Google to build employee housing at NASA
Posted
Jun 05 2008, 02:15 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Google is leasing 42 acres at NASA's Ames Research Center, and plans to build employee housing there along with child care facilities, gyms, restaurants and basketball courts. And what a deal: Google will pay NASA just $3.7 million in annual rent for the property. The company makes that much in revenue in two hours.
Construction won't start until at least 2013, and eventually, the campus could hold 5,000 workers. The move gives Google some breathing room as it continues its breakneck rate of growth. I'm curious about what Google housing might look like. The company has set the gold standard for employee cafeterias, serving better food (for free) than you can find in most restaurants. Will Google homes be as sophisticated?
A Google executive told the San Francisco Chronicle that he imagines a "high-density urban village" for the site. If so, then company-provided housing could top the list of employee perks at Google. Will other tech companies have to follow suit to attract those picky MBA students?
If that's the case, here's how I imagine Apple-provided housing:
Given Google's "we never left college" mentality, its campus might look like this:
And Microsoft? A computer on every desk, right?:
And we can't forget Yahoo:
Disclosures: I don't own shares of any companies mentioned in this
post. And while Microsoft owns this
blog, Microsoft does not control, censor or otherwise have any
editorial influence over what I write.
