COMMERCIAL UPDATE: Google Looks to Expand Fulton Market Presence

Posted by Leo Clark. on Wednesday, July 31st, 2019 at 7:53am.

Tech giant, Google, has been in Chicago since 2000 and has grown steadily since expanding to the Windy City. Four years ago they made a high-profile move from River North to the new 1K Fulton development in Chicago's Fulton Market neighborhood, opening a new office that now staffs over 1,000 people.

It appears Google is poised to continue that expansion and is looking at additional options in various locations, including office space at 1000 W. Carroll Ave., 345 N. Morgan St, and320 N. Sangamon St., all just blocks from Google's main Chicago office. 

One of the primary reasons Google is looking for additional space is to grow their engineering staff. Chicago is ripe with engineering and development talent, which is generally more affordable and easier to retain than on the west coast.

This also happens to be a tactic many tech players are utilizing as the Midwest continues to be more of a lucrative and affordable talent pool. A second big factor in Google's Chicago search is the fast-moving pace of office space leasing in the Fulton Market area. Already within the last few years we've seen major companies clamoring to move in, and developers are proposing even more office development sooner rather than later.

Google and other tech start-ups have been a key demand-driver for office space in both Fulton Market and all over downtown, and it appears that demand won't be slowing down anytime soon with a flurry of new, high-profile office projects in the works in Fulton Market, near Wacker Drive, next to Union Station, and at Wolf Point.

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