Google Could Be Driving Boston Properties To Build Glassy Kendall Square Tower
Kendall Square could be getting a different kind of Google glass.
The technology company behind Android software, the Google Glass augmented reality display and its eponymous search engine could be growing enough in Cambridge to warrant an 18-story tower that Boston Properties alluded to Tuesday during a Cambridge Planning Board meeting. If built, the project could also feature a new head house for the Kendall Square MBTA Red Line station, the Boston Business Journal reports.
The 390K SF glass building would replace the MIT Coop bookstore at 325 Main St. in one of the tightest office and lab markets in the U.S. Google’s current Cambridge office is next to the Coop at 355 Main St., part of Boston Properties’ 2.6M SF Kendall Center.
Details regarding how many jobs would be added or how much space Google would take at the new facility were not released, but Boston Properties said it intends to break ground this year. Google currently employs 1,400 in Cambridge, the Boston Globe reports.
The Google expansion comes amid a Greater Boston tech expansion. Facebook has a new office at 100 Binney St. in Kendall Square, Amazon is expanding beyond its Cambridge office at 101 Main St. across the river to a new office at Seaport Square in Boston, and Verizon’s Oath digital subsidiary, which owns Yahoo, is said to be the anchor tenant at Boston Properties’ planned Hub on Causeway office tower.
