A BBCmag editor tracks her city’s road to Google Fiber
By Marianne Cotter
Community News Editor
Unlike residential customers who can register with Google Fiber directly, bringing Google Fiber into multi-unit properties involves a third party: the landlord. The property owner must buy in and invest in certain infrastructure improvements to make the property fiber ready.
Today the Charlotte Business Journal reported a big property owner buy-in. Parkway Properties, which owns and operates office properties in high-growth markets, has signed a deal with Google Fiber to bring its Small Business Service to its office tower tenants in three Google cities: Charlotte, Atlanta and Austin.
In Charlotte, the lucky properties are Hearst Tower and Nascar Plaza. The reason Parkway took this step is to make these Uptown properties more attractive to potential tenants. “Google Fiber should allow our customers to increase productivity and gain a distinct strategic advantage,” said Joel Anderson, Parkway Properties’ vice president and director of information technology. “We believe that a long-term partnership with Google Fiber will differentiate the Parkway portfolio and further our efforts to maximize value of our best-in-class assets.”
This is wonderful news for Charlotte. It validates the shared vision of the city and Google that Google Fiber will make Charlotte an even more attractive and competitive place to do business.
We can only hope that Charlotte’s apartment and condo owners will be as forward-looking when the time comes to make Google Fiber available to their residents.
