Google Breaks Ground on New Midtown Atlanta Office, Commits $1M to Georgia Nonprofits

Staff Report From Metro Atlanta CEO

Tuesday, October 29th, 2019

Representatives from Google were joined by Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan and other community leaders at a groundbreaking event for the tech company’s new offices in Midtown Atlanta. This new commitment is part of Google’s larger $13 billion investment in offices and data centers across the United States, which the company announced earlier this year.

Expected to open in 2022, Google’s new offices in Atlanta will be located at 1105 West Peachtree in Midtown. The company will occupy five floors in the new 1105 West Peachtree Building, which is currently under development by Selig Enterprises.

“We’ve been fortunate to call Georgia our home for nearly two decades, and we’re excited about our continued growth here,” said Google Atlanta Co-Site Leads Hetal Joshi Gordon and Matthew Pritchard.  “We see Atlanta as a place full of potential, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, and a place that continues to attract talented people as well as fast-growing companies that are making an impact. We’re proud to be a part of the vibrant ecosystem and economy here, and as we grow, we remain committed to supporting the local community and deepening our engagement, from workforce development to nonprofit support to STEM education and creating economic opportunity for everyone.”

"Georgia’s diverse workforce, high quality of life and friendly business environment are all benefits Google recognized and took advantage of,” said Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan. “That is exactly the kind of commitment from the business community we need to keep our state the best place to do business. We are proud companies like Google have made a strong footprint here and look forward to their continued growth in our state.”

“Having a world class company, Google, commit to this significant expansion speaks volumes about what’s happening in Atlanta, and in particular, Midtown,” said Steve Selig, President and Chairman of Selig Enterprises. “We are grateful Google has selected Selig as a partner, and our signature development, 1105 West Peachtree, as their new Atlanta home.”

During the groundbreaking, Google also announced the Google.org Impact Challenge benefiting nonprofits in Georgia. Through the Impact Challenge, Google.org is seeking submissions from Georgia’s nonprofits sharing their most creative and innovative ideas that will create economic opportunity across the state.

From their applications, Google.org will work with a panel of local judges will select organizations to receive funding. Georgians will also have the opportunity to vote for their favorite nonprofit idea to also receive funding.  In total, Google.org will award $1 million to Georgia nonprofits in support of Grow with Google, the company’s initiative to help create economic opportunities for all Americans.

Today, Google has over 40 greater-Atlanta nonprofits in their Grow with Google partner program who have helped train hundreds of Atlanta small businesses and job seekers using free Grow with Google curriculum. They also have a local Digital Coach who works with black and Latinx small business owners and entrepreneurs to provide access to tools, trainings and resources to help grow their businesses online. The Atlanta-based coach has hosted over 70 digital skills workshops that have reached 3,500+ Atlanta community members.

Google first came to Atlanta in 2001, when the company established a small sales hub in the city. Five years later, Google moved to its current location at 10 10th Street in Midtown.

Today, Google has more than 200 employees in its Atlanta office, which serves as the company’s Southeastern sales hub. There, team members support a wide variety of businesses from retail to travel. The Midtown office also houses Google engineers who work on the infrastructure that keeps Google’s apps, tools and resources fast and reliable for billions of people across the world.

Just last year, Google helped provide $7.15 billion of economic activity for Georgia businesses and nonprofits. In the same timeframe, Google provided $7.45 million in free advertising to Georgia nonprofits through its Google Ad Grants program.

Douglas County in Metro Atlanta is also home to one of Google’s global data centers.