Google: Village in downtown would connect neighborhoods

SANJOSE » Google’s proposed transit- oriented village would be a catalyst to connect people and nature with an array of experiences, a grand plan that would integrate the game-changing project with numerous adjacent neighborhoods, according to a presentation by the company Wednesday night.

The search giant sketched a vision of an innovation loop, a social and cultural walk, a farmer’s market in front of the Diridon Station and numerous open spaces. The village also would include office buildings for Google’s employees, as well as homes, retail and restaurants. The presentation was made to the Station Area Advisory Group, after being delayed by a noisy protest.

“It’s really about the spaces between the buildings,” Michael Flynn, Google’s urban design lead, said during the meeting.

Mountain View-based Google’s presentation to the Station Area Advisory Group marked the first time the search giant offered a vision for how the project would be integrated with nearby neighborhoods in San Jose. The advisory group includes political, business, labor, civic and community leaders who are providing official input regarding Google’s proposed development.

“We want to connect people, places and experiences in an authentic way,” Flynn said in a brief interview with this news organization after the Google presentation.

The transit village that Google is planning would spur cultural walking areas, create a commercial loop and integrate with adjacent neighborhoods. Plus, the nearby Los Gatos Creek and Guadalupe River could become key components in the project experiences, especially since they flow between the hills that flank the Santa Clara Valley and the south end of San Francisco Bay.

“Wouldn’t it be incredible to use our project to connect the Bay to the redwoods,” Flynn said.

The meeting was delayed by a roughly 45-minute protest during which about a dozen demonstrators paraded through the meeting room at San Jose City Hall. They chanted and held a sign that said “Google ville,” a reference to the Hoovervilles, or shanty towns, built during the Depression by destitute U. S residents.

Some members of the Station Area Advisory Group expressed concerns that local residents could become displaced if the arrival of 15,000 to 20,000 Google tech employees forces already sky- high home prices to new record levels.

“How are you going to address social displacement?” Jeffrey Buchanan, an advisory group member and director of policy with Working Partnerships USA, an advocacy group, asked the Google representatives.

Google officials assured the meeting that this issue is front and center for the tech titan.

“Affordability and gentrification are very much on our radar screen,” Joe Van Belleghem, Google’s senior director of development. “We know it’s got to be addressed.”

The tech titan’s offices that would be part of the 240 acres in the development area would likely be clustered together in one section.

“Our people work better when we are close together and can collaborate,” Van Belleghem said.

The Google development appears poised to create the connectivity the company promises, Teresa Alvarado, director of the San Jose office of SPUR, a nonprofit civic planning organization, said during an interview following themeeting.

“The most amazing part of this plan is that we are talking about integrating all these pieces of the puzzle,” Alvarado said. “That is what we have been missing in San Jose. We might have a good idea here or there, but they are isolated and we don’t recognize the benefits from those ideas. Now, we are talking about this in a holistic way, and that’s how we will see positive transformation.”

The company’s village could activate social and commercial loops along Santa Clara and San Carlos streets stretching miles east and west, as well as a cultural and innovation walk on a north-south axis along Montgomery and Autumn streets, and Bird Avenue south of Interstate 280.

Acting directly and through a joint venture with Trammell Crow, Google has spent $221.6 million purchasing industrial, commercial, office and vacant parcels since December 2016.

Google’s interest in downtown San Jose is spurred, in part, by Diridon Station, which has links to Caltrain, Amtrak, the ACE Train, the Capitol Corridor train, light rail and buses. BART is slated to connect to the station in the next several years.

“We can think of Diridon Station as an intermodal arrival starting point,” Flynn said.

Diridon Station, with all of its transit links, could serve as a gateway to downtown San Jose, in the same way Grand Central Terminal is a key access point to Manhattan.

“We want that part in front of the station to really be the heart where it mixes lots of residential and good retail,” Van Belleghem said.