Google’s growth plans in the Kirkland area near Seattle appear to be on pause, according to a report from real estate firm Broderick Group. The company has not built out space in a recently completed building and has paused construction plans on another building at the Kirkland Urban campus. Google initially opened two buildings at Kirkland Urban in 2022, with plans for four buildings totaling 760,000 square feet of space. However, the fourth building scheduled for completion in 2025 has been put on hold.
Broderick noted that Google terminated Tableau from 120,000 square feet of space that the company was attempting to sublease at Kirkland Urban. While this was initially seen as a positive move for future growth, Google has chosen not to build out that space. The report also mentioned that Google has over 400,000 square feet of shell condition space in Kirkland. This news comes in contrast with the previous signs of growth for Google in Kirkland, such as backing out of plans for a large project near Kirkland Urban.
In the wake of Google’s decision, other companies in the Seattle region, including Microsoft and T-Mobile, have vacated offices or placed space on the sublease market. Vacancy rates have doubled since 2020 due to the rise of hybrid work policies. On the other hand, companies like ByteDance and The Pokémon Company have signed large new leases in Bellevue, where Amazon continues to expand and plans to employ 25,000 workers. Despite the recent layoffs of 12,000 workers, Google still has more than 200 open positions in the Seattle region.
Google’s presence in the Seattle area dates back nearly two decades when it first set up shop in the region. The company employs thousands of workers in the Seattle area and has additional offices in neighborhoods like Fremont and South Lake Union. Google’s office policy requires employees to be in the office three days per week. The company’s arrival in Kirkland set off a trend, attracting other tech giants like Meta, eBay, and Apple to establish engineering offices in the region to tap into the area’s technical talent pool.
Overall, Google’s growth plans in Kirkland seem to be on hold as the company has not built out recently completed space in Kirkland Urban and has paused construction on another building at the campus. This is in contrast to previous signs of growth in the area and comes amidst a trend of other companies on the eastside of the Seattle region vacating offices or placing space on the sublease market. Despite these developments, other companies continue to sign leases and expand in the region, with Amazon expecting to employ 25,000 workers in Bellevue. Google still maintains a significant presence in the Seattle area, with over 7,000 employees in the region as of 2022.
