Google Could Create Up To 5,000 Chicago Jobs In Expansion: Report

CHICAGO, IL — Amazon isn't the only online powerhouse that's possibly considering expanding its presence in Chicago. Google has been talking with city leaders about creating an operations center in Chicago that could bring between 1,000 and 5,000 jobs to the area, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Atlanta, Boston and Dallas also are possible contenders for the company's new facility, the report added.

Google and Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office have refused to comment about the global tech giant's potential plan of growing its operations in Chicago. But unnamed sources familiar with the situation told Crain's that the negotiations between Google and the competing cities are in the advanced stages and have been going on for several months.

A decision from Google — which is headquartered in Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silcon Valley, and bordered by San Francisco and Palo Alto — could come in a few weeks, the report stated. And instead of choosing to simply expand to one city, the company might decide to split its resources across cities, the report added.

Currently, Google has a little more than 800 employees in Chicago's Fulton Market location, which primarily consists of salespeople and engineers, the report stated. The company's proposed new facility would include administrative, research, support and other personnel, the report added.

A possible advantage for Chicago that could give it a leg up on Google's other suitors is the relationship between Emanuel and Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Alphabet, Google's parent company, the report stated. The two know each other from their time as advisers in President Barack Obama's administration, but Schmidt has said he is stepping down as Alphabet's chairman later in January, the report added.

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The reason behind Google's expansion stems from the company wanting to attract talent from Big Ten universities in the Midwest, as well as trying to lure potential employees who want to live in or around a large urban area but don't want to deal with the high cost of living on the West Coast, the report stated. Google also has plans to build a new facility in Seattle, the report added.

With Google's possible expansion in the city, Chicago could conceiveably become the Third Coast's tech and online epicenter if Amazon also chooses to build its new headquarters — known as HQ2 — here. The dot-com power player has had metro areas across the country competing for its second corporate base of operations after announcing in September plans to create such a facility outside the company's Seattle home.

If Chicago is selected, Amazon will spend around $5 billion building and running HQ2, which also would bring 50,000 jobs to the area. The city is a strong contender to land the facility — Dallas, Atlanta and St. Louis are among the other cities in the hunt for HQ2 — and Amazon is expected to reveal its short list of candidates later this winter, although a timeline for the final decision isn't known, according to Crain's.

More via Crain's Chicago Business

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