Google announced on Thursday that it will be opening its first U.S. Google Operations Center in Southaven, Mississippi. The Operations Center will provide customer and operations support to Google’s customers and users.
“This Google Operations Center represents a critical investment for the company and we look forward to being an active member of the local community for years to come,” said Troy Dickerson, Vice President of Google Operations Center. “The new site will give us the opportunity to hire amazing local talent and we are confident that the Southaven community will be a great home for our Operations Center.”
The Southaven location will be the first US-based center, but the third of its kind. One is in the Indian state of Telangana and the other is in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
“When we were thinking through where we could and would want to put our first U.S. based operations center a few things came to mind. The most important being access to great local talent, a welcoming community, and availability of land, to be quite frank. We need to build the thing… Mississippi, and Southaven specifically, fit the bill,” a Google spokesperson said.
A Google Maps view of where the Operation Center will be located.
The company will lease a new 60,000 square foot facility from Panattoni Development located at 5665 Airways Boulevard and anticipates the site will be operational in summer 2021. Google will establish a temporary office in nearby Memphis, Tennessee while the Southaven site is under construction.
The company has kicked off recruiting efforts with the goal of hiring 100 employees by the end of the year. According to the company’s website, the Mississippi center is part of a larger push by the company to bring more customer support jobs in-house.
“Google is a titan in the global economy and we are honored to have their first-class operation in our city,” said Southaven Mayor Darren Musselwhite. “It’s a great testament to our city and people that such a fine organization has chosen us as their newest home. I look forward to seeing the career opportunities this will provide for our people and the joint success that the City of Southaven, DeSoto County, State of Mississippi, and Google will enjoy together for many years in the future.”
This article was originally published by the DeSoto Times-Tribune.