Google says it plans 'significant' Austin expansion

Emblazoned atop a 29-story gleaming glass tower in downtown Austin, Google's colorful "G" logo boldly announces the presence of the search engine giant in Texas' capital city.

Beyond its mark on the skyline, the tower signifies even grander designs that one of the world's largest companies has on Austin, where it now employs more than 1,100 people.

Twelve years after opening its first Austin office in 2007, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google intends keep growing here — and in a significant way, Google's Andrew Silvestri told the American-Statesman.

"We've continued to grow ever since then," said Silvestri, head of public policy and community development for Google's Americas operations. "It's really a testament to the skills and spirit of Austin and the state as a whole that we've been able to grow so rapidly and expansively. We're incredibly fortunate to be able to call Austin home."

Austin is now Google's seventh-largest office outside of the San Francisco Bay area.

Silvestri provided additional details about two major leases the Fortune 500 company has signed in Austin. His comments were timed to the company's announcement Friday of another large investment in the Lone Star State — a $600 million data center that it has broken ground on in Midlothian, near Dallas. It is Google's first data center in Texas.

One of the Austin leases is for a 35-story building that Google will occupy in its entirety downtown at West Cesar Chavez and Nueces streets, on what is known as Block 185. The other lease is for all seven stories in a building at the Saltillo mixed-use project that Austin-based Endeavor Real Estate Group is developing in East Austin.

"We wouldn't be pursuing such massive development projects and investments if we didn't intend to grow there over time," Silvestri said. "We've grown pretty significantly over the last couple of years, so we see Austin as becoming a big hub of talent for us."

Google has not applied for any incentives for its office expansions in Austin, Silvestri said. The company did not disclose its Austin annual payroll or cite a pay range for is existing jobs.

Austin's Google employees, or "Googlers," work on major projects across Android, G Suite, Google Play, Cloud, staffing, recruiting, people operations, finance and marketing, he said, "and we will continue to recruit and hire new talent, both locally and globally, for the foreseeable future."

"One of the exciting things about our Austin office is it's not solely focused on engineering," Silvestri said. "There is a wide range of skills and positions available."

Silvestri said Google plans to begin its initial move into the 35-story tower in 2023. Silvestri did not say how many employees eventually will work in the building, but Austin office brokers have said that amount of space could house about 5,000 people.

Nearer term, Google will start moving employees into Saltillo in early 2020. Google has signed a long-term lease for that space.

Silvestri did not say how many people ultimately would work in the 150,000 square feet of office space at Saltillo. Endeavor's website indicates the space could accommodate about 700 employees.

Silvestri said Google's Austin investment "sends a strong signal the numbers will be significant both in the short- and long-term. Given the incredible pool of skills and talent we see (in Austin), we think we will continue to grow at both sites in the future."

Silvestri said Google isn't sharing hiring projections at this time.

"We take an organic approach to our hiring in every community where we operate. We grow where the business need is. We don't tend to put exact timelines. Demand for our products and services might skyrocket," he said, such that Google could hire in significant numbers over the short term, or that hiring could be spread out over a number of years.

All of Google's Austin employees have been consolidated in a single location, the 29-story high-rise called 500 W. 2nd St. at Second and San Antonio streets downtown.

Since moving into 500 W. 2nd in 2017, Google has leased three additional floors, for a total of 10 floors.

"We will maintain our presence in our current downtown office while continuing to expand to our new locations at Saltillo and Block 185," Silvestri said. "Given Google's continued growth and the need to plan real estate years in advance, we are confident these new developments will accommodate us in both the near term and long term."

Block 185 is kitty-corner from Google's existing 500 W. 2nd tower. Trammell Crow Co. is building the new high-rise, which will have nearly 800,000 square feet of space. The building is designed by New Haven, Conn.-based Pelli Clarke Pelli architecture firm. Austin-based STG Design is the local architecture firm on the project.

Google's growth in Austin "has been nothing short of spectacular, and we were thrilled to be selected to accommodate their expansion directly adjacent to our initial lease at 500 W. 2nd St.," Adam Nims, managing director in Austin for Trammell Crow Co., said in a written statement. "Google's lease solidifies their commitment to the Austin community and continues to reinforce the desirability of Austin's downtown core for high growth companies."

In Midlothian, Google on Friday announced a $100,000 grant to the local school district to support the continued growth and development of STEM programs in the region's schools. But Google's media event Friday centered mainly on its $600 million data center now under construction. The data center, for which Google is receiving property tax breaks, will provide an initial commitment of 40 full-time jobs, in addition to creating hundreds of construction jobs for Midlothian, Silvestri said.

The data center is expected to open in the next year or two.

Google's expansion in both Austin and Midlothian is part of $13 billion in investments that Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced earlier this year, as Google expands outside of its home base in Mountain View.

The $13 billion is for investments in data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states, including Texas.

Silvestri said that Austin, and Texas overall, "have become a hub of innovation, and it’s the amazing talent and strong spirit of work and play and that brought us to Texas and keeps us here.”