Google Plans Major Expansion Into West Village: Report

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Google is planning a massive expansion of its New York City campus to include space for more than 12,000 new workers, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Sources familiar with the deal told The Journal that the tech giant is close to finalizing a deal for a 1.3 million-square-f00t office building at St. John's Terminal in the West Village.

Oxford Properties Group recently unveiled plans to redevelop the existing four-story structure to a glassy, 12-story office space — scrapping an initial scheme to build hundreds of housing units and a hotel in favor of an as-of-right office development, according to plans submitted to Community Board 2.

The developer expects to break ground in mid-2019 and for the completed building to be occupied by 2022.

If Google moves into the space as planned, it would give the company room for nearly 20,000 staff in the city, including at other properties it owns or leases now — rivaling the some 25,000 jobs Amazon is expected to add if it finalizes plans to open a new office in Long Island City, Queens, The Journal reports.

The St. John's building alone would give Google room for more than 8,500 employees, based on the industry standard of 150 square feet per a worker. But Google is also eyeing an expansion of its existing property at the Chelsea Market by about 300,000 square feet, sources familiar with those plans also told The Journal.

The St. John's Terminal and Chelsea Market expansions are on top of announced plans for 250,000 square feet of office space at Pier 57, which would include room for 3,500 more workers.

A spokeswoman for Google declined to comment on the St. John's Terminal expansion, but confirmed that Google plans to expand offices at Pier 57 to include community space, a winter garden and a water taxi landing accessible to the public.

Google announced that it purchased the Chelsea Market building for a whopping $2.4 billion in March, and has continued to lease space in the building to the property's famed food market and retail tenants.

Oxford Properties Group declined to comment on the plans.

The Wall Street Journal's full article on Google's expansion can be read here.

Image courtesy of COOKFOX Architects