Bringing Google to Chicago's Thompson Center

Two people lived in River North in 2000. More than 1,700 employees work in Fulton Market. We are going to buy the James R. Thompson Center building in Chicago in order to deepen our commitment to the city. The building is currently unrenovated and costs $105 million.

This will support engineering work in Chicago and help advance the growth of the company. We can meet the future needs of our hybrid workforce with it. Establishing a presence in Chicago's central business district will allow us to get in on the ground floor of a broader revitalizing of the loop.

The Thompson Center is the only building in the city where six L train lines converge, making it easy for employees to get to work. The Thompson Center will be renovated into a Class A green office building.

The tech sector has an impact on the city. New jobs and top talent are being created in the city. A recent economic impact study shows that every high-tech job created in the local economy creates at least four other jobs. A total economic impact of $2 billion was achieved by the 4,600 jobs supported by the employees in Chicago.

We enjoy being part of Chicago. We need to be good neighbors and focus on helping local communities, organizations and people emerge stronger from the Pandemic.

• Since 2007, Google.org has awarded over $18 million in grants to a wide range of nonprofits and organizations based in Illinois, including grants that help place jobseekers from under-resourced Chicago communities into in-demand careers.
• Grow with Google has trained more than 358,000 people across Illinois in digital skills.
• Google for Startups partners with leading startups that support the state's technology entrepreneurs, like 1871 and Bunker Labs. For example, as part of our inaugural Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund, five Chicago startups founded by Latino entrepreneurs each recently received $100,000 in cash awards to help fuel their businesses. And over the past two years, the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund has provided cash awards and support to promising entrepreneurs across the country, including to Chicago-based companies A.M Money, Five to Nine, 4Degrees, LifeWeb 360, Cyber Pop-Up and GoLogic.

We look forward to being a part of the Chicago community for a long time to come.