Google to Open First Houston Office Next Year
Tech Giant Signs Lease at Buffalo Heights to Expand Texas Presence
By Marissa Luck
CoStar News
June 17, 2020 | 5:08 P.M.
Google is offcially expanding to the Bayou City with a new sales office planned for a mixed-use project near Houston’s Washington Avenue Corridor.
The tech behemoth has inked a lease for the top door of One Buffalo Heights at 3663 Washington Ave., according to announcements from Google, BKR Memorial and Midway. Google will lease roughly 12,000 square feet at the mixed-use project, which is anchored by a new H-E-B grocery store that opened in October 2019.
The office is expected to open early next year and host Google’s Cloud Enterprise Sales team. Google’s Cloud team has been courting energy firms as they increase their investments in cloud computing and Internet of Things, and the cloud team had a significant presence at the energy conference CERAWeek in Houston last year.
“Today is an exciting day for Google in Texas, especially for Google Cloud. As the enterprise-focused division of Google, we help organizations digitally transform with our infrastructure, platform, industry solutions and expertise. Many of our customers and partners have a strong presence in Houston and the region continues to become a major hub of innovation and talent," said Jim Anderson, director of Google Cloud's south central region, in the statement.
Google didn’t immediately have an estimate for its Houston headcount or hiring plans for the new Houston space, a spokeswoman for the Mountain View, California-based firm said in an email to CoStar News. Google in April said it has slowed its hiring plans across the company in response to the pandemic. 6/18/2020 CoStar News - Google to Open First Houston Office Next Year
The new office, its first in Houston, expands on Google’s growing presence in the Lone Star State. Google is also planning new office spaces in downtown Austin at Block 185 and in East Austin at the Saltillo office building. Google is building a $600 million data center in Midlothian, Texas, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas. The new data center is expected to open early next year to support Google's search engine platform, YouTube, Gmail and other apps used by billions of people around the world. according to the company. Google has about 1,500 employees in Texas across its variousplatforms.
“Google first planted roots in Texas thirteen years ago when we established our original Austin office in 2007, and we are thrilled to expand our presence across the state with our new Houston office, the additional office spaces in Austin and data center in Midlothian," said Lauren Lambert, head of public policy and government relations in Texas for Google, in a statement.
"Texas continues to be an innovation hub for the south. The state’s culture, diversity and strong emphasis on community makes it a perfect fit for Google and we look forward to calling Texas home for years to come," Lambert said.
Google represents the first significant office tenant for Buffalo Heights, which is eventually expected to become a 32-acre mixed-use district developed by Houston-based Midway, the high-profile private real estate firm behind CityCentre, Kirby Grove and Greenstreet.
The first phase of Buffalo Heights was built on a 4-acre site at the intersection of Washington Avenue and South Heights
Boulevard and included a 96,000-square-foot H-E-B grocery store, a 232-unit apartment community called St. Andrie and a 37,000-square-foot office building called One Buffalo Heights.
The office portion still has two oors available for lease, said Connor Saxe of Cushman Wakefield, who leases the building for the landlord, BKR Memorial, in an email.
Future phases of Buffalo Heights haven’t been announced but the next phase is expected to include residential, retail and more office space.
"Houston is a hub for innovation and technology and the digital universe. Google's decision to establish an office here provides further momentum as we build the Silicon Bayou. This step is crucial for the long-term health and resiliency of our city,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in a statement.
For the Record
Saxe and Michael Anderson with Cushman Wakeeld represented the landlord in the deal. Google was represented by
Weldon Martin with CBRE. Lacee Jacobs with CBRE leases the retail portion of the project.
