MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - NASA and Google Inc. Wednesday announced plans to develop a new high-technology campus at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.
Under the terms of the 40-year agreement, Google will lease 42.2 acres of unimproved land in NASA Research Park at Ames to construct up to 1.2 million square feet of offices and research and development (R&D) facilities in a campus-style setting.
"With this new campus, we will establish a new era of expanded collaboration with Google that will further enhance our Silicon Valley connections," said Ames Director S. Pete Worden. "This major expansion
of NASA Research Park supports NASA's mission to lead the nation in
space exploration, scientific discovery and aeronautics research." "This long-term lease agreement is a key component of Google's
strategy for continued growth in Silicon Valley," said David
Radcliffe, Google's vice president of real estate and workplace
services. "We believe this collaboration between Google, NASA and the
city of Mountain View is emblematic of the mutually beneficial
partnerships that can be created between the public and private
sectors."
Under the terms of this enhanced-use lease (EUL), Google will pay NASA
an initial base rent of $3.66 million per year. This rate is based on
appraisals establishing fair market value of the land. NASA will use
the proceeds to cover the full cost of the lease and the balance may
be used for capital revitalization and improvements of the real
property assets at Ames.
The 40-year lease provides for periodic escalations and adjustments of
rent. Google may extend the lease for three 10-year terms. After that,
NASA and Google may agree to extend the lease two additional 10-year
terms. If all extensions are exercised, the lease term will be a
total of 90 years. NASA will retain control over the project during
its construction phase, including approving the design, issuing
building permits, conducting inspections and monitoring construction.
Construction will proceed in three phases. The first phase is planned
to begin by the end of September 2013, the second phase by 2018 and
the third by 2022. While the majority of the development will consist
of office and R&D space, Google also plans to construct company
housing and amenities such as dining, sports, fitness, child care,
conference and parking facilities for its employees, as well as
recreation and park facilities and infrastructure improvements for
NASA's use.
Today's announcement is the latest in a series of collaborations
dating back to September 2005, when NASA and Google announced plans to
work together on a variety of technology-focused R&D activities. NASA
and Google signed a memorandum of understanding that year, launching
negotiations for this development in NASA Research Park. Located at
Ames, NASA Research Park is a world-class, shared-use educational and
research-and-development campus.
Since signing the memorandum of understanding in 2005, NASA and Google
have begun collaboration on several joint projects. The Planetary
Content project develops software that makes it easier for the science
community to publish planetary data via the Internet. This project has
already provided high-resolution lunar imagery and maps to the Google
Moon program and resulted in the "NASA" layer in Google Earth.
Similarly, the Global Connection project enhances the "National
Geographic" layer in Google Earth by embedding geo-referenced stories
and images from around the world. The Disaster Response project
develops prototype software tools to help improve first response to
large-scale natural disasters.
Google's innovative search technologies connect millions of people
around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by
Stanford University Ph.D students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google
today is a top web property in all major markets. Google is
headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas,
Europe and Asia.
For more information about NASA programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov
For more information about NASA Research Park, visit: http://www.researchpark.arc.nasa.gov
An overview of the area is available in Google Maps and Google Earth
program at: http://maps.google.com/googleameslease
For more information about Google, visit: http://www.google.com
Google, Google Earth, and Google Moon are trademarks of Google Inc. in
the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
To receive Ames news releases, send an e-mail with the word
"subscribe" in the subject line to:
ames-releases-request@lists.arc.nasa.gov. To unsubscribe, send an
e-mail to the same address with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Also, the NASA Ames News homepage at URL, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/index.html includes news
releases and JPEG images in AP Leaf Desk format minus embedded
captions.
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