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Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Google! You so crazy.

 
By LOIS WEISS of the NYPOST

Google appears close to buying the trophy 111 Eighth Ave. building, one of the largest buildings in Manhattan, The Post has learned.

The price is rumored to be tantalizingly close to $2 billion.

The 18-story Chelsea giant carries 2.9 million square feet of space and covers an entire city block -- between Eighth and Ninth avenues from 15th and 16th streets.

At that price, the sale works out to around $690 per square foot, very respectable for 2010 but far less than the $1,500 a square foot that was commonplace in the heady days of 2007.

Google has made no secret of its growth plans for the Big Apple and already rents over 550,000 square feet in the building -- considered the premier tech, entertainment, fashion, and media center in the city with tenants ranging from Nike to WebMD.

Sellers Taconic Partners, Jamestown and the New York State Common Retirement Fund had hoped to recapitalize the building. As The Post previously reported, the group has been marketing it through investment adviser Douglas Harmon of Eastdil Secured.

It is not yet clear if the current owners are bailing out or staying in with a small piece of the equity. Google declined to comment in an e-mail, while none of the other parties returned calls or e-mails.

Sources said Google officials are already searching the city's top real-estate law firms for someone to represent them in the massive purchase.

The deal could still change or fall apart. It could not be determined if a contract has been signed or if there is just a handshake.

As a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey industrial property, 111 Eighth Ave. has numerous back-up generators, lots of electrical power, antennas, fiber optics and high-tech facilities available to tenants.

The owners modernized the building with 10-foot tall windows and a modern lobby with glowing glass disks, along with 24/7 security and a concierge. It is 98.7 percent leased and parking is available in the building, according to CoStar, a real-estate information firm.

Several sources said Google was only one of many interested bidders, including local families, real-estate investment trusts, overseas entities from Beijing, Singapore, Chile, Argentina and Israel, along with sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and Asia.

"The world has been waiting for the right type of asset," said one source on the level of interest that was generated.

72 comments:

  1. It will only end when we are the United States of Google. :)

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  2. google is carzy and sometimes sux too xD

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  3. that is crazy! but its google after all who knows whats next

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  4. Yay! Go google TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! :)

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  5. Congrats to google for buying it. Whatever they plan on doing; hopefully it's good and will put more jobs out there.

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  6. today they buy the Trophy building, tomorrow the world!

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  7. The robot revolution will begin at 111 Eighth Avenue, on the island of Manhattan.

    :( God help us.

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  8. google is really growing. and the comment up above about united state of google was funny

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  9. It's the only building big enough to house their version of Skynet.

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  10. Google is just a front for the Reptilians who are going to use the building to further their dastardly plans.

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  11. Wow. Google is getting scarily huge. Good thing I love Google.

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  12. And to google, under god, with liberty and justice for all

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  13. I bet that bitch is haunted. Now Google's got ghosts.

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  14. Not even sure what to say here. It's google! They own everything. 'Nough said.

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  15. no seriously, those google street view vans are creepy! stay away! lol :)
    dope blog man ill be coming back daily :)

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  16. god that building is gigorgeous!
    i'll bet that's a new portmanteau you've never heard before hah

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  17. Looks like V for Vendetta was just a prediction of what was to become...The United Kingdom of Google :O

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  18. Damn, that's quite a buy if it happens. And like Rorschach said, the Googlenator will be coming after us all.

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  19. Google's gonna buy everything.

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  20. Just you wait...

    Google clothing line..

    Google food..

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  21. Here they go again, taking over the world. ^_^

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  22. this is really really huge!

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  23. If Google was Apple I'de be scared. As it is I am not. Google is one of the few "good" computer companies. EA, Apple and other occupy the other side of this spectrum.

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  24. what the hell are they going to do with it?

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  25. while it's a large building I don't really see the big deal.

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  26. 2 billion for a place in Manhattan? Sounds about right..

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  27. I don't think that google will ever stop expending!

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  28. What does Google even want it for?
    Soon they'll buy all the property in the world and we will all have Google chips implanted is our arm pits..

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  29. I wish I was selling my building to Google

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  30. They gonna buy that building to throw real parties, lol

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  31. that's one big ass building. they'll probably have some fancy offices there ^^

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  32. 2 Mil for a building! Damn! Googles looooaaadded

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  33. God, I wish I worked for Google. I'd be cool with being the Google Janitor

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  34. Google IS crazy... almost scary at times

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  35. HOLY MOLY IN A HANDBASKET!

    2 birrion? o_O Wow... just... wow.

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  36. They should donate the building to me, and I will sell it to Google!
    Man, I wish I had $2 billion. :/

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  37. Google has sooooo much money I swear.

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  38. While Google don't arise as a live being everything is ok.,

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  39. they already own all our emails and docs..another building wouldn harm!

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  40. go google! i guess they can do whatever they want!

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  41. Google really is the controller of the universe! (nice blog btw, subscribing ;D)

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  42. google earns too much and should share its earnings with people

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  43. I used to be a Google fan boy. Now I'm more or less apathetic towards them. I stopped using Chrome in favor of Minefield (FireFox4)

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  44. Umbrella Corp? More like Google Corp.

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  45. If google has to mucch money..I' m open for donations!

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  46. so what??

    google buys a building for office space...
    who cares?

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  47. I, for one, welcome our new Google overlords, seriously. If I had to pick one company to control the world, it would be Google.

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  48. lol yeah google is taking over, but oh well! they make great products!!! lol. guess i am a supreme advocate of capitalism!!

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