Chelsea Market building at 95 Ninth Avenue

Google is looking across the street to the Chelsea Market building for more office space, after some attempts to soak up additional space at its headquarters at 111 Eighth Avenue were thwarted, Crain’s reported.

The Internet and advertising giant is in talks to take about 75,000 square feet at 95 Ninth Avenue, the space across the street from 111 Eighth (where offices are in at least one instance connected via slide). The company leased 95,000 square feet at 95 Ninth, already an expansion from their previous space, about two months ago. If the pending lease is signed, Google’s total square footage at the space will be around 300,000. [more]

111 Eighth Avenue

The Bloomberg Administration has made no secret of its goal to promote New York City’s burgeoning tech industry in order to diversify the local economy. And the message is hitting home with tech entrepreneurs, the Associated Press reported.

“Over the last few years, what we’ve seen over and over again is a commitment to make New York City a viable alternative to Silicon Valley and a place where true innovation occurs,” said Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt earlier this month. [more]

Chelsea Market

Google already has its own building at 111 Eighth Avenue that it bought for $1.9 billion, but now the tech giant is set to lease approximately 94,000 square feet at Chelsea Market, according to the Wall Street Journal. (See video after the jump)

111 Eighth Avenue

Advertising giant Deutsch will renew its lease for 100,000 square feet at 111 Eighth Avenue, the New York Observer reported. This further derails Google’s plans to expand in the 3 million square-foot building it bought at the end 2010 for a record $1.8 billion.

Google had been in talks to pay the ad firm, owned by Interpublic Group, to choose not to exercise its option to renew. Deutsch had considered inking a lease at 11 Madison Avenue, the Observer said. [more]

A rendering of the Cornell-Technion campus

Not only did Google’s purchase of a Chelsea headquarters affirm the neighborhood’s tech sector appeal, but the Silicon Valley giant is also using the neighborhood to draw the next wave of start-up entrepreneurs. DNAinfo reported that Google’s headquarters on Eighth Avenue will house the Cornell-Technion applied science graduate school while the permanent campus gets built on Roosevelt Island. Classes are set to begin this fall. [more]

From left: Andrew Berman, executive director of Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the Chelsea Market

A coalition of neighborhood preservationists and other community groups are stepping up the fight against a plan to expand the Chelsea Market retail and office complex with a petition.

Jamestown Properties, the owners of Chelsea Market, have proposed adding a hotel and separate nine-story office tower on top of the existing land marked building at 75 Ninth Avenue, one of the largest and most successful retail and commercial complexes in New York. [more]

111 Eighth Avenue

As if the $1.8 billion Google spent to acquire 111 Eighth Avenue in 2010 wasn’t enough, now the search giant will be hit by a massive property tax bill increase — 17 percent greater than the one it incurred last year.

After some delay, the city will send out its updated property tax assessments, which take affect in July, over the next few days, and according to the Wall Street Journal most bills will increase. [more]

From left: Harlan Berger, CEO of Centaur Properties, Joe McMIillan, CEO of DDG Partners and Chelsea map

A steady stream of developers are trying to cash in on the influx of tech workers to Chelsea since Google moved its New York headquarters to 111 Eighth avenue last year, the Wall Street Journal reported, with many keen to build residential properties to house Google’s employees.

The number of condominium unit sales in Chelsea jumped to 121 in the third quarter, from 78 during the same period in 2012, according to appraisal firm Miller Samuel, and the neighborhood has more condo projects in the works than any other neighborhood in Manhattan.

DDG Partners recently secured a $26 million construction loan and has broken ground on a 40-unit condo project at 345 West 14th Street and the Brodsky Organization will be launching sales at buildings it purchased from the General Theological Seminary which spans 20th to 21st streets, and Ninth and Tenth avenues, in early 2012.
… [more]

The future of Times Square?

Consumer-focused Internet firms like Google and Amazon that have a limited retail presence might be the next type of company to take retail space in the bustling Times Square area which in recent years has seen growth of apparel tenants like American Eagle and Forever 21. “Theoretically, at some point, I envision brands like Google, like Amazon — large brands that don’t necessarily have a brick and mortar presence,” opening stores in Times Square, David LaPierre, an executive vice president at CBRE, said. “There are a lot of groups out there that predominantly survive on a wholesale business and at some point are going to get it together and figure out how to [sell] retail.”… [more]

111 Eighth AvenueInside Google’s new 111 Eighth Avenue digs, the search engine is facing off against ad giant Deutsch for space on the 14th and 15 floors, the New York Post reported.

Donny Deutsch’s firm has a 140,000-square-foot lease it inked with the previous owners that runs through 2013, and comes with a renewal option to expand at market rate — which the Post pegs at about $70 per square foot in the Meatpacking District. At the same time, Google wants to expand within its new building. … [more]