Transit village keeps on growing.
Google’s development partner purchases property near San Jose’s Diridon Station
SAN JOSE » Google’s development partner for a game- changing proposed transit village near Diridon Station in downtown San Jose has scooped up another property that would be used for the vast project, the seller confirmed Thursday.
The most recent property bought by TC Agoge Associates — an affiliate controlled by realty firm Trammell Crow, which is Google’s development ally for the transit village — is located at 92 S. Montgomery St. at the corner of West San Fernando Street.
“We saw that Google and Trammell Crow potentially would be able do a lot more good things for downtown San Jose than what we ever could have hoped with our property by itself,” said Don Imwalle, a principal executive with Imwalle Annex HBD, the group that sold the property.
TC Agoge bought the property, a vacant lot, for slightly more than $1.1 million, according to Santa Clara County official records. The pur-
chase occurred Aug. 1. The previous value for the property was $613,000, county assessment records show.
This property is across the street from Diridon Station and adjacent to parcels owned by San Jose government agencies.
“With the Redevelopment Agency properties right across the street, if they decided to do retail or entertainment as part of the project, this could be a cool location for that,” said Bob Staedler, a principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a property and development consultancy.
Multiple property owners have told this news organization that more deals are in the works to sell parcels to Google or Trammell Crow.
Mountain View- based Google and Trammell Crow intend to develop 6 million to 8 million square feet of new offices in an aging industrial district near Diridon Station and the SAP Center entertainment complex.
Google could employ 15,000 to 20,000 of its workers at the future transit village. Some city leaders have called the Diridon train complex the “Grand Central Station of the West” because it ultimately will be a hub for BART, light rail, Caltrain, Amtrak, the ACE Train and even a bullet train that could connect Silicon Valley to the Central Valley and Los Angeles.
Including the most recent purchase, TC Agoge and a Google-linked entity called Rhyolite Enterprises have spent roughly $141.6 million to collect numerous properties in downtown San Jose, mostly along Autumn and Montgomery streets.
In late June, San Jose officials also formally approved the start of negotiations with Google that could eventually trigger the sale of 16 city-controlled properties to the search giant for the transit- oriented development.
“Google and Trammell Crow are marching forward in what looks to be a very thoughtful way with this project,” Staedler said.