Google opens a Seattle campus, and brings a housewarming gift

Carolyn Adolph

October 03, 2019 / 2:29 pm

Google opened its new campus on South Lake Union today with the announcement of a million-dollar grant to the Salvation Army to expand a homeless shelter.

That shelter is the William Booth Center for homeless men in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood (south of the stadiums). The shelter was built in the 1950s and renovated in the 1990s.

An expansion would help it meet demand for shelter that has surged in Seattle since the tech boom and opioid crisis.

"Being part of the community means investing in the community in the most needed areas," said Adrian Schurr, manager of Google's giving program. "You can't be in a community without investing in homelessness especially in areas like Seattle."

The Salvation Army has pledged to double its impact on homelessness in West Coast cities.

Kenneth Hodder, a commissioner with the Salvation Army, said that doesn't translate into double the beds at the William Booth Center. It means the agency is redoubling its efforts: "We want to prevent people from becoming homeless," he said. "If they are there, we want to get them out. And then once they are out, we want to ensure they don't fall back in."

A study will determine how many more beds the William Booth Center could hold.

Google's new multi-building campus has prime views of Lake Union. Google also has offices in Fremont, Bellevue and Kirkland, and recently announced plans to expand further in Kirkland.

The company based in Mountain View, California, says it has 4,500 workers in the Seattle region. Despite the next expansion plans, the company said it did not have a target work force for Seattle.

"We can't give you exact numbers on what our growth will be — it's very dependent upon some of the local nature of business and hiring," said Eric Young, Google's vice president of engineering in Seattle.

"We actually are very excited to see the growth here and to be part of the local tech economy of the state," he said. "But I don't have any particular numbers in terms of target hiring levels."