Posted on 06/05/2008 8:33:25 AM PDT by lainie
Expanding its existing relationship with NASA, Google on Wednesday said it plans to lease 42.2 acres of unimproved land at the NASA Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., to construct up to 1.2 million square feet of offices and research space.
Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has provided a visual overview of the site on Google Maps.
Under the terms of the 40-year lease agreement, Google will pay rent of $3.66 million annually. The lease allows for the possibility of five 10-year extensions, making the maximum term 90 years, assuming both parties agree. The lease allows for periodic rent increases.
NASA Ames director S. Pete Worden heralded the agreement as the beginning of a new era of collaboration with Google in support of NASA's mission.
Google began working with NASA in September 2005, when the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding concerning future collaboration. Fruits of that relationship include the Planetary Content project, to make it easier to publish planetary data online, maps in Google Moon, and the NASA layer in Google Earth.
The NASA Ames Research Center is located near Google's Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. (The cozy relationship with NASA has also led to a deal that allows jets used by Google's executives to land at NASA's Moffett Field.)
The Google-NASA construction project will happen in three phrases, the first ending by September 2013, the second ending by 2018, and the third ending by 2022. The project will consist of office and research facilities, company housing, facilities for dining, sports, child care, conferences and parking, as well as improvements for NASA's use.
David Radcliffe, Google's VP of real estate and workplace services, held the arrangement up as an example "of the mutually beneficial partnerships that can be created between the public and private sectors."
Given the tensions that have emerged in other partnerships between the public and private sector -- the relationship between the National Weather Service and private companies that market weather data, for example -- it remains to be seen whether Google's interests will always be so well aligned with those of NASA.
But until such conflicts appear, the arrangement will serve to reinforce Google's image as a scientific powerhouse. Had Google chosen to partner with a less popular federal agency -- the IRS, for instance -- the brand benefits might not be so noteworthy.
"With this new campus, we will establish a new era of expanded collaboration with Google that will further enhance our Silicon Valley connections," said Ames Director S. Pete Worden. "This major expansion of NASA Research Park supports NASA's mission to lead the nation in space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research."
scratching head a little bit
Must be nice to have gobs of money that you don’t know what to do with.
I like the idea of private enterprise in space exploration. This doesn’t quite fit that classification.
I think it’s great that $3.66 million annually will be made from an over-extended gov’t infrastructute.
This is just very odd....
Waste of cash I thinks...
It’s their cash..........
OMG! Is this the start of an evil PPP?
Good, I’m not alone. Everybody’s like... whut?
Oh, my . . . that didn’t cross my mind. We are all fascists.
This will cause confusion at the security gate though -
“Excuse me Sir, but which group of nerds do you belong with?”
There you go. That's the reason.
Arrrgh!! When I worked there, the employees were not allowed to fly in to work. Everyone had to go over to the Palo Alto airport and drive over. Grrrrr.
Funny, I never hear of windfall profits for Google.
Because google is far left bans some web sites.
It’s the only reason. The little Google boys didn’t want to have to mingle with the great unwashed at San Jose Int’l so they cooked up this pot of garbage and sold it to NASA as if they gave a rat’s ass about Ames Research Center.
That NASA land is the closest piece of land to Googles main campus that is not yet developed, and that is of the size and cost appropriate to Googles needs.
The deal makes sense to me.
It will be a grand community of Evolutionists. Maybe they will build walls and they will crossbreed. Their moto shall be; Dirt + Water + Time = Life. And as America goes broke they will join to fritter away taxpayers $$$ looking for little green men in outer space to try and prove their moto is true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.