Earlier this year, Crain’s reported that Google was considering Chicago for the location of a new operations center that could hold between 1,000 and 5,000 people. This summer, the Chicago Tribune reported that Google would add an additional 100,000 square feet of space near its current office in the Fulton Market district.
You know what they say: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
On Wednesday, Google confirmed a Chicago Tribune report that it has leased an additional 132,000 square feet in a 12-story building currently under construction in Fulton Market. The building is located at 210 N. Carpenter St., and it will have 200,000 square feet of space when it is finished.
Google told the Chicago Tribune that its employees would move into the first six floors of the building next fall. The company’s current Fulton Market space, which serves as the company’s Midwest headquarters, measures 372,000 square feet.
“What started out as a small sales office has now grown to house some of Google’s most critical teams with roughly over 1,000 employees working across product, engineering, technical infrastructure, advertising and more,” VP and Chicago office head Karen Sauder told the Tribune. “Chicago is considered an innovation hub for the greater Midwest and attracts incredible talent from across all industries.”
Chicago is considered an innovation hub for the greater Midwest and attracts incredible talent from across all industries.”
Google would not comment when asked by the Chicago Tribune if the additional office space would lead to the creation of new jobs. It’s also unclear whether this new space is the operations center that was in the news back in January.
It’s getting a bit hard to keep track of all the big-name tech companies expanding in Chicago. Salesforce was most recently in the spotlight when word broke of its plans to open a 500,000-square-foot office that could accommodate up to 5,000 new employees. A month before that, Facebook was in the news for leasing 263,000 square feet of space in the Loop. Apple is also said to be looking at Chicago for its new campus.
Oh, and don’t forget about Amazon’ HQ2. Chicago is one of 20 cities on the company’s shortlist. The tech giant is expected to announce the home of its new headquarters before the end of the year.
Built In Chicago has reached out to Google for comment, and will update this story with any new information that becomes available.
