Google to Lease Land for New Campus from NASA

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As Google expands its internet empire it also needs to occasionally expand its real world empire with more buildings and additional office space to house its ever growing number of employees.

Google’s current headquarters, dubbed the Googleplex, sits on a campus with 1 million square feet of space that was purchased in 2006 for the sum of $319 million. This week Google announced that it intends to build a new 1.2 million square foot campus on land it will be leasing from NASA.

The new campus will be leased from NASA with the initial lease term being 40-years. Rent for the 42.2 acres of land the campus will be built on is initially set at $3.66 million per year. The campus Google intends to build on the land will begin construction in 2013 and Google has declined to comment on how much it expects to spend on the construction.

The final phase of the campus is scheduled to begin construction in 2022. When complete Google says the campus will include housing for some employees. After the initial 40-year lease term the lease can be extended by as much as an additional 50 years. Google is famous for its perks offered to employees, the new campus will surely continue this tradition, despite the fact that the perks haven't helped Google retain some key employees recently.

Google hopes that the new campus’ close proximity to the Ames Research center will help it to draw top shelf scientists from the NASA research pool. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have negotiated the use of a government landing strip for their private jet according to the Associated Press.

The Moffett Federal Airfield is off-limits to most private planes; the Google founders agreed to pay NASA $1.3 million for the use of the airfield and agreed to carry NASA instruments on research missions.

Source: DailyTech - Google to Lease Land for New Campus from NASA