Google moving into space in Farmington Hills

**gameguy56** · June-05-15, 02:25 PM

It's a shame that it's not downtown. You'd really think that they'd be the perfect kind of employer to rent space downtown. But definitely good for the Detroit area nonetheless.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...rmington-hills

**SpartanDawg** · June-05-15, 04:01 PM

yea definitely great for the area so i'm glad to hear it.

like you i'm very shocked they wouldn't have picked downtown. is there 90,000 SF available in one building? there has to be somewhere gilbert would've put them i'm sure bedrock tried to lure them.

anyways nice to see more high tech jobs coming to the area

**313WX** · June-05-15, 04:12 PM

It could have been a purely logistic move.

Most of the employees probably still live in Ann Arbor or Western WAyne/Oakland County, and of course a downtown commute would be inconvenient for them.

**animatedmartian** · June-05-15, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

It could have been a purely logistic move.

Most of the employees probably still live in Ann Arbor or Western WAyne/Oakland County, and of course a downtown commute would be inconvenient for them.

If they can't tolerate a downtown commute, 275/696 wouldn't be any better.

The bigger difference would be the free parking.

**313WX** · June-05-15, 07:44 PM

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

If they can't tolerate a downtown commute, 275/696 wouldn't be any better.

For those who live in Canton/Plymouth/Northville area, or along the I-96 corridor, 275/696 is an absolute breeze.

As far as parking, with the cash on hand that Google has [[thus they can validate it like Bedrock does for its employees), I doubt that's an issue. It doesn't seem to be for the NY and Chicago offices.

BTW, for shits and giggles, I pulled up the directions on Google Maps. From Ann Arbor to Farmington Hills, it's roughly 30 minutes without rush hour traffic, whereas it's roughly 50 minutes to downtown Detroit from Ann Arbor without rush hour traffic. A pretty big difference.

**animatedmartian** · June-06-15, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

For those who live in Canton/Plymouth/Northville area, or along the I-96 corridor, 275/696 is an absolute breeze.

As far as parking, with the cash on hand that Google has [[thus they can validate it like Bedrock does for its employees), I doubt that's an issue. It doesn't seem to be for the NY and Chicago offices.

BTW, for shits and giggles, I pulled up the directions on Google Maps. From Ann Arbor to Farmington Hills, it's roughly 30 minutes without rush hour traffic, whereas it's roughly 50 minutes to downtown Detroit from Ann Arbor without rush hour traffic. A pretty big difference.

Google already has an office in Ann Arbor which they also relocated outside of its downtown. I don't see why employees would be commuting from Ann Arbor to FH other than some very specific cross-office positions. Either way, everyone is going to be commuting during rush hour traffic and the 275/96/296 interchange gets backed up more than I-96 through Livonia and Detroit. I've driven through that area multiple times during rush hour and it's to the point where I wish I could completely avoid that area if I could.

If it weren't for all the construction and ramp closures currently downtown, I believe the commute is actually a lot easier. But again, parking downtown is expensive either way and there's no alternatives.

NY and Chicago both have widespread mass transit options, thus more employees don't have to worry about parking [[or traffic) so much.

**Bham1982** · June-06-15, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by 313WX

For those who live in Canton/Plymouth/Northville area, or along the I-96 corridor, 275/696 is an absolute breeze.

As far as parking, with the cash on hand that Google has [[thus they can validate it like Bedrock does for its employees), I doubt that's an issue. It doesn't seem to be for the NY and Chicago offices.

The Google office in NY doesn't have any parking. It's extremely rare for office buildings in NYC to have parking,.

Re. the article, tons of Ann Arbor employees live in Northville/Plymouth/Novi/South Lyon area. It's 20-25 minutes on Pontiac Trail from Western Oakland.

**Cliffy** · June-06-15, 09:16 PM

Its great news for the region that Google is expanding.

**Hypestyles** · June-06-15, 10:17 PM

what's google's take on Gilbert's super-fiber-optics project?

**313WX** · June-07-15, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

The Google office in NY doesn't have any parking. It's extremely rare for office buildings in NYC to have parking,.

