Google Not Pausing New Office Projects Despite Layoffs
Despite an economic environment that has prompted some of its technology giant peers to delay plans for massive office growth, Google is forging ahead on moving workers into two new office towers in Los Angeles and Austin, Texas.
Google plans to occupy One Westside, a 584K SF adaptive reuse project at 10800 West Pico Blvd. that it fully leased in Los Angeles, and complete the interior build-out for 601 West Second St., an 800K SF office tower in Downtown Austin, CoStar reported, citing sources familiar with the tech giant’s plans.
Google is sticking to its pre-lease commitment, which it inked prior to the pandemic in 2019, despite its parent company, Alphabet, planning to lay off 12,000 workers across the globe following a hiring spree during the pandemic. Google layoffs spurred speculation about the fate of its plans for the new office spaces, especially as both Microsoft and Amazon halt plans for real estate growth amid a consumer, advertising and economic downturn.
Bisnow first reported in February that Microsoft halted work on a planned 90-acre mixed-use office campus in Westside Atlanta, a project that would have included offices to house 15,000 employees, affordable housing and a grocery store. Microsoft also said it wasn't going to renew its more than 560K SF lease at City Center Plaza in Bellevue, Washington.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced that it was pausing plans to build the 3.2M SF second phase of its second headquarters campus in Arlington, Virginia. And Facebook’s parent, Meta, has been offering its office space in various markets for sublease as it planned to chop 21,000 from its staff headcount since last November.
Trammell Crow Co. and partner MSD Capital are developing the 35-story Austin office tower for Google, which already occupies more than 300K SF a block away from the new tower, CoStar reported. Macerich and Hudson Pacific Properties are the developers of Google's LA office in the $500M redevelopment of the former Westside Pavilion shopping mall off West Pico Boulevard.
