Google’s San Jose renewal plan: ‘Grand Central of the West’
Google’s plan to build a massive transit-centered village in downtown San Jose could provide a new model for the design of sprawling tech campuses by addressing one of the Bay Area’s biggest headaches: commuters sitting in seemingly endless traffic jams.
The Mountain View search giant’s development would reshape downtown San Jose in a dramatic fashion, similar to the major renewal of San Francisco’s Mission Bay. It would take advantage of the groundwork San Jose and Silicon Valley leaders have done to bring more transit links into Diridon Station. And the project would elevate San Jose’s position among tech’s biggest host cities, bringing 15,000 to 20,000 Google employees into the city, which is already home to large tech employers such as Cisco Systems, Adobe Systems and eBay.
Google is already working to secure real estate near downtown San Jose’s transit hub, Diridon Station. The plan it’s discussing with San Jose city officials would redraw the map of some 240 acres, building 6 million to 8 million square feet of tech offices and research-and-development space, along with room for retailers.
On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council is scheduled to decide whether to open negotiations with Google to sell 16 city- and local agency-owned properties to the Mountain View search giant.
-Source The Mercury News Sunday June 18, 2017
