Major tech outlets have recently announced the freezing of new hiring and cutbacks on planned office expansion in New York.
Meta Platforms Inc. has decided not to take the additional 300,000 square feet of space at 770 Broadway located near its existing office.
Similarly, Amazon.com, Inc. has reportedly decided to cut back on the amount of space it had planned to lease from JPMorgan Chase & Co. at the Hudson Yards.
Yet Alphabet Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai says he is bullish on the company’s growth and expansion in New York City.
“I’m personally long-term bullish on our growth in New York as a company. However, we would do that only if we’re optimistic about accessing tech talent and being able to scale up,” he told Crain’s New York Business.
Google’s Expansion
As of September 2021, the company employed 12,000 people in New York. Google has said it aims to add at least 2,000 employees to its city workforce in the coming years.Last year, Google announced it bought a Manhattan office building for $2.1 billion to anchor its new Hudson Square campus.
Google is also looking at the option to purchase the St. John’s Terminal building in its existing plans to invest over $250 million in its New York campus presence. The terminal is expected to open by mid-2023.
It also mentioned building a 1.7 million-square-foot Hudson Square campus that will serve as the New York headquarters for its Global Business Organization.
Earlier this year, Google opened its new campus on Pier 57, including office space in three buildings.
Pichai told Crain’s that the city’s tech environment, which includes more than 1,000 fintech startups, was a big lure for Google.
Pichai said that access to diverse talent is a big part of the attraction for the company’s “pretty profound” growth in New York.
“When I looked at specific sectors, like fintech, I was surprised at the scale and number of startups in New York,” Pichai said to the outlet.
