Google moving out of downtown Ann Arbor office by May 2016

Ann Arbor real estate firm McKinley Inc. is preparing to list 85,000 square feet of office space for lease at its McKinley Towne Centre building downtown — the same space where Internet giant Google has its local offices.

McKinley CEO Albert Berriz said a large portion of the building will be available in May 2016 for companies to move in, and he plans to lease the office space to five different tenants.

http://www.mlive.com/business/ann-ar...les_ann_a.html

I wonder if they could be considering moving to Detroit? With the recent tech growth, it doesn't seem out of question. Of course, they may just be planning a move within Ann Arbor to a new space.

Didn't Dan Gilbert several months ago mention that he would reveal the name of a "Major Tech Firm" relocating downtown?

Maybe Google is that firm, and that would be a nice achievement for Detroit if so...

That would be a gigantic win for Detroit. Having a Google presense downtown must be Gilbert's wet Dream.

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Originally Posted by mikeg19

That would be a gigantic win for Detroit. Having a Google presense downtown must be Gilbert's wet Dream.

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Maybe Brooks knows something and that is why he went off?

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Maybe Brooks knows something and that is why he went off?

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But if L. Brooks PAtterson was only elected to represent Oakland County, why would he care about what happens between Ann Arbor and Detroit?

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Originally Posted by 313WX

But if L. Brooks PAtterson was only elected to represent Oakland County, why would he care about what happens between Ann Arbor and Detroit?

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He may have known something and was courting Google for Oakland.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

Didn't Dan Gilbert several months ago mention that he would reveal the name of a "Major Tech Firm" relocating downtown?

Maybe Google is that firm, and that would be a nice achievement for Detroit if so...

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Makes sense. Space in Detroit is cheap cheap cheap compared to Ann arbor. It's downtown's day

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

He may have known something and was courting Google for Oakland.

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I think there is already a Google office in Birmingham, isn't there?

With all of the UoM chaos in AA - appears to be a wise move, very wise, extremely wise.....rumor is they are heading to Lansing. :cool:

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Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think there is already a Google office in Birmingham, isn't there?

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yes, there is

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Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think there is already a Google office in Birmingham, isn't there?

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Why don't you Google it?

I did a bit of googling and was surprised to see how much google received in subsidies to locate in Ann Arbor by promising to create a large number of jobs which didn't happen. I can understand why a state or community would want to have a company like google locate in their region, but why do these huge, profitable companies require subsidies? Ann Arbor officials believe $1M in free parking provided to Google has paid off Good and bad news story. Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 12:09 a.m.So, in 2013 Google has 300 employees between AA and Birmingham and won't provide exact # at each office. Let's divide the # in half and assume GOOG has 150 employees in the AA office. This is after a promise in 2007 to hire 1,000 by 2011. Promises promises. Now they are a tax dodge in addition to getting all kinds of freebies from the city and are bringing in contract employees at lower wages and probably no benefits, which is the point of contract workers. Cheaper. And this is good for AA? Then one person, Nancy Shore, knows a handful of Google spouses: "It's coming to the point where, at least in my circles, I know several people whose husbands or wives work at Google," she said. "Those individuals are engaged in the community. They're also shopping at downtown business and participating in all the things we love about Ann Arbor." So a few people are engaged in the community with spouses at Google and this justifies the millions in tax breaks? Get real! One more debacle by the city. McKinley to list Google's Ann Arbor office space for lease | MLive.com Google opened its Ann Arbor office with eight employees in September 2006, in a small second-floor office space above Vinology on South Main Street.
The company moved to the McKinley Towne Centre in 2008, promising to add 1,000 jobs over the first five years of its tenure in Ann Arbor. The company’s personnel growth slowed during the economic recession, and by 2012, the company had about 300 people working at the Ann Arbor office.
A Google spokeswoman said the Ann Arbor operation now has more than 400 employees.
In 2006, Google received approval from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Michigan Economic Growth Authority [[MEGA) board for a tax credit of up to $38.25 million over 20 years.
The tax credits are only provided to tax recipients if they can prove they hired employees at the rate originally promised. Google needed to reach its hiring goal of creating 1,000 jobs by 2011 to take full advantage of the tax breaks.
An Oct. 2014 report from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation shows Google was most recently approved for MEGA tax relief in 2007, when the company stated on an application it had 134 employees, and again in 2008, when the company had 224 employees.

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Originally Posted by old guy

I did a bit of googling and was surprised to see how much google received in subsidies to locate in Ann Arbor by promising to create a large number of jobs which didn't happen. I can understand why a state or community would want to have a company like google locate in their region, but why do these huge, profitable companies require subsidies? Ann Arbor officials believe $1M in free parking provided to Google has paid off Good and bad news story. Mon, Mar 25, 2013 : 12:09 a.m.So, in 2013 Google has 300 employees between AA and Birmingham and won't provide exact # at each office. Let's divide the # in half and assume GOOG has 150 employees in the AA office. This is after a promise in 2007 to hire 1,000 by 2011. Promises promises. Now they are a tax dodge in addition to getting all kinds of freebies from the city and are bringing in contract employees at lower wages and probably no benefits, which is the point of contract workers. Cheaper. And this is good for AA? Then one person, Nancy Shore, knows a handful of Google spouses: "It's coming to the point where, at least in my circles, I know several people whose husbands or wives work at Google," she said. "Those individuals are engaged in the community. They're also shopping at downtown business and participating in all the things we love about Ann Arbor." So a few people are engaged in the community with spouses at Google and this justifies the millions in tax breaks? Get real! One more debacle by the city. McKinley to list Google's Ann Arbor office space for lease | MLive.com Google opened its Ann Arbor office with eight employees in September 2006, in a small second-floor office space above Vinology on South Main Street.
The company moved to the McKinley Towne Centre in 2008, promising to add 1,000 jobs over the first five years of its tenure in Ann Arbor. The company’s personnel growth slowed during the economic recession, and by 2012, the company had about 300 people working at the Ann Arbor office.
A Google spokeswoman said the Ann Arbor operation now has more than 400 employees.
In 2006, Google received approval from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Michigan Economic Growth Authority [[MEGA) board for a tax credit of up to $38.25 million over 20 years.
The tax credits are only provided to tax recipients if they can prove they hired employees at the rate originally promised. Google needed to reach its hiring goal of creating 1,000 jobs by 2011 to take full advantage of the tax breaks.
An Oct. 2014 report from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation shows Google was most recently approved for MEGA tax relief in 2007, when the company stated on an application it had 134 employees, and again in 2008, when the company had 224 employees.

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Nice research, OG.

It was still probably a good move for AA in the long run. Google's presence gave the local tech scene there a real shot in the arm. It does raise an interesting question: is time for Ann Arbor to start building up, and possibly even to expand downtown?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by old guy

I did a bit of googling and was surprised to see how much google received in subsidies to locate in Ann Arbor by promising to create a large number of jobs which didn't happen.

An Oct. 2014 report from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation shows Google was most recently approved for MEGA tax relief in 2007, when the company stated on an application it had 134 employees, and again in 2008, when the company had 224 employees.

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Didn't the original article here say that Google didn't receive the tax breaks because it didn't hit its targets? Does "approved" mean they actually got the money, or it was just earmarked for them [[provided they hit their hiring #s)?

How many companies that get huge tax breaks [[corporate welfare) EVER hit their employment targets? Any?