Google Headquarters Expansion Costs $235m

In it's largest property acquisition of the year so far, tech giant Google have snapped up 400,000 square feet of office space in Mountain View, California - home to Silicon Valley.

Part of a larger expansion plan of the company's 'Googleplex' headquarters, the six buildings added to Google's portfolio add up to a substantial $235 (£147) million.

The transaction is the latest in a string of major deals and leases for Google - many of which have closed this quarter, as the search giant continues an expansion and hiring drive.

At the beginning of 2013, Googled owned 3.5 million square feet of office space, and rented a further 3.8 million square feet, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal. In 2006, it bought out its headquarters property for $319 (£199) million in an acquisition that totalled more than 978,000 square feet of land in Mountain View.

A significant development in Google's expansion proposal is the inclusion of a large amount of green architecture and design. Using a number of 'green roofs' to increase insulation and therefore reduce energy costs, this step by the tech giant is in the right direction towards carbon neutral.

This proposal comes just months after Palo Alto pledged Silicon Valley would be entirely carbon neutral by 2017.

Tim Bajarin, principal analyst with Campbell-based Creative Strategies, said: "Google's growth is unique."

"The Google search-engine business that's tied to their ads is growing exponentially. Their mobile is growing fast. They need much more staff to code, market, and manage what they are doing in advertising, and more offices for those employees."

"Google is in very-high-growth mode, obviously," said Phil Mahoney, a Cornish & Carey executive vice president who has handled several major leasing deals on behalf of property owners that were leasing offices to Google in Santa Clara County. "They have to put their employees somewhere."

The expansion on the company's Googleplex headquarters is scheduled to be complete at some point in 2015.