Google inks $2B deal to buy Chelsea Market

SEARCH GOOGLE for “Chelsea Market” and you’ll see that it now owns the building.

The online giant was already the largest tenant in the Ninth Ave. building, where it had been leasing about 400,000 square feet of space about a block away from its current New York headquarters at 111 Eighth Ave.

And after a $2 billion deal Tuesday with the Jamestown investment and management company, Google will soon own the whole 1.2-million-square-foot office and retail building at 75 Ninth Ave., between 15th and 16th Sts. The edifice is also home to the Food Network and digital headquarters of Major League Baseball.

The sale will close in two months, according to The Real Deal. It was not immediately clear what Google is planning for Chelsea Market.

The company had been slowly acquiring more space in the property as leases expired. Google paid a then-record $1.77 billion in 2010 to buy the 2.9-million-squarefoot Eighth Ave. property, a former warehouse that occupies a full city block.

But it has struggled to get existing tenants out fast enough to meet its space needs.

Google also has about 240,000 square feet at Vornado Realty Trust and Related Companies’ 85 10th Ave. building.

Chelsea Market is known for its firstfloor food hall, which attracts about six million visitors every year, according to its website.

Rescuers approach building toppled by 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Hualien, Taiwan, on Wednesday. At least four people were killed and more than 225 injured in the disaster, said Taiwan’s Central News Agency.