Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B • Hacker News Board

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#21

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:42 PM UTC

airstrike wrote: post #3

fancyfacebook wrote: post #2

Google has largely ruined Boulder, CO after building a huge new sprawling thing and effectively dictating to locals and politicians exactly how they want the neighborhood and city to be structured going forward. Everyone who isn't a googler hates them and wishes we hadn't allowed that, much less given them massive amounts of corporate welfare. Resist googlers if you can, they destroy communities.

Fearmongering much?

SFBA, Seattle, Major Colorado Metros, Austin, Nashville, Cambridge/Boston, Raleigh-Durham.

That's not fear. That's pattern recognition.

> Fast-growing technology sector is fueling a housing boom in cities across America

https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/fast-growing-techn...

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#22

Post by karambahh » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:50 PM UTC

djtriptych wrote: post #11

downandout wrote: post #6

$1600/ft seems shockingly high for commercial real estate, even in New York. Just because you have lots of money (that theoretically belongs to your shareholders) doesn’t mean you should overpay.

It's not shockingly high by a long shot. Paying 1.6M for a 1000 sq ft condo in that area is totally feasible.

Unless I'm mistaken, isn't commercial real estate usually cheaper than residential?

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#23

Post by School-Cotton » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:51 PM UTC

fancyfacebook wrote: post #2

Google has largely ruined Boulder, CO after building a huge new sprawling thing and effectively dictating to locals and politicians exactly how they want the neighborhood and city to be structured going forward. Everyone who isn't a googler hates them and wishes we hadn't allowed that, much less given them massive amounts of corporate welfare. Resist googlers if you can, they destroy communities.

You don't have a clue about New York.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#24

Post by downandout » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:51 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #16

downandout wrote: post #6

$1600/ft seems shockingly high for commercial real estate, even in New York. Just because you have lots of money (that theoretically belongs to your shareholders) doesn’t mean you should overpay.

https://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2017/03/02... > Data analyzed by COMMERCIALCafé shows a steady rise in the average yearly sale price per square foot, starting at 2012’s $959. The price increased by 40% over 5 years, resting at $1,347 in 2016. The Y-o-Y increase was 7%. Midtown remains the highest priced NYC submarket. Last year, 50 office properties were sold at an average price of $1,531 per square…

So they’re paying above average, which was my point.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#25

Post by ryanwaggoner » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:52 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #21

airstrike wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fearmongering much?

SFBA, Seattle, Major Colorado Metros, Austin, Nashville, Cambridge/Boston, Raleigh-Durham. That's not fear. That's pattern recognition. > Fast-growing technology sector is fueling a housing boom in cities across America https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/fast-growing-techn...

Places that have gotten expensive because they've become desirable places to live and convinced lots of people to move there? The horror!

The only real problem here is shitty local governance and NIMBYism that refuses to acknowledge reality and build more housing. In the end, it doesn't stop people from moving there, it just drives up costs and drives out natives and people lower on the socioeconomic ladder. If you want affordable housing markets, you have to build housing in response to demand.

Regardless, we're talking about NYC here, so the fact that Google is buying some building instead of leasing like they have been is a total non-story. It'll have zero effect on NYC.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#26

Post by downandout » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:52 PM UTC

karambahh wrote: post #22

djtriptych wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not shockingly high by a long shot. Paying 1.6M for a 1000 sq ft condo in that area is totally feasible.

Unless I'm mistaken, isn't commercial real estate usually cheaper than residential?

Yes, it is. That was my point.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#27

Post by danharaj » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:52 PM UTC

stevenleeg wrote: post #15

fancyfacebook wrote: post #2

Google has largely ruined Boulder, CO after building a huge new sprawling thing and effectively dictating to locals and politicians exactly how they want the neighborhood and city to be structured going forward. Everyone who isn't a googler hates them and wishes we hadn't allowed that, much less given them massive amounts of corporate welfare. Resist googlers if you can, they destroy communities.

New York is a much larger city than Boulder. I'd assume Google would have a much tougher time trying to tell the NYC government how to operate considering how small their presence is relative to the city, even if we're just talking about Manhattan.

I find the tech scene in NYC to be a lot more tolerable than other places. It seems like many of us here understand that we're small fish compared to, say, the sharks on Wall Street.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#28

Post by toomuchtodo » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

ryanwaggoner wrote: post #25

toomuchtodo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SFBA, Seattle, Major Colorado Metros, Austin, Nashville, Cambridge/Boston, Raleigh-Durham. That's not fear. That's pattern recognition. > Fast-growing technology sector is fueling a housing boom in cities across America https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/fast-growing-techn...

Places that have gotten expensive because they've become desirable places to live and convinced lots of people to move there? The horror! The only real problem here is shitty local governance and NIMBYism that refuses to acknowledge reality and build more housing . In the end, it doesn't stop people from moving there, it just drives up costs and drives out natives and people lower on the socioeconomic ladder. If you…

They've only become desirable because of an influx of tech employers. Ergo, it makes sense for non-tech employed citizens to not want those employers to locate there (or expand).

Also, existing citizens who own and live in these locations take priority over people who want to move in. No one is entitled to additional housing when tech companies foist externalities of additional workers (workers who could work remotely!) on a geographic region.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#29

Post by ryanwaggoner » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:54 PM UTC

downandout wrote: post #24

ceejayoz wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2017/03/02... > Data analyzed by COMMERCIALCafé shows a steady rise in the average yearly sale price per square foot, starting at 2012’s $959. The price increased by 40% over 5 years, resting at $1,347 in 2016. The Y-o-Y increase was 7%. Midtown remains the highest priced NYC submarket. Last year, 50 office properties were sold at an average price of $1,531 per square…

So they’re paying above average, which was my point.

If the average is $1500, then a number of transactions have been above average, so this isn't that unusual. There are a lot of reasons you might pay 5-10% above average: location, building quality and condition, how much deferred maintenance there is, historical or architectural significance, etc, etc.

Re: Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

#30

Post by jsky_goog » Thu, Feb 08, 2018, 4:55 PM UTC

fancyfacebook wrote: post #2

Google has largely ruined Boulder, CO after building a huge new sprawling thing and effectively dictating to locals and politicians exactly how they want the neighborhood and city to be structured going forward. Everyone who isn't a googler hates them and wishes we hadn't allowed that, much less given them massive amounts of corporate welfare. Resist googlers if you can, they destroy communities.

The new office has been open for 3 months and Google has had a presence in Boulder for a decade. Google is pretty far from "dictating...how they want want the neighborhood and city to be structured". The city council has promoted low growth and high housing prices for decades and will continue to do so.