Google doesn't have dedicated parking, but I'm sure the workers there [[like many companies in NYC) have their parking costs expended at the privately-owned and municipal parking garages throughout NYC.

**animatedmartian** · June-07-15, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Google doesn't have dedicated parking, but I'm sure the workers there [[like many companies in NYC) have their parking costs expended at the privately-owned and municipal parking garages throughout NYC.

The nearest [[and only) municipal parking garage to Google's NYC office is 2 miles away and charges $300 per month for parking. That's actually cheaper than a lot of the private garages in the area that are even closer to the office.

The hourly rate for on-street parking is $3.50. For a Google employee, that's about $140 per month assuming they even found a parking spot for every day they worked.

Either you're underestimating the cost of parking in NYC or assuming everyone at Google is some big executive. I doubt many employees are shelling out a $300+/month just for their car. It's cheaper just to hop on the subway or take a taxi.

Again, for Detroit it's a not so much better off even though parking is cheaper here than in NYC; there's no mass transit. Detroit's average monthly parking is around $100, less if you're farther from Campus Martius, more if you're closer. But as downtown grows and more people and business start to fill space, the cost of parking will increase and until there's true alternatives to commuting downtown by car [[or until there's a parking garage attached to every building), many businesses will opt for the suburbs where there's plenty of free parking.

**Bham1982** · June-08-15, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Google doesn't have dedicated parking, but I'm sure the workers there [[like many companies in NYC) have their parking costs expended at the privately-owned and municipal parking garages throughout NYC.

I would be very surprised if that were true. Very few commuters into Manhattan use private vehicles, even at the highest-end firms [[hedge funds, private equity firms, and the like).

The idea that companies pay for parking an employee's private vehicle would be regarded as pretty bizarre. Some employees may take a car service/taxi/rideshare to work, but I would be really, really surprised if many employees regularly used a private car to get to Google offices, and even more surprised if Google had a policy of subsidizing such behavior.

What company are you referring to when you say "many companies" have such a policy?

**ABetterDetroit** · June-08-15, 12:32 PM

My brother drives into Manhatten everyday from NJ. to get to the office. His company pays for his parking spot in a private garage. Last time he mentioned it the cost was around 2k a month and that was several years ago.

**Malcove Magnesia** · June-09-15, 06:42 AM

It's not as impressive as it could have been: the article states that the space is intended for "contract employees", which means the vast majority won't be actual Google salaried employees but instead temporary workers working via agencies.

**Bham1982** · June-09-15, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

My brother drives into Manhatten everyday from NJ. to get to the office. His company pays for his parking spot in a private garage. Last time he mentioned it the cost was around 2k a month and that was several years ago.

What company does your brother work for, and how on earth does parking cost 2k a month? Even in super fancy parts of Midtown you can get a monthly pass for half that. I know people working for hedge funds and private equity funds, and no one subsidizes parking, ever.

Also, why would he even do that? Driving in from Jersey, unless he's working super-odd hours, will take much longer than taking transit. You'll have to budget 30 minutes each way, for the tunnel alone, and given that almost no office buildings have parking, you'll have to walk a few blocks to the office anyways.

It would much cheaper and easier to just pay for car service, which is common in Manhattan. No car service charges 2k a month for M-F employee pickup.

**iheartthed** · June-09-15, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

It would much cheaper and easier to just pay for car service, which is common in Manhattan. No car service charges 2k a month for M-F employee pickup.

A daily car service both ways from Jersey to Manhattan would be at minimum $2K/month.

**iheartthed** · June-09-15, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by 313WX

Google doesn't have dedicated parking, but I'm sure the workers there [[like many companies in NYC) have their parking costs expended at the privately-owned and municipal parking garages throughout NYC.

I had a good laugh at this one. No, this is not common in NYC at all. I have never heard of a company in NYC subsidizing the costs of parking for employees [[I work in Midtown Manhattan). The only thing that is common is for employers to offer late night car service for employees who work after hours.

ETA: I don't think they really do this in Detroit either. My company has an office in downtown Detroit that I've worked out of before and to my knowledge they don't offer parking discounts or validation.