The Google Cloud’s New Seattle Campus — Right Across the Street From Amazon
Google cloud unveiled the first of its five planned buildings in South Lake Union, an expansion that ups by half the tech company’s Seattle-area footprint. The newly built campus is Google’s first incursion into Amazon’s South Lake Union hub, making tech giants next-door neighbors.
Amazonians welcomed Google campus with sticky notes written “Hi, G!” and pasted on Amazon’s Fiona building windows. Then Googlers replied, “Hi, A.”The 600,000 feet of real estate will employ teams working to handle projects such as Android, Google Cloud, Chrome, and maps.
The Google clouds Seattle campus sits directly across the street from Amazon’s headquarters, the cloud computing market leader, and a Google Cloud rival. The campus was opened by Gov. Jay Inslee, who also announced a $1 million grant to Salvation Army’s William Booth Center, a men’s homeless shelter in Seattle.
Inslee announced that the donation came from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. Designed by Vulcan, the campus will feature ground-level retail and housing units and offices. The building hosts some offices, a maker space, a cafe, a game room, and workspaces.
Workers in the building will be privileged to get free meals and also bringing their dogs with them. Employees work in a lounge with a sign that reads, “Keep your head in the cloud.”
The Google Cloud’s New Seattle Campus
Google announced that it would incur $13 billion on data centers and offices across the US and that cloud campus is among the expansion the search company is making in Seattle. The Company already has a 2 million square footprint across several cities in Seattle.
This week, Google has confirmed their purchase of a 400,000 square feet space across two buildings at the new Kirkland Urban development, east of Seattle.
Google is reported to have over 4,500 employees within the region and 150 open jobs based in the area. It was rated by CBRE as the best tech talent pool in North America established engineering outposts in and around Seattle.
“We’re super proud to be part of the growing tech economy here in the state,” said Eric Young, site lead for the SLU campus.
“It’s actually because of all these companies big and small that this area can attract and retain some of the most dynamic talents across a variety of industries and disciplines. That’s what brought Google here in 2004, and that’s what keeps us here today.”
On the other side, the region has been overcrowded with tech workers, especially during rush hour bring traffic to a standstill around the campus. Since the campus packing facility cannot accommodate all the workers, they have been advised to find alternative means to drive.
The Seattle region is Google’s second-largest engineering center after its Bay Area headquarters. This is area seems to be the target of tech giants, including Amazon, which has 50,000 people in the area. The area is also Microsoft’s headquarters.
Unfortunately, the Google Cloud campus in South Lake Union was in the spotlight in April after a construction crane fell on four people killing them. The Company, through Young, expressed grief and condoled with the families of the deceased. However, the project went on as planned despite the ugly incident.
