http://www.azcentral.com/community/tempe/articles/0311tr-google0311Z10.html

Tempe's character draws Google

Katie Nelson The Arizona Republic Mar. 11, 2006 12:00 AM

Maybe it was the Tempe Town Lake-side chat Google's people had with city officials. Or the time spent touring Arizona State University with school officials and faculty.

But ultimately, Google representatives say, it was Tempe's restaurants and neighborhoods and ASU's resources and youthful energy that brought the company to the city.

The Internet giant's new home on ASU's Tempe campus is only temporary, since Google officials signed a three-year lease. But that didn't stop Tempe officials from celebrating after the announcement came out early Friday.

"It's a good day for Tempe," said Mayor Hugh Hallman, who received a phone call from ASU President Michael Crow about Google's choice just before 8 a.m., and a phone call from the company about an hour later.

But Tempe and university leaders emphasized the benefits of landing Google aren't limited to any one city.

"It's good news for Tempe but even better news for the entire region," Hallman said. "It's important that companies like Google recognize that this metropolitan area provides a great quality of life that's cost-effective for doing business, and that we've got the infrastructure to service great tech companies."

For at least its first three years in the Valley, Google will operate out of an ASU-owned building on Rural Road, across the street from a Korean Garden restaurant and a Whataburger fast-food joint.

So far, Google has hired about 20 employees that will be based in Tempe. They'll likely move to their new digs in June. And eventually they'll be joined by hundreds more new Google employees, company officials said.

Google's current Arizona employees found out the news during a morning meeting Friday, about the same time the cities that were vying to land the company did. Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler all took part in the headline-grabbing yet intensely private race to entice Google into their own city limits.