Google Snatching Up Silicon Valley Real Estate To Prepare For Massive Hiring Spree
REDWOOD CITY (CBS SF) -- Google is playing the real estate market like a game of monopoly out of what could be a massive hiring spree.
The Mercury News is reporting that based on Google's hiring patterns, it could add as many as 20,000 workers across Silicon Valley over the next couple of years.
Most of Google's big-time spending is outside of its Mountain View home base. It already bought six buildings in the Pacific Shores office complex on the Redwood City waterfront, and leased an entire campus under construction in Sunnyvale.
"It's going to make the rents go up," Perazzo said. "But it's also going to help businesses around here."
Rick Perazzo says Redwood City was just a tiny town 40 years ago. Once Google moves in, it'll be a certified tech town.
"I think Google made a great choice in choose Redwood City," Pedro said. "It's midpoint between San Jose and San Francisco, close to the ferry terminal which is going to be a major factor for regional transportation going forward."
Robert Pedro runs Signature Realty based in Redwood City. He says the downtown area is getting ready for a flood of tech workers. Apartment rents here have already shot up 30 percent in a year.
"Right now we have experiences tremendous upward pressure on rental prices," Pedro says.
Over the next two years, the city has plans to add ten new apartment buildings.
Redwood City resident Kat Petrick said it's likely to worsen traffic. "We are pretty congested especially at lunch hour," she said. "A lot of the local people, it's hard to find parking."
The two latest real estate projects in Redwood City and the other in Sunnyvale are not yet ready. Insiders say Google intends to hire about 5,000 workers every year, over the next five years.
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