Google buys 111 Eighth Avenue for $1.8B

Google signed a contract yesterday to buy its 111 Eighth Avenue New York City home for $1.8 billion in the largest commercial real estate purchase by a tenant in U.S. history, according to the Post. The company put down “serious money,” though not a full 10 percent deposit, accordng to sources. Google currently has 500,000 square feet of the 3 million-square-foot property between 15th and 16th streets, where Nike WebMD and Sprint also reside, but is said to be planning to “gobble up the [other current tenants’] space like Pac-Man,” when their leases are up, as one source put it. Listing broker Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured had a host of competing offers, after owners Taconic Partners, Jamestown and New York State Common Retirement Fund put the building on the market with the initial intention of keeping a stake in the property. CB Richard Ellis’ Steve Siegel, Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan represented Google on the acquisition. [Post]