Google to unveil plans for giant new headquarters

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KGO) -- Google is by far Mountain View's largest employer with 20,000 employees and they take up office space equivalent to that of three Empire State buildings.

Google is about to unveil plans for a giant new headquarters, not far from the Googleplex, near Shoreline Park.

Google has quietly been spending a lot of time at city hall the past few months finalizing plans for a newer, bigger Googleplex.

Google is the latest tech giant on the Peninsula to outgrow its headquarters. In order to build a new one, the company will have to convince the city council it won't ruin Mountain View in the process.

If Google does expand, it means good things for Harbans Singh's gas station.

"We are on the right side of the Google, so the more people they hire, the more gas we can sell," he said.

He has watched those high-paying jobs bring a problem to Mountain View, high rent.

"One bedroom, $2,400, $2,700, that's hurting many, many, many people," Singh said.

Google dominates the local economy back when Samsung broke ground in Mountain View, one city council member sounded relieved.

"We were just really glad to have a company coming in that didn't begin with G. Well, I mean not that we don't love Google, but they've become Pac Man," Mountain View city council member Mike Kasperzak said.

That's because Google has been gobbling up Mountain View's real estate.

"Which has resulted in a hodgepodge and an assortment of different types of buildings, some of them are close to each other, some of them are far away," said Ken Rosenberg, Mountain View city council member.

The search giant wants now wants to build a new headquarters right on top of the old one.

City councilmember Ken Rosenberg has seen the plans, though they're not public yet.

Google's following in Apple's footsteps, after the iPhone maker convinced the city of Cupertino to allow a giant headquarters some say resembles a spaceship.

The Google buildings that I've seen through the plans that they've shared with me are impressive in their own right, but it's not one big large building, it's a series of smaller buildings that are close together and connected by green belts and walkways and paths.

It would all be office space, but some favor new zoning to allow housing nearby.

"I'm a person who's in favor of housing closer to where people work, that would definitely reduce some of the traffic," Rosenberg said.

Google's plans will become public when they're filed with the city on Friday.