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Google is buying Chelsea Market building for over $2B

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

#151

Between this $2B deal and the $5B Apple Park deal, I start to wonder how companies are justifying these purchases as remote and distributed work becomes more feasible. They're probably focused on the fact that productivity is still higher in co-located settings and the best talent pools are in major metro areas. But what if, instead, they invested $500M in remote work research and $500M in building a remote work infr…

> I start to wonder how companies are justifying these purchases as remote and distributed work becomes more feasible.

I don't think this is happening. There are huge advantages to collocating teams, and Google clearly does not believe in remote employees.

Humans are social animals. You can't "innovate that away using technology".

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

#152
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do the businesses in Chelsea Market rely heavily on traffic from the office-workers above? Store-fronts in NYC tend to be pretty disconnected from the office/residential spaces above, with a few notable exceptions.

Last time I went to Chelsea Market I got the feeling of "Nobody (local) goes here... there are too many tourists and the experience walking around here is miserable" Times Square-esque

Yes, this is exactly correct.

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

#153
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chelsea Market is 1.2 million sqft. 111 8th Ave is 2.9 million sqft, and the fourth largest building by floor area in all of NYC. Not only is Chelsea Market much shorter on average than 111 8th Ave, its land area is smaller as well. The buildings themselves are also older and less modern, thus worth less. 111 8th Ave is an absolute tank of a building. We got an excellent post-recession deal on 111 8th Ave. Chelsea Ma…

Additionally, unlike other buildings in NYC with similar floor space, 111 8th Ave is not a skyscraper, which makes it more practical and useful, and much cheaper in maintenance.

Plus you can get around all day just taking the stairs, which frequently saves time.

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

#154

I first heard about this deal around Thanksgiving. I am curious how everyone kept the real estate brokers' mouths shut for this long. For New York City, this might be a record.

Because it's not really news? Google has been growing in Chelsea for years.

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

#155

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.

So, what's your opinion of Boulder residents who are interested in software? They should leave Boulder? Are they not part of Boulder's character?

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

#156
post #154

I first heard about this deal around Thanksgiving. I am curious how everyone kept the real estate brokers' mouths shut for this long. For New York City, this might be a record.

Because it's not really news? Google has been growing in Chelsea for years.

> it's not really news?

Yes, it is. It's a large deal for a large plot of land in the centre of a neighborhood legendarily protective of itself.

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

#157
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean by "Google is taking themselves off the market as a tenant"?

Instead of renting office space they're making huge real estate purchases.

I'd be surprised if the company in the building is the one who owns it - yes all Google, of course - but surely there's some tax avoidance possible ...

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

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. Fun historical note, IBM generated cash in its early days as Google and Apple do today, it bought a lot of real estate all around the world. In the 90's when it seemed liked it was doomed, it "saved itself" by selling off big chunks of that real estate. That gave the company operating capital without having to go to the equity markets or debt markets. Given the ups and downs of tech, it seems like a…

"Land is the only thing in the world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for, because it's the only thing that lasts".

Definitely more so then bitcoins.

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

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google employees already eat for free at 5-6 internal restaurants within the Google office space. I used to work at Google NYC and would occasionally eat at a nice Thai spot in Chelsea Market but most of the time I'd just take the free lunch.

If the food is at least as good as Google Waterloo (alas, I was only visiting.), then holy hell—I don't blame you. Coming from a more traditional office (with a gradually updating for-pay cafeteria) I could hardly believe it. It was really great food with an active policy of reducing waste (with published counts).

As a Google Waterloo employee I personally think much of the food at Google NYC is better, maybe the best I've had at Google. Not all of it, but some. There are certainly more options, as we have only one cafe here but there are many in NYC.

But I haven't been there in 5 years, so I can't say that with certainty, things may have changed.

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

#160
post #130
post #82

This is such a fascinating cycle. Large pensions & sovereign wealth funds are so desperate for yield vs. low treasuries that they have pushed income producing commercial real estate values to all time highs. As a result these fund managers are then forced to take on larger risks to cover their liabilities by making larger portfolio allocations into public techs like Google, and privates like AirBNB & Uber. And this d…

Economic Moat -> Global Monopoly -> Positive Cashflow -> Higher Pay -> More Talents -> Create more value -> Higher Moat

maybe deeper moat :-) (but I get the point)
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