Google is reportedly looking to purchase the building New York City’s Chelsea Market is located in. The Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) subsidiary already has offices located in the Ninth Ave. building, but so do several other firms, including the Food Network and Major League Baseball.
Google wants to own all of Chelsea Market
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the pending deal, The Real Deal reports that Google is trying to purchase the massive 1.2 million-square-foot building from Jamestown for more than $2 billion. Chelsea Market currently houses retail and office space in addition to the well-known urban food court, although Google is reportedly the biggest tenant located there with at least 400,000 square feet of office space leased.
The tech giant reportedly expects the transaction to close in about two months. According to The Real Deal, it appears to be the first trade contract in excess of $1 billion in New York. At a price of $2 billion, Google would be shelling out more than $1,600 per square foot for the Chelsea Market building.
Now it certainly looks like Jamestown’s real estate investment paid off. The firm bought out its four partners in the property in 2011 for $225 million, which valued it at $800 million at the time of the transaction.
What might Google do with the Chelsea Market building?
The Real Deal was uncertain about what Google might do with the building, although it does say that Google was expected to attempt to “muscle out other tenants” there. Apparently, the tech giant has been quickly gobbling up space in the building as it became available, taking out a new lease every time another tenant’s lease expired.
Chelsea Market is situated on Ninth Ave. between West 15th St. and 16th St. in New York City, and almost all of the space in it is occupied with leases stretched out for years. MLB’s lease reportedly lasts until 2022. If Google ends up closing Chelsea Market’s ultra-popular food court to the public, it would probably be a very unpopular decision.
Google already takes up plenty of space in Chelsea
The Real Deal also included a rundown of the other properties Google owns in Chelsea. For example, it shelled out $1.77 billion to purchase its headquarters in New York at 111 Eighth in 2010. However, the tech giant hasn’t been able to attract tenants for the property fast enough, the news outlet adds. That building as 2.9 million square feet of space.
Google also reportedly leases approximately 240,000 square feet of space at a property on 10th Ave. owned by Vornado Realty Trust. Further, the company is reportedly planning to take up about 200,000 square feet of space at the SuperPier project being built by RXR Realty and YoungWoo & Associates. That project is still under construction, however, so according to The Real Deal, the tech giant has been negotiating with RXR to temporarily lease some space in its Starrett-Lehigh Building.
