San Jose votes to negotiate Google land buy

Tech giant wants to develop 22 acres near train station

The San Jose City Council has approved the start of exclusive negotiations to sell 22 largely undeveloped acres to Google, with the goal of bringing large-scale development and thousands of jobs to the area around the city’s downtown transit hub.

City officials said that if Google buys the property, it plans to add outdoor plazas, retail shops and up to 8 million square feet in office, research and development space. The project could bring up to 20,000 jobs, mostly at Google, according to Nanci Klein, San Jose’s assistant director of economic development.

“This will be an important opportunity to increase jobs in the city,” Klein said.

The proposed project would be near Diridon Station, a transit hub for Caltrain, Amtrak and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. In the future, city officials expect the site to have a BART station and high-speed rail stop, and they believe a deal with Google could accelerate the area’s growth.

The council voted Tuesday in favor of a market-rate deal for the property that does not include public subsidies to Google for the proj-

ect. Mayor Sam Liccardo said that represents an improvement from the mid-’90s when San Jose paid Adobe $34 million to move there.

“It’s important for us to be reflective about that context,” Liccardo said.

Klein estimated that if Google completes all 8 million square feet, that could generate $8 million in annual property tax revenue. Google is interested in the area because it is close to transit and many of its employees already live in San Jose, she added. The move comes as the Bay Area is grappling with snarled traffic. At rush hour, it can take roughly an hour to go the 15 miles from Google headquarters in Mountain View to San Jose, and the company shuttle buses are stuck in the same traffic jams as private vehicles, although they can use carpool lanes.

Mark Golan, vice president of real estate and workplace services for Northern California at Google, said it shares San Jose’s vision for the development of the Diridon area.

“We know this is just the beginning, but we are excited about the possibility” of bringing office, retail and open spaces to downtown San Jose that are connected to mass transit, Golan said during the council meeting.

Not everyone in the community is gung ho for the project. Several residents expressed concerns over whether people will be displaced. Some said the project will bring more high-paid Google employees to San Jose, raising overall rents.

“I hope Google helps our community and not just pushes us out,” said Sarah Delte, a single mother who works at Jack in the Box. “It would be a real blow if we had to move out of this city.”

Silicon Valley Rising, a coalition that advocates higher wages and benefits for workers, pushed City Council members to set requirements for Google on wages and jobs related to the project. The group also asked the council to consider the impact that the project could have in displacing residents and engage with the community on the process.

“We want this project to benefit San Jose, and not leave working people behind,” said Sarah McDermott, a research analyst with Unite Here Local 19, which represents cafeteria workers.

San Jose, home to eBay, PayPal and Cisco, recently has drawn the attention of Google and Apple because many of their employees already live there. Last year, the City Council approved Apple’s plans to develop up to 4.15 million square feet in San Jose. That’s an area bigger than its spaceship-shape main building in its new Apple Park in Cupertino.

Liccardo said that while the city will listen and engage with the community, he is against adding too many demands before the city even starts negotiations.

“There are a lot of ways it can fail,” Liccardo said. “One of the ways it can fail is that we are going to demand so much up-front.”