Google Backs Out Of Rose Hill Campus Plan

KIRKLAND, WA — Google will not move forward with plans to redevelop a Rose Hill property for a new campus, which would have provided office space for thousands of Kirkland employees, according to the city. Google had reportedly planned to build up to five buildings on 10 acres that currently house Lee Johnson car dealerships off Northeast 85th Street, the Daily Journal of Commerce reported in November.

In an announcement Friday, Kirkland officials said Google and the Lee Johnson family notified the city that the proposed purchase and redevelopment would not move forward. The news arrived the same day Google announced layoffs impacting 12,000 workers across its global workforce, citing "a different economic reality."

While the new Google campus is off the table, the city said Sound Transit's rapid transit station project to improve mobility in the area would move forward, making the site desirable for future developments.

"As the Sound Transit NE 85th Street/I-405 Bus Rapid Transit Station moves to completion, the Lee Johnson Family is confident that similar opportunities for development will emerge as the economy stabilizes over the next few years," the city said Friday. "The City of Kirkland will continue to partner with the Lee Johnson family on any future projects that leverage this once-in-a-generation Sound Transit investment to accomplish the City’s Station Area Plan vision to build 'a thriving, new walkable district with high tech and family wage jobs, plentiful affordable housing, sustainable buildings, park amenities, and commercial and retail services linked by transit.'"

Until new suitors are found, officials said the Lee Johnson family plans to continue running its existing dealerships on the site.

According to GeekWire, Google employed more than 7,000 people in Washington state in 2022. The first phase of its Kirkland Urban campus opened early last year, joining the Feriton campus.