Google launches billion-dollar California property investment plan for 2021

MOUNTAIN VIEW — Google will “double down” on California by investing more than US$$1 billion in properties and development projects statewide, including two that are already underway in the Bay Area, said the company.

“A lasting economic recovery will come from local communities, and the people and small businesses that give them life,” said Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google and its owner, tech titan Alphabet.

Mountain View-based Google will embark this year on that recovery endeavor with wide-ranging investments around the country and in California.

“Nationwide, the tech titan intends to invest more than US$$7 billion and create at least 10,000 new Google jobs,” the company said.

Google is opening office buildings in Virginia, Texas, Minnesota, and Oregon; is expanding its office staff in New York City; and is upgrading its campuses in Chicago, Seattle, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.

At the end of 2020, Alphabet employed 135,300 people worldwide, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In the Bay Area, Google is planning to include at least four major development projects in the billion-dollar property enterprise:

— Bay View, a Google campus in Mountain View at the NASA Ames Research Center. The project will total 1.1 million square feet and will sprout at the corner of Lomax Lane and Wright Avenue.

— Charleston East, a Google campus in Mountain View at 2000 N. Shoreline Blvd. This project will be 595,000 square feet in size.

— 1265 Borregas Ave. in Sunnyvale, a Google office building that would total 182,500 square feet. The building will include mass timber materials that are being used in new methods of construction.

Two of the four projects in the Bay Area, the Bay View and Charleston East campuses, are existing developments. They were included in the total because Google intends to complete them, which then creates a location for more jobs. The Sunnyvale project on Borregas is brand new.

Google intends to complete the construction of the two campuses in Mountain View this year. The Sunnyvale office building is scheduled to begin construction in 2021.

“Companies like Google continue to invest heavily in our state, which will help us recover faster and come back stronger than before,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

Source: East Bay Times