Google This: Chelsea is Booming

Add another feather to Google’s cap. The Internet search giant is already tops when it comes to online innovation and checking up on an old fling, but now Google is also good for triggering real estate development booms. Today the Wall Street Journal writes about the domino effect of Google purchasing the office building at 111 Eighth Avenue in Chelsea for a staggering $1.9 billion, which has fast-tracked a number of new residential developments looking to capitalize on Google and other technology companies flooding the neighborhood with housing-hungry employees. One of those buildings is 305W16 (above), which is being sold and marketed by CORE. The building, just a few steps from Google’s front door, launched sales with a bang over the summer, and is now 65% in-contract and sold. There’s plenty of other action in the neighborhood, as CORE CEO Shaun Osher explains to the Journal:

Chelsea has more new condo projects in the pipeline than any other neighborhood, according to Shaun Osher, founder and chief executive of the Core Group, which specializes in new development. Indeed, the number of condo unit sales in Chelsea jumped to 121 in the third quarter, from 78 in the year-earlier quarter, according to Miller Samuel Inc., a real-estate appraisal firm.

Will Google really have a big impact on Chelsea’s housing market? It appears so: As 305W16 developer Harlan Berger points out, the building’s buyers already include a couple of Google employees. Read the full story for the lowdown on 305W16 and some of Chelsea’s other new developments.