Google is headed to the Westside. They are renovating the historic Spruce Goose Hangar’s 300,000 square feet of space in preparation for the Fall of 2018 move of its new Southern California offices. Playa Vista is quickly becoming home to the tech giants as Google joins Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, 72andSunny, and USC’s Institute of Creative Technologies.
History of the Spruce Goose Hangar in Playa Vista
The Spruce Goose hangar was named for the airplane that was built and housed there by Howard Hughes during World War II. Because of restrictions on steel and aluminum, Hughes built the transport aircraft out of wood. It is the largest wooden airplane ever made and was intended to move troops and materials across the Atlantic Ocean.
Before being called the Spruce Goose, the aircraft was known as HK-1. H was for Hughes. K was for Henry Kaiser, the steel magnate who came up with the idea for the large plane. In the end, it was six times bigger than any aircraft that had been built. Despite being made of birch wood, the press started calling the wooden plane the Spruce Goose, and the name stuck.
Although originally house in the Spruce Goose Hangar, the Spruce Goose was is now housed by the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
2014 to Today
In 2014, Google first came to Playa Vista by purchasing 12 acres of previously undeveloped land. This property now can hold more than 900,000 square feet of office space. Quickly, Google began offering office leases, turning Playa Vista into a technology hub.
Then, in 2016, Google leased the Spruce Goose hangar. The entirety of the building will be used for office space for Google’s offices.
To create this amazing new office space, Google built a three-story structure inside the hangar, originally constructed by Howard Hughes. In addition to the inside structure, windows and skylights are being added to the hangar to allow for more natural lighting.
To learn more about Playa Vista and how Google’s presence will affect home prices, give me a call.
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