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Comment by CydeWeys | Hacker News Reader

New York Googler here.

Chelsea Market is actually 19 different buildings on the same block that have merged together over time. The floor layout is truly crazy. Some floors are staggered by a full half height at the interface between buildings, there are exterior courtyards on the inside of the block that are roofed over, and buildings are of differing height. You can see it all on Google Maps; contrast with 111 8th Ave next door (where I sit) that is all one proper building. https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7402908,-74.0061411,325a,35y...

And yeah, we already have a huge amount of office space in Chelsea Market, up to six floors now, and presumably buying the entire block made sense vs continuing to rent.

Hopefully the ground floor marketspace itself won't be affected. I can't imagine we'd kick all that out, though. It wouldn't be a good look. Chelsea Market is an iconic tourist destination.

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So they're buying the entire block? $2 billion seems cheap all of a sudden.

That hodgepodge mess of buildings really appeals to my inner Lego-building child.

The layout is like none other. You'll walk down a spiral stairway, through some cubes, turn the corner to a ramp, more cubes, more narrow hallways and ramps.

And a lot of the space has these beautiful antique wooden floors and the ceilings are held up gigantic wooden columns and beams. Most of the buildings on the site are over a century old and predate the modern construction methods that use reinforced concrete and steel I-beams.

Contrast with 111 8th Ave, which was built contemporaneously with the Empire State Building (and in the same aesthetic). It uses reinforced concrete and steel I-beam construction throughout. The brick you see from the outside is just an aesthetic facade; this is a solid building.

Oh, and there's two skybridges -- one that goes nowhere, and one that goes across 10th Ave to our space in that building.

And who can forget the offices were once ovens for Nabisco.

There's a fun talk (given by Googler Greg Estern) on the history of 111 8th Ave here, for anyone more curious about the building:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVx59XOZtSA

That was great, thanks!

> ...and there's two skybridges -- one that goes nowhere, and one that goes across 10th Ave to our space in that building.

This sounds like a pretty awesome, yet harsh, way to handle internal performance reviews...

Top performers get to walk over to 10th ave for cake and coffee. Low performers get to walk the plank, taking a skybridge to "nowhere", and are never heard from again.

... Need to get a subordinate to shape up? Take her up by the skybridge to nowhere and then tell her how important your TPS reports are. She'll get the hint.

The skybridge to "nowhere" just ends in another building which Google doesn't lease space to, so it is more of a "skylounge"; open at one end to Google, closed at the other, suspended three storied above 15th St. https://goo.gl/maps/Qzc4ZEB5hdw

The building they purchased in 2010 (111 8th Ave) is a full city block that they picked up for $1.9 billion - seems to be the going rate for a block in Chelsea.

Chelsea Market is 1.2 million sqft. 111 8th Ave is 2.9 million sqft, and the fourth largest building by floor area in all of NYC. Not only is Chelsea Market much shorter on average than 111 8th Ave, its land area is smaller as well. The buildings themselves are also older and less modern, thus worth less. 111 8th Ave is an absolute tank of a building.

We got an excellent post-recession deal on 111 8th Ave. Chelsea Market looks to be at booming economy rates, hence paying about the same amount of money for much less.

Additionally, unlike other buildings in NYC with similar floor space, 111 8th Ave is not a skyscraper, which makes it more practical and useful, and much cheaper in maintenance.

Plus you can get around all day just taking the stairs, which frequently saves time.

There are not enough elevators in that building, especially on the 9th avenue side.

Four more are in the works, just being held up by the city's permitting process.

The building was originally not built as an office space, which is painfully obvious when you consider that it had more freight and truck elevators than people elevators.

Maybe better for employee's health. >95% of people shouldn't require an elevator working in that building. Being forced to walk 5 floors instead of taking the elevator can have positive effects

The number of people in that building is too high for the stairs.

Not true at all, especially not after the construction of Stairwell J. You almost never see any sort of crowding on the stairs. You see crowding at the elevators frequently.

Chelsea Market has a lot of unused FAR, I think 300,000 square feet or more. Also not landmarked so easier to redevelop.

>That hodgepodge mess of buildings really appeals to my inner Lego-building child.

I couldnt have put it better - I got the exact same feeling from his comment. I was thinking "well that just sounds AWESOME"

I visited MLB.com in Chelsea Market once (I wonder where they're moving now) and it was definitely the most unique office building I've encountered. The spirits of the fig newtons of old danced around us!

> The floor layout is truly crazy. Some floors are staggered by a full half height at the interface between buildings, there are exterior courtyards on the inside of the block that are roofed over, and buildings are of differing height.

complexity should be no problem for Google engineers

Sounds like an awesome excuse to implement a Star Trek/Enders game style "follow the lights on the wall" internal navigation system...

Google offices have a very collegiate feel; Google NYC feels like The Big U.

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