Google has dozens of real estate projects around the U.S., and it says at least 20 key projects will receive investments this year to the tune of nearly $10 billion.
In a blog post Wednesday, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted country-wide offices and data centers either under construction or opening in 2022. In California alone, it’s working on construction and some housing in the San Francisco Bay Area, including two large office buildings in Mountain View, near its headquarters, and several other office buildings in neighboring cities.
Pichai also said it expects to create at least 12,000 new full-time Google jobs by the end of the year.
The total costs of the countrywide investments in offices and data centers will equate to approximately $9.5 billion in the U.S. in 2022, the company says. That’s up from from $7 billion and 10,000 new jobs it announced last year.
The investments, many of which were underway prior to 2022, come as the company begins bringing employees back to the office after two years of working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic. The company’s office return policy is that most employees come to their assigned physical offices three days a week. Despite pushback from some employees, the company has welcomed employees back with the help of celebrations including marching bands and prominent politicians.
As a part of Google’s 2022 real estate projects, the company is forging ahead with a substantial presence in San Jose, which approved Google’s plan for a mixed-use mega-campus that spans 80 acres and 7.3 million square feet of office space in the heart of California’s third-largest city. To win over critics, Google designated more than half of its campus to public use and offered up a $200 million community benefits package that includes displacement funds, job placement training, and power for community leaders to influence how it’s spent.
Google’s Wednesday post said it recently opened a new office in downtown Portland and said it is investing in a data center in The Dalles, also in Oregon. It’s also expanding its Kirkland and Seattle campuses in Washington State.
The company is also in the process of expanding offices in New York and updating its Cambridge and Pittsburgh campuses, Wednesday’s blog post stated. It’s opening a new Atlanta office in Georgia this year and “making progress” on constructing a new office in downtown Austin, Texas, it said.