OK, Google, We Get It: Tech Giant Buys Another Chelsea Building
Google is doubling down in Chelsea, picking up another building in the area where it has been amassing properties for years.
The tech giant has acquired the Milk Building at 450 West 15th St., Crain’s New York Business reports. Jamestown Properties is the seller, and the price wasn’t made public.
Jamestown sold Google the Chelsea Market building for $2.4B last year, and this new building connects to the market by a skybridge. Google's presence at the Milk Building will span eight floors, per Crain’s.
Google has been significantly expanding real estate holdings across the country. In New York, along with Chelsea Market, it owns its headquarters on Eighth Avenue and is creating a massive campus at St. John's Terminal in Hudson Square, the 1.3M SF, Oxford Properties-led redevelopment at 550 Washington St. It is also leasing space at RXR Realty and Youngwoo & Associates’ Pier 57.
In 2018, it picked up some of the priciest real estate deals in the country, and has said it will spend $13B buying and improving its real estate assets in 2019. It has, however, faced criticism for its use of anonymous LLCs to secure development deals and tax breaks with local officials in the past.
“This purchase will help us meet our short-term growth needs in Chelsea-Meatpacking," William Floyd, Google's director of external affairs, told Crain's. "We are excited by this investment and are committed to continuing to contribute to the vibrancy of this amazing neighborhood."
