Google adds big piece to village plan.
The huge site consists primarily of surface parking lots and small buildings
“This confirms that Google is serious about downtown San Jose. Google really appears committed to a major project downtown.” — Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a landuse and planning consultancy
SAN JOSE >> Google has struck a deal to buy a big parcel from Trammell Crow that represents a major addition to the sites which the search giant has begun to assemble for its proposed transitoriented development in downtown San Jose, the company confirmed Tuesday.
City officials have approved the 8.5-acre site for 1 million square feet of offices in a pair of towers, along with a residential tower containing 325 housing units, and 35,000 square feet of retail, including ground-floor shops and restaurants, according to a leasing brochure circulated by CBRE, a commercial realty brokerage.
Despite gaining approvals, Trammell Crow has yet to begin construction on the property.
Mountain View-based Google’s purchase of the development site underscores the technology company’s widening interest in a major presence in downtown San Jose.
“This confirms that Google is serious about downtown San Jose,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land-use and planning consultancy. “Google really appears committed to a major project downtown.”
While Google has reached a firm agreement to buy the property from Trammell Crow, the company has no immediate plans to construct buildings on the site, a spokesperson for the
tech titan said Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Google’s potential development efforts in the Diridon Station area — as underscored by the transaction with Trammell Crow — indicate that the downtown district is widening.
“It brings the west side of downtown San Jose close to the main core of the downtown,” said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association. “This is such a key parcel for Google, because it is literally in the confluence of the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek.”
At present, the site consists primarily of surface parking lots and small buildings. Trammell Crow has named the project Diridon.
An affiliate controlled by Trammell Crow paid $58.5 million in 2015 for the site, buying it from San Jose-based tech company Adobe Systems. Google didn’t discuss its purchase price on Tuesday.
Mountain View-based Google said Tuesday that it expects a deed would be recorded in the near future to make the purchase complete.
Google’s acquisition of the Trammell Crow Diridon development site is part of the company’s ongoing investment in properties next to and near the Diridon train station, Google said.
Owning the property, even if it isn’t developed immediately, would give Google greater flexibility for a cohesive development of an integrated mixed-use community of offices, residences, retail, restaurants and amenities that the company is proposing, a Google spokesperson said.
Eventually, 15,000 to 20,000 of Google’s workers could be employed in office buildings near Diridon Station and the SAP entertainment complex, according to Google.
Google intends for its development in downtown San Jose to be integrated with adjacent and nearby neighborhoods.
From December 2016 through the end of March this year, affiliates of Google and Trammell Crow have spent at least $221.6 million buying an array of properties on the western edges of downtown San Jose that would be developed for the Google transit village.
The purchase by a Google and Trammell Crow venture of the Orchard Supply Hardware property near the corner of West San Carlos Street and Royal Avenue was deemed to be a major game-changer in Google’s purchasing efforts, because the transaction took the scope of Google’s buying efforts nearly all the way south to Interstate 880.
Similarly, Google’s move to buy the Trammell Crow development site takes Google’s village footprint to the west edge of State Route 87.
“You are really seeing a major increase in Google’s reach in downtown San Jose,” Staedler said.