• Wired, Thursday, December 23, 2010 1:16 PM

Google has agreed to pay $1.9 billion for the former Port Authority building in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood. At nearly 3 million square feet, Wired likens the edifice to "a beached, red-brick cruise ship." Meanwhile, "It's worth noting that the Empire State Building has just over 2 million square feet of office space -- about 1 million less than 111 Eighth Avenue."

In a blog post Wednesday, Google announced that it has closed the deal and said it has re-upped with Taconic Management Company to continue running the leasing and management operations of the building. The search giant said that it now has 2000 employees in New York City, and it's doing everything it can to further expand those ranks. "We believe that this is a great real estate investment in a thriving neighborhood and a fantastic city," said David Radcliffe, a Google VP for Real Estate and Workplace Services. "Like the city, our New York office is a melting pot of cultures and ideas - it's home to Googlers from more than 35 countries who speak more than 40 languages."

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