Google Buys New York City Office Building For $1.9 Billion

Google to Buy New York Office Building from the Wall Street Journal reports Google has signed the deal to buy the NYC office building they currently lease for close to $1.9 billion.

This was an expected move by Google, who currently leases about 2 or 3 of the floors of the massive building. The building is well known, previously the home of the Port Authority, with space of about 2.9 million square feet. It fills an entire city block, from Eighth and Ninth avenues from 15th and 16th streets. It has several addresses, commonly 76 Ninth Avenue or 111 Eighth Ave and is one of the largest buildings in New York City.

Google moved into this building as part of their expansion plans in the big Apple back in early 2006. I remember when the office space they had was virtually empty. Last time I visited the offices, it was jammed packed and they needed more space. Google currently leases about 500,000 square feet of this building.

The Wall Street Journal said this is “the biggest [deal] for a single building in the U.S. this year.”

Postscript: On December 22, 2010 Google announced they “closed” on a “deal with the partnership of Taconic Investment Partners, Jamestown Properties and the New York State Common Retirement Fund to purchase 111 Eighth Avenue (also known as 76 Ninth Avenue).”