $1 billion investment into the neighborhood, collectively known as Google Hudson Square, includes taking up space at 315 Hudson and 350 Hudson Street.

Built as a rail freight terminus to the High Line in 1934, the St. John's Terminal features incredible ceiling heights, oversized floorplates and an unprecedented sweep of Hudson River-facing exposures. While Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Group will develop the northern end of the terminal separately, the Oxford vision entails preserving the first three floors of the old structure and incorporating them into a 1.3 million square foot, 12-floor office building — a groundscraper of sorts.

According to permits on file, the addition would nearly triple the height of the existing structure from 80 feet to 232 feet high. The floor schedule shows there will be ground floor retail, a bike room for 237 bikes, staff lockers, workshop and break rooms in the cellar, and offices above.

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City Realty