Google to open facility in Goleta

By Steve Sinovic. Newspress Staff Writer. Internet search giant Google has leased a new facility in the Hollister Avenue high-technology corridor, planning to staff the facility with a team of scientists and researchers from nearby UCSB.

The Hayes Commercial Real Estate Group confirmed that the company has leased 15,000 square feet of space in an office/research and development building at 6868 Cortona Drive.

Google will share the buidling with Isolite Dental Systems and Aurrion.

“It is our understanding that this is an office for the group out of UCSB that Goleta is partnering with on quantum computing,” said Greg Bartholomew, a Hayes broker and partner who helped Google acquire the space.

Mr. Bartholomew said Google will make a few tenant improvements. As for its iconic sign being hoisted on or near the premises, he said the company asked permission to install signage with the lease.

As earlier reported in the News-Press, Google said that it had hired a research team from UCSB to help build new quantum information processors based on superconducting electronics.

Google said that it chose the lab of Professor John Martinis and his team to help in the hardware initiative with the company.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Quantum computers are expected to allow for much faster computation of certain algorithms than current ones built on transistors.

The building is near the corner of Storke and Hollister within close proximity to the airport, UCSB and the Camino Real Marketplace. The property was completely re-modeled by Occam Networks in 2009, with new electrical, HVAC and cabling.

With Google doing business in the area, Mr. Bartholomew said its presence may be an attractor for other companies involved in a similar type of technology.