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[NYguy]

https://commercialobserver.com/2021/...hudson-square/

Google Buying Manhattan’s St. John’s Terminal Building for $2.1B
The deal is not exactly a surprise, and solidifies Google's plans to grow in New York City


BY TOM ACITELLI
SEPTEMBER 21, 2021

Tech giant Google is buying the St. John’s Terminal building in Manhattan’s Hudson Square for $2.1 billion, the company announced on Tuesday morning. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, and will easily be the biggest U.S. office building deal since the pandemic started in March 2020. CBRE represented Google on the deal.

Google already leases the 1.3 million-square-foot terminal building at 550 Washington Street, which is undergoing an extensive renovation and is expected to open in mid-2023. Its purchase of the building from developer Oxford Properties and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (operating as CPP Investments) is likely not that big a surprise in the New York real estate world.

”Google likes to own where they have their presence,” a real estate executive told Commercial Observer in June.

The company has a massive footprint in West Chelsea, the Meatpacking District and Hudson Square, including at 111 Eighth Avenue, a nearly 3 million-square-foot building it bought 10 years ago for $1.8 billion; the Chelsea Market at 75 Ninth Avenue; which it bought for $2.4 billion in 2018; and the nearby Milk Building at 450 West 15th Street for around $600 million in 2019.

The moves, especially the 111 Eighth buy, signaled Google’s intention to build New York into its East Coast headquarters.

The St. John’s Terminal deal solidifies those plans. It and Google’s other Hudson Square properties at 315 and 345 Hudson Square will serve as the headquarters of the company’s Global Business Organization, which includes Google’s sales and partnership teams. The company plans to grow its New York employee count to 14,000, about double what it was just three years ago. Nos. 315 and 345 are already fitted out.

“Google has been fortunate to call New York City home for more than 20 years, during which time we have grown to 12,000 employees,” the company’s Tuesday announcement said. “New York’s vitality, creativity and world-class talent are what keep us rooted here.”

Also likely keeping the company here: a leasing and sales market that increasingly favors, and relies on, technology companies. The likes of Amazon, Facebook and Google have signed some of the biggest deals of the past 24 months. Facebook’s 730,000-square-foot lease at Vornado Realty Trust‘s under-development Farley Post Office project remains the city’s biggest office lease since the pandemic started. Amazon, though it abandoned plans to open its second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, has taken huge chunks of the five boroughs; this includes the entire former Lord & Taylor building at 424 Fifth Avenue, where it plans to have 2,000 employees work, and numerous warehouse sites for deliveries.

[NYguy]

https://blog.google/inside-google/co...t-in-new-york/

Google has been fortunate to call New York City home for more than 20 years, during which time we have grown to 12,000 employees. New York’s vitality, creativity and world-class talent are what keep us rooted here. It is why we’re announcing today that we are deepening our commitment to New York and intend to purchase the St. John’s Terminal in Manhattan for $2.1 billion, which will serve as the anchor of our new Hudson Square campus.

As Google moves toward a more flexible hybrid approach to work, coming together in person to collaborate and build community will remain an important part of our future. It is why we continue investing in our offices around the world. Our decision to exercise our option to purchase St. John’s Terminal further builds upon our existing plans to invest more than $250 million this year in our New York campus presence. It is also an important part of meeting our previously announced racial equity commitments, which include continuing to grow our workforce in diverse communities like New York.

The St. John’s Terminal site at 550 Washington Street, which we currently lease and expect to open by mid-2023, will be one part of the already sizable investment we’ve made in New York — Google’s largest office outside California. We’ve made substantial progress in building out our 1.7 million-square-foot Hudson Square campus that will serve as the New York headquarters for our Global Business Organization, which includes our sales and partnership teams. The St. John’s Terminal transaction will close in the first quarter of 2022.

St. John’s Terminal is a former freight facility that is being reimagined into a highly sustainable, adaptable and connected building. Its biophilic design connecting people more closely to nature will add numerous outdoor open spaces and reconnect the Hudson Square neighborhood to the waterfront. The building will also offset 100% of its carbon in support of Google’s ambitious carbon goals.

Construction is also proceeding at Pier 57, which we expect will be completed next year. This space will provide new opportunities for us to engage with our community neighbors, and will include office space occupied by Google, a public food hall, community space, galleries, the city’s largest public rooftop space and educational and environmental programs run by the Hudson River Park Trust.

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Credit: JC_Heights

[chris08876]

Credit: Michael Young via NYY

[chris08876]

Oxford Properties Completes $2.1B Sale Of St. John’s Terminal To Google In Hudson Square, Manhattan

Oxford Properties has sold St. John’s Terminal to Google for $2.1 billion. Located at 550 Washington Street in Hudson Square, the terminal property is designed by COOKFOX and developed by Oxford Properties and will serve as the anchor of Google’s new corporate campus, which comprises 1.7 million square feet along with two additional sites at 315 Hudson Street and 345 Hudson Street.

Google’s spaces in the two Hudson Street buildings are now completed. The St. John’s Terminal building is expected to open by mid-2023 as the New York City headquarters for Google’s Global Business Organization.

Oxford Properties Group purchased the historic St. John’s Terminal site, which included 3.25 acres south of West Houston Street and 600 feet of Hudson River frontage, from Westbrook Partners and Atlas Capital Group for $700 million on January 31, 2018.

Described as a “biophilic office community,” St. John’s Terminal features large landscaped terraces that surround the perimeter of the fourth floor and each level above the tenth floor. Amenity spaces at St. John’s Terminal will include a rooftop garden, indoor and outdoor event spaces, bike storage, and a cafe.

Google employees have already started working in the new building.

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NYY