As we anticipated, Google has bought the beached cruise ship office building at 188 Embarcadero for $65 million, proving the rumors of last month quite correct. In addition to that eight-story, 88,000-square-foot waterfront windfall—acquired from Ares Management LP and USAA Investment Management Co—the search giant has also signed on to lease 250,000 square feet in the Spear Tower at One Market Plaza. The company's 336,000-square-foot growth spurt will nearly double its office presence in the city. (Last year, Google upped its square footage at its Hills Plaza office, where it currently occupies 350,000 square feet.) After several false starts that would have brought the world's most powerful search algorithm to Foundry Square III or the Transbay Tower, Google settled on something that, while not exactly seafaring, is perhaps the closest thing that San Francisco's real estate market offers to a barge.
· Google to Expand SF Office Space in Two Deals [Bloomberg]
· Google Renews, Expands at Hills Plaza [SF Business Times]
· Is Google Thinking About Buying 188 Embarcadero? [Curbed SF]
· The Google Barge: An Official Statement and Mysterious Renderings [Curbed SF]