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This article was originally published Sept. 21 and has been updated with additional photographs and information.
Tuesday was a big day in the Austin tech world: Internet giant Google announced the opening of its new downtown office. Located at 500 West Second Street, the 29-story building two blocks west of City Hall, the new space measures approximately 300,000 square feet and will have space for more than 450 Google employees.
The company showed off its new office in celebration of the 10 years it has been in Austin, which started with its acquisition of Postini, an email security and archiving company, in 2007.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler joined the proceedings to announce a $250,000 Google.org grant to Workforce Solutions in support of the Master Community Workforce Plan. The grant is “a big contribution to our mission of lifting 10,000 Austinites out of poverty and into good jobs over the next five years,” said the mayor.
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“Googlers” (the company’s term for its employees, we think) working on products and teams including Android, G Suite, Google Play, people operations, finance, engineering, and marketing recently moved into the new space. Google expects to add two more floors, currently under construction, next year.
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Designed by CTA Architects, the new office features open workspaces, three city-view terraces, a recycling waterfall feature, a multifloor stairwell modeled after Austin’s many greenbelts, and an airstream trailer serves as a dining option for employees.
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Google currently occupies floors 25 through 29 of the downtown building and will move into the 23rd and 24th floors in January. It also plans to expand to floors 20 through 22 at some point; the company has leased 300,000 square feet in all on the top 10 floors.
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