The day has finally come; Google’s official move from Birmingham to their new office at Little Caesars Arena. The move was announced nearly a year ago, and the office was initially estimated to open in the spring this year. Roughly 100 employees are making the move to the new arena location.
Joining big name corporations such as Ally Financial, Fifth Third Bank and Lear, Google is the latest in a trend of companies opting for downtown locations since the area’s revitalization. The downtown office will host a base of Google sales workers working primarily with automotive and finance clientele, like fellow downtown occupant Quicken Loans. The Google Detroit site leader Danielle Russell is excited for the move and the history of the city itself.
“When we think about Detroit, we think about the long history, the great culture and innovation that has happened in the city,” Russell said. “Ensuring we are around the people here who are hardworking, deeply committed to community, and ensuring that we pursue that innovation that we see happening all around, is something we really wanted to make sure in this next chapter that we were part of.”
Eric Yuhasz, Google’s facilities manager for Michigan, echoed that.
“We’re excited to be down in the Detroit area,” he said. “We came down here to tap into that talent pool and be a part of the city and give back to the community.”
The employees working at the site are dedicated, hard-working types that “come in early and leave late”. To accommodate, the office site provides amenities such as a full-service cafeteria, a workout gym, a massage room, outdoor balconies with expansive views of downtown, and more. The office is also adorned in items related to the history of Detroit, such as meeting rooms named for local landmarks, and a wall decorated with scenes of old postcards of Belle Isle.
The Google grand opening will be used to announce $1 million in grants to advance science and technical education among Detroit-area students.
