Google Expands in LA
Google has made a big buy in tech trendy Playa Vista.
The company has put down $120M to pick up 12 acres in the beachside tech hub, according to the LA Times. In addition, Google plans to lease up an adjacent 319k SF aircraft hangar where Howard Hughes famously built the Spruce Goose. (It's a fascinating story, and to learn more, you can Google it.) The land is right next to the Hercules Campus, a development by The Ratkovich Co., and is zoned for 900k SF, which could vastly increase the company's LA presence.
This comes two years after Google first got serious about the LA market, leasing 100k SF at the famous Binoculars Building in Venice. The Frank Gehry-designed building had been home to an ad agency for years. That lease brought the company's LA footprint up to 500 employees, but the new purchase greatly raises its ceiling in LA.
Hercules Campus is a 28-acre, 530k SF property, and has already attracted other tech giants, including YouTube, which has 41k SF on the campus. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, Microsoft and Facebook both have operations.
