2 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 20, 2005 ERO UMMEGoogle may build in A2 STAR FSME 4 Corporation is looking for a suitable location for its new technologv center By Muhammad Saleem Khan Daily Staff Reporter Search engine giant Google is considering Ann Arbor as a possible place to build a new 200,000 square foot technology center. While Steve Langdon, spokesman for Google, would not confirm the rumors, local realtors have said that a real estate broker working on behalf of Google has been searching for potential real estate in the city. The company is also considering building its new center in Boston or Boulder, Colo. Google's newest location would employ up to 1,000 new salaried employees and be about as large as the Life Sciences Institute. A local realtor with an Ann Arbor-based realty company has said that leasing a 200,000 sq. ft building would be impossible in the city because of the lack of vacancy in the area, and as a result new construction would be inevitable. Cities targeted are ones with a large population of recent college graduates between the ages of 22 and 30 and cities must have nearby public transportation and a rich urban atmosphere. Among the factors that must be considered, according to Google's website, is a 24 hr doughnut shop in close proximity. While Boston might have more openings in real estate, Larry Page, co-founder of Google, has a strong connection with Ann Arbor - his engineering degree from the University. After graduating the University in 1995, he headed to Stanford University for gradu- ate studies. It was during his time at Stanford that he met co-founder Sergey Brin and together they found- ed Google in 1998. Google's headquarters, known as Googleplex, is based in Mountain View, Calif. A local realtor with an Ann Arbor-based realty company said Google is looking for more space for their project of digitizing the entire 7 million books of the library's collection. The project would require about 40,000 sq. feet of additional space. John Wilkin, associate librarian for the University, said that Google has been working with the Univer- sity on this project since last July and Google hopes to be finish digitizing in roughly six years. However, Google has hinted that it might finish faster than the time given. "It may be about six years, but it's entirely possible for them to do it faster. They are trying to figure out the right strategy to do it faster," Wilkin said. While Wilkin has no information about whether Google has expressed intent to build its new technol- ogy center in the Ann Arbor area, Wilkin personally believes that Google would need to expand in Ann Arbor if it wants order to finish the digitizing project in fewer than six years with their current project of digitizing the library's collection. Currently Google is digitizing the 2.5 million books of the 7 million the library stores. Google's net worth is estimated to be 81 billion dollars. The company first offered its ini- tial public offering of stock in mid August of last year at a price of $100.34. Last Friday their shares closed at a price of $280.30. G SIGN SAYS ITALL. One Month FREE Rent $0 Deposit Special Pius $50.00 off monthly rent Move in b iune 30, 2005* 1819 Willowtree Lane Ann Arbor, MI 769-1313 ,ss . 'tslclgpalodrkwes.'ou t I I Thank you, Ann Arbor, for voting us BEST CD STORE - 2005 Michigan Daily Reader's Poll WITH THIS AD RECEIVE 10/e OFF STOREWIDE VINYL & CDs Not combined with any other specal offers Offer expires October 311, 2005 Items already sale priced exempt THE BEST IN NEW COMPACT DISCS & VINYL ARTS Evan McGarvey, Managing Editor ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Jeffrey Bloomer STAFF: Zach Borden, Cyril Cordor, Abby Frackman, Andrew M, Gaerig, Chris Gaerig, Alexandra M Jones, Punit Mattoo, Gabe Rivin, Imran Syed PHOTO Trevor Campbell, Managing Editor ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mike Hulsebus STAFF: Forest Casey, Alexander Dziadosz, Tommaso Gomez, Ali Olsen, Eugene Robertson. Peter Schottenfels, David Tuman GR APHIC DESIGN STAFF: Matthew Daniels, Gervis Menzies, Lindsey Ungar ONLINE Eston Bond, Managing Editor STAFF: Chelsea Trull DISPLAY SALES Emily Cipriano, Manager STAFF: Katie Baker Adam Gross, Kamia Pande, George Saba, Benjamin Schottenfels. Nissa Vandre CLASSIFIED SALES Ryan Van Tassel, Manager PRODUCTION Phyllis Wong, Manager SPECIAL PAGE Jessica Sachs, Manager 4 14