Renderings courtesy of COOKFOX Architects

Google will buy the Manhattan office building it currently leases for $2.1 billion next year. The tech giant announced on Tuesday plans to purchase St. John’s Terminal at 550 Washington Street in Hudson Square during the first quarter of 2022. Google already leases the former freight terminal, which is currently undergoing a major renovation and addition as part of the company’s new 1.7 million-square-foot campus in the neighborhood. As the Wall Street Journal first reported, the deal marks the priciest sale of a single office building in the United States since the start of the pandemic, as well as one of the most expensive ever recorded.

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Rendering of 550 Washington Street via COOKFOX

Construction has officially kicked off at Google’s massive new campus in Hudson Square. The tech company plans to open office space across three properties 315 Hudson Street, 345 Hudson Street, and 550 Washington Street, which formerly served as a freight terminal. The project involves a gut renovation of the terminal building and an addition of eight new floors. As CityRealty reported Tuesday, the northern sections of the St. John’s Terminal building are now demolished.

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Google will invest $1 billion to open 1.7 million square feet of office space in Hudson Square, the company announced on Monday. The new campus includes property at 315 and 345 Hudson Street and will also be centered around 550 Washington Street, the former freight terminal, St. John’s Terminal. With this expansion from its Chelsea offices at 111 Eighth Avenue, Google said its workforce will double over the next 10 years, adding another 7,000 New York-based staff members.

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Oxford Properties Group this week unveiled the first renderings of its project to transform an old freight terminal in Hudson Square into a 12-story office building. The Canadian developer bought a section of the St. John’s Terminal site, located at 550 Washington Street, in January for $700 million from Atlas Capital and Westbrook Partners. Oxford Properties then tapped COOKFOX Architects to design a 1.3 million square foot 12-story office complex. New renderings reveal a modern structure with floor-to-ceiling windows, planted roofs and terraces, 100,000 square-foot floor plates, and waterfront access.

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Rendering looking south down the Hudson River waterfront with COOKFOX’s design for 550 Washington on the left-hand side. Courtesy of COOKFOX.

This past December, COOKFOX Architects released up-close renderings of their nearly two-million-square-foot St. John’s Terminal redevelopment in Hudson Square. COOKFOX, known for their commitment to contextual and sustainable development, created a five-building plan that, according to the firm, takes inspiration from the early Hudson Square factories and printing press buildings “with massing assembled around finely sculpted towers, detailed with geometrically rigorous setbacks and planted terraces.” Now, CityRealty has uncovered two aerial views of the residential, retail, and commercial project that show just how massive this development will be.

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COOKFOX Architects released new renderings this week of its five proposed high-rise buildings in Hudson Square, part of the redevelopment of St. John’s Terminal into a nearly two-million-square-foot complex of housing, retail and office space. As CityRealty learned, the design calls for an industrial-meets-earthy design with deftly sculpted towers detailed with geometric setbacks and planted terraces. Located near Pier 40, the proposed buildings will hold a total of 1,586 apartments, with 30 percent of them below market rate, office spaces, a hotel and about 400,000 square feet of retail.

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