Google to expand into Sunnyvale, makes room for 2,900 workers

Having hit the limit for rapid expansion in Mountain View, Google has made its first move into Sunnyvale, leasing a large campus that could house up to 2,900 employees.

Google confirmed on Aug. 12 that it had leased the 716,000-square-foot Technology Corners at Moffett Park. The 26.5-acre campus is on Innovation Way and 11th Avenue, neighboring the Moffett Towers and the southeastern corner of Moffett Field. The Class A campus was built in 2000 by the Jay Paul Co. and includes a light rail station and a 16,000 square foot gym. The lease allows Google to occupy it in 2013, a Google spokesperson said.

Google leased the last large vacant office campus available in Mountain View, “The Quad” on Ellis Street, earlier this year. The company has indicated that it may soon build more space on its Mountain View properties, but plans have yet to be submitted for city review.

“As we continue to grow, it’s important to find space for our future employees close to our headquarters,” said David Radcliffe, Google’s vice president of real estate and workplace services. “That’s why we’ve leased space at Moffett Park’s Technology Corners. We look forward to working with the local community as we continue to grow.”

Given the growth predictions Google has given to city officials, Mayor Jac Siegel was not surprised. Google predicts that it will require office space in the neighborhood of “20 million square feet over 20 years,” Siegel said. That would allow for as many as 50,000 new employees, and 2,500 new employees every year, on average. Google hired 2,500 employees in the last quarter ending in June.

“There are limits as to what you can do in a city our size,” Siegel said. “We can’t accommodate (Google’s growth) as rapidly as what they need. We have got to balance everything that goes on in the city and that’s what we are going to do.”

Google has told city officials that it has several plans for expanding in Mountain View: a new flagship building on the vacant lot next to its headquarters on Shoreline Boulevard and Charleston Road; the expansion of a recently purchased campus at Shoreline Boulevard and Villa Street (formerly the home of the Pacific Press) and the 1.2-million-square-foot campus at NASA Ames set for construction in 2013.

Frustration with Google’s quickly growing presence in Mountain View was apparent at a City Council meeting last month about Google’s proposed bridge over Stevens Creek to the 1.2-million-square-foot campus to be built at NASA Ames. The level of discontent expressed by the council and community members appeared to indicate general discontent with how Google is changing the city, and there appeared to be concern over whether the community is getting enough in return.

Google’s second-quarter report, released last month, saw the company adding 2,500 employees and bringing in a record $9 billion in revenue, an increase of 32 percent from last year. The company has numerous promising projects in the works, including a new social network that threatens Facebook called Google Plus, which is now being tested by 25 million users who are allowed to invite their friends to use it.

On Aug. 8, it was reported that Google had made a deal to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. The $12.5 billion deal would be Google’s largest acquisition ever, and would help Google in its battle over patents as it expands its mobile phone business, which will now include manufacturing of cell phones along with its popular Android operating system for phones.