With the recent news that Seattle is the national leader in big tech office leases, it’s no wonder that Kirkland continues to be a prime spot for investment from Google.
Google recently announced that it plans to invest more than $7 billion in offices and data centers around the U.S., including the continuing construction of campuses in Kirkland and Seattle. The end result of these investments will be more than 10,000 new full-time Google jobs across the country.
Google has had a presence in Western Washington since 2011, and currently has about 6,300 employees in the region. The plan is for the tech company to continue the construction of two new campuses in Kirkland, in addition to its current 375,000-square-foot campus.
With the first new project in Kirkland, appropriately called the Kirkland Urban East campus, Google will add 760,000 square feet of office space, spread across four new buildings. This project is well underway, with the North building already completed and construction started on the South and Central buildings.
The company’s new project in the city is on the site of the former Lee Johnson Chevrolet dealership. Google finalized the purchase and sale agreement in November 2020, and the project is still in the early stages. The deal will likely close in stages over the next several years as Google finalizes its plans for the site.
Seattle is also benefitting from ongoing investment from Google. The company continues to work on Block 38, which is a 330,000-square-foot building located on the corner of Westlake Avenue and Mercer Street. This project is an extension of Google’s South Lake Union campus, which will span a total of five buildings and encompass 900,000 square feet of office space.
Among the news of Google’s upcoming projects, the company also released its 2020 Economic Impact Report. The report indicated that Google provided $17.3 billion in economic activity for 52,800 Washington businesses. Additionally, more than 398,000 Washington businesses connected with customers through Google searches last year.
This article was originally posted on 425Business by John Stearns.