Google moves NYC – What’s Next?

Last week, I commented about the sad state of web apps across the globe except in San Francisco. Today, Google made a committment to NYC which I think is excellent. I would love to start to see more buzz coming out of NYC. Best city in the world, and great minds but very little buzz.

So today, CNET is reporting about Google moving into a bigger space in NYC. They have tripled their office space and also specially crafted this space for Google. Rent is in the neighborhood of $10 million a month. Which probably means that it won't be like your typical NYC office space. The room also has a video game area, bean bag chairs, massage chairs and even a full basketball hoop setup.

An excerpt:

After a year of speculation, the company on Monday officially opened a new, bigger and more Google-y office in the Big Apple in the trendy Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan.

Craig Nevill-Manning, engineering director in New York for Google, said that New York City is ripe with software engineering talent. "There are great computer software engineers who don’t want to move to California," he said. "So we are opening up facilities wherever there are great software engineers, including New York City, Bangalore and Tokyo."

In my opinion the "Google-y" style is important for NYC as well. As we work more and more, having options and employers who "care" is vital. Just as NYC real estate is some of the most expensive in the world, getting positions at this new Google office I can imagine will be just as tough. They want the brightest team and are willing to pay (salary and benefits) for it. I hope other mainstream Corporate America employers start to pick up on the things Google does to keep their employees happy.

This is excellent news overall and I look forward to seeing if this expansion can possibly help to kick off a rally for NYC. NYC already has the best baseball team in the world, now we need to prove that we also have the best web minds!