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Google Sets Sights on Iconic Venice Office Space
Photo by oybay © via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
Google is making a big move in Los Angeles, and announced yesterday that they are "leasing more than 100,000 square feet of office space in three buildings, including the famed Binoculars Building" in Venice, according to the LA Times. The internet search engine giant is making the move as part of a "major expansion" in SoCal, and could signal the establishment of "a new center of operation in the region."
With the new offices come new jobs--about 6,000, they say. The move is timely and strategic, notes the Times:
The hiring spree comes as Google fights for top talent against upstart rivals including Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. — so a marquee location in Los Angeles could help the company score points with potential hires. In its recruiting efforts, Google has bragged that its Santa Monica offices "are strategically located just a few short blocks from sunny beaches" and benefit from "over 300 days of sunshine."
New Google employees will get to work in one of the city's most interesting office spaces. The Binoculars were commissioned in 1986 by Jay Chiat of famed ad agency Chiat/Day to form as an eye-catching visual connection between the segments of the building as designed by Frank Gehry. Designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, the Binoculars were inaugurated in 1991.
Google opened their Santa Monica campus in 2003; it is now one of the company's biggest outposts. Employees will be moving into the Binoculars building and going to work for Google this year.
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