New York City could be the new tech mecca, thanks to Google
New York City could be the new tech mecca, thanks to Google
TEXT OF STORY
HOST: Google is reportedly buying an 18-story office building in Manhattan for about $2 billion. The building takes up an entire city block and it’s already got some people talking about new Manhattan tech mecca.
Marketplace’s Janet Babin reports.
JANET BABIN: The building at 111 Eighth Avenue has already made a name for itself.
PERSON 1: Is this the Google building?
PERSON 2: Yeah.
Right now Google is just a tenant. It rents out about 500,000 square feet of space here for its New York headquarters. But Google is expected to buy the entire structure by the end of the month. Eric Anton with Manhattan real estate firm Eastern Consolidated says the building’s internal guts hold great appeal for high tech firms.
ERIC ANTON: The building sits on one of the main fiber optic cables in Manhattan and the floor loads here were built to support enormous weight.
Perfect for heavy servers and access to lighting fast internet connections, just what Google and other building tenants like Verizon and Web MD need.
Anton says once Google buys the building, businesses will clamor to get in, if only for a chance to make that elevator pitch to CEO Eric Schmidt
In New York, I’m Janet Babin for Marketplace.
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