After months of speculation Google confirmed Friday that it will be leaving its downtown Ann Arbor offices, but will remain in the city as the company will build a new Ann Arbor campus by the end of 2016.
“Google has had a wonderful home in Ann Arbor since 2006, and we’re thrilled to continue to grow here. We’re excited to move to the north side of the city and create a campus. We’re looking forward to getting to know our new neighborhood.” said Mike Miller, head of Google’s Ann Arbor office in a statement.
Google will occupy 140,000 square feet of space on property owned by First Martin located at 2300 Traverwood Dr. Google will be moving into an existing building on the property and constructing a brand new building that will create the Google campus.
The campus will be ready for occupancy by the end of 2016, according to Becca Rutkoff, a manager of global communications and public affairs at Google. The employees in the downtown office will leave that space once the new building is ready for occupancy.
The company will be shifting the same operations currently being done at the downtown Ann Arbor offices to the new campus once it’s complete.
There are approximately 400 employees working in the downtown office according to Google and the new campus will be used to help handle the “natural growth” of the company going forward.
Google does not comment on employment projections but Rutkoff said the new space and building gives the company room to grow.
Last month, it was confirmed the company had leased 30,000 square feet of space in an office complex near South State Street and I-94 in Ann Arbor.