Mensch of the Week-Google

My father always told me to be careful what you put on the internet. He never approved of Facebook, abhorred the idea of Twitter, and never understood why people blog.  When I got my new phone in November, he couldn’t bear to watch how much time I spent texting, and surfing the web, and doing all these things with my phone that didn’t involve talking to someone.   The other day I was roaming around Philadelphia completely lost and looking for someone who could duplicate a key, so I slid open my phone, checked the internet, got directions, and found someone to duplicate the key. Honestly, the only things in that sequence the phone didn’t do were duplicate the key, or walk for me.  Now that I’ve had my phone for 7 months, I can’t imagine my life without it. It’s mostly thanks to Google (Motorola gets an assist).  I use Google Chrome, Gchat, Google Books, Google Maps, Google Finance, Google Scholar just for starters. Sure, Google knows where I am, what I’m doing, who I’m with and they may even be able to tell what I’m thinking. But all of this is okay, because if anything bad ever happened as a result of Google knowing all of this, I would just make them a Schmuck of the Week. But for now, I nominate them as Mensch of the Week.  How is Google related to commercial real estate, you ask? Well, Google has acquired way more real estate over the years than you could imagine.

Let’s start with the obvious. Google’s corporate headquarters, dubbed the “Googleplex,” is a 500,000+ square foot behemoth. This building sits on 26 acres of land, which includes a 5 acre public park. They bought the Googleplex in 2006 for a cool $319M. And this is just one of their locations. They have 23 split between the US and Canada, 23 more in Europe, 14 in Asia, 5 in the Middle East, and 3 in Latin America. And these are just the offices!

Google also needs to store a lot of information, and it does this by using over a million servers. Storing these servers requires a lot of energy and a lot of space. BUT, here’s the kicker: Google will not disclose how many data centers (places where servers are stored) they currently have because they believe it gives them a competitive advantage. What we do know is that Google purchases a ton of real estate when they plan to build a data center, and it’s usually well off the beaten path. For example, Google has at least 2 data centers in South Carolina, because in 2007 they purchased 466 acres in Blythewood, and announced they were spending $600M on a data center in Goose Creek.

The real reason why the real estate aspect came to my attention is because the New York Times recently had an article about using cow manure to power these data centers for companies like Google, HP and Microsoft. Many of these companies currently use hydroelectric power in order to generate electricity to run their data centers. In fact, Google has announced a new water filtration system so that 80% of the water used to generate electricity is recycled. Assuming Google keeps expanding, they’re going to need real estate everywhere, and a lot of energy. As they do expand, they’re going to need builders, contractors, engineers, and workers with other backgrounds. In the end, we may all end up using Google products, and working for Google, as they take over the world in SkyNet-esque way.

On a more serious note, Google is our Mensch of the Week because they are a major player in commercial real estate, and will most likely be expanding in the future. Google also makes life easier, if you let it. I have 6 tabs open on my internet right now, 4 of them are Google related. What browser am I using? Google Chrome. If I were an athlete, and had any choice in who gave me an endorsement deal, I would want it to be Google. So you decide, is Google like SkyNet or are they just a firm offering great products with a vast need for real estate? It’s my opinion that they are the latter. I love all things Google, and that’s why I use them, but they are the Mensch of the Week because as they expand, they’re going to become an even larger player in the commercial real estate market.

If you would like to nominate a Mensch of the Week, or a Schmuck (we are not currently posting them, but we can have a private laugh) please email me at dmoquin@llenrock.com.