开云体育

I'm going to the 11am press conference in Lansing
announcing the Google new location in Ann Arbor.
(It took a bit of back and forth with the press secretary
to get an invitation.)

If you have any questions you'd like answered, I'll
do my best to ask them.

thanks

Ed


July 11, 2006

Google to Put a Research Center in Michigan

By MICHELINE MAYNARD and NICK BUNKLEY

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 10 — Google plans to build an office and
research center here that will have up to 1,000 employees, people who
had been briefed on the plan said Monday night.

The announcement is set to be made Tuesday morning by Gov. Jennifer
M. Granholm at a news conference at the state Capitol in Lansing.

Google is expected to open the center in downtown Ann Arbor, the
hometown of the University of Michigan, where Larry Page, one of
Google's founders, earned his undergraduate degree in engineering.

Mr. Page, a Michigan native, has maintained close ties with the
university; his company is in the midst of a project to digitize all
seven million volumes in the university's libraries.

Google has been scouting the city for up to 240,000 square feet of
office space, according to a report last year in The Ann Arbor
Business Review. Ann Arbor was among a handful of potential cities
chosen from an initial list of 50, the report said.

Most of the space would be used for a technology and call center,
with about 40,000 square feet needed to house the library
digitization project, which has been hindered by court challenges
over copyrights.

The investment is a much-needed boost for Ms. Granholm, the state's
Democratic governor, who is in a tough re-election race. She was
criticized last month when Michigan did not actively compete for a
Honda plant that will be built in Indiana.

She has also been lobbying hard to have a Toyota engine plant opened
in the state, but a decision on that factory may not come until after
the November election, people participating in the discussions on
that factory said.

Michigan has lost nearly 300,000 jobs since 2000, and its jobless
rate has been higher than the national average for 57 consecutive
months. Southeast Michigan, where numerous auto plants have closed,
is trying to shed its Rust Belt image and market itself as a
technology hub known as Automation Alley in an effort to make up for
some job losses.

Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., has been on an investment
spree lately. It is spending $1.5 billion this year on operations
centers, including a large site in The Dalles, Ore., and on custom
technology.

Micheline Maynard reported from Ann Arbor, Mich., for this article
and Nick Bunkley from Detroit.