Google Bidding Around $2B For Infested NYC Office Building
Now we know how Google feels about rent versus buy!
Google Among Bidders for $2 Billion Building
By ANTON TROIANOVSKI
Google Inc. is a front runner to buy the massive building it occupies as its New York City headquarters in a deal that could be worth nearly $2 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Other buyers from around the world are also chasing the block-long, 2.9-million-square-foot building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, the person said. If the deal is done near $2 billion, the building’s sale would make it one of the largest acquisitions of a single property in New York.
Google, if it completes the deal, would be jumping into a real-estate market in which sales of well-located office buildings occupied by financially strong tenants—like Google—have been sparking bidding wars. Most recently, Boston’s tallest skyscraper, the John Hancock Tower, drew a flood of bids and a $930 million sale price.
The building, known as both 111 Eighth Avenue and 76 Ninth Avenue, was a Port Authority of NY and NJ property, and is filled with backup generators, huge electrical power capacity, fiber optic cabling, and internet-ready offices. Google is leasing half a million square feet of office space, including inside the building they hope to purchase.
At a $2 billion selling price, the deal works out to $690 a square foot for the 2.9 million sf, 18-story building in the fashionable Chelsea district. The market for New York City office space has been selling for $400-500/sf, but $1500/sf was not uncommon during the bubble in 2007.
I hope Google is really determined to stay there, because, like several Manhattan office buildings, bedbugs have been discovered at Google-NYC.
“Like several other businesses in New York City, we’ve discovered bedbugs in a small area of our office,” the spokeswoman said. “We have notified employees and are taking steps to treat the affected area.”
I think they should get a vermin discount. What do you think is fair?
No matter what anyone says about buying in the Real Bay Area, at least Mountain View office buildings are bedbug-free. Are you listening, Google?
October 30th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Maybe GOOG can figure out how to make the bedbugs pay rent.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:59 pm
do they appear on Sheet View?
March 28th, 2013 at 12:19 pm
[...] For example, Google tried to buy Groupon for six billion dollars. Six. Billion. Dollars. For a company that throws up virtual coupons on the Internet. A company based in Chicago. And Groupon said NO. I guess they think they’re worth more than… Six. Billion. Dollars. For a little reality check, the biggest acquisition Google ever had was paying $3 billion for DoubleClick, in 2007. Good thing they didn’t do anything foolish back then like buy an office building in Manhattan. [...]