Google buys NYC's Chelsea Market building for US$2.4b

March 21, 2018 | 09:54

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Google on Tuesday (Mar 20) bought up New York's Chelsea Market for US$2.4 billion, finalising its acquisition of the emblematic retail and food hall that stands opposite the internet giant's current headquarters in the city.

google buys nycs chelsea market building for us 24b

The Chelsea Market building stands in Lower Manhattan in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)

Google had already paid US$1.7 billion for the building facing the market in 2010, which has 275,000 square metres of office floor space.

It already has offices in the Chelsea Market building - built in 1913 by architect Albert G. Zimmerman as a factory for the Nabisco biscuit company - which serve as offices for the Google-owned online company Youtube.

Google bought the latest property from real estate developers Jamestown, which acquired the building in 2003 and will continue to manage the popular food court on the ground floor, Jamestown said in a statement.

The gourmet food hall houses dozens of restaurants and high-end food stands and in the last two decades has become a highlight of Chelsea and the Meatpacking District, its trendy neighbour.

The building sold for US$280 million in 2003, and in 15 years its value has increased eight-fold, reflecting the meteoric rise in the city's property prices. Tuesday's sale was one of the most expensive real estate transactions for a single building in New York's history.

The 110,000 square-metre property will be added to the 1932 building forming a hi-tech Google "campus" in the east coast city.

AFP

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