Google gains option to buy downtown San Jose parcel

SAN JOSE >> Google has obtained an option to buy a site north of the SAP entertainment and sports complex in downtown San Jose that’s near a property the search giant bought recently.

Both properties are located on North Montgomery Street in downtown San Jose.

Google has proposed the development of a transit village in downtown San Jose that would sprout next to and near the Diridon train station and SAP Center.

The property for which Google has just obtained an option is at 333 N. Montgomery, according to public documents filed on Sept. 11 with Santa Clara County officials.

The documents outlined a purchase and sale agreement that the Joseph Antuzzi Trust provided to Google, the county records show.

The terms of the purchase and sale agreement weren’t specified. The assessed value as of mid-2019 was $544,000 for the approximately halfacre parcel that contains a 7,200-square-foot building, county assessment documents posted on a research database show.

J.A. Antuzzi Concrete & Antuzzi Concrete Designs operates a business on the site.

The company is a concrete contractor that specializes in commercial, industrial, and residential construction.

On Sept. 10, Google paid San Jose residents Kenneth Puccio and Kathleen Mitchell slightly over $1 million for a property a few doors away at 357 N. Montgomery St.

This parcel that Google bought on Sept. 10 is currently the site of the Puccio Machine & Welding Works, a metal fabrication shop.

These properties — and dozens of others in the vicinity

that Google has purchased — are within the footprint of Google’s planned transit village in downtown San Jose.

Google has proposed a transit-oriented community of office buildings, houses, shops, restaurants, a hotel, cultural amenities, entertainment sites, and open spaces on 60 acres near Diridon Station.

Potentially 25,000 Google employees could work in the transit village. The development would include 6.5 million square feet of offices and up to

5,000 homes, along with 15 acres of open spaces.

Not counting the eventual price of the purchase of the concrete company site, Google has spent an estimated $387.8 million buying an array of properties in the area of the Diridon train station.

A Google representative stated at a downtown San Jose meeting in September that was organized by nonprofit planning and policy group SPUR that the tech titan would like to begin work on the transit village sooner than later.

Ricardo Benavidez, manager of community development with Google, noted during the gathering that a considerable — and necessary — planning, approval, and community engagement process is needed before construction could begin.

“Sometime in late 2021, we can start pulling permits,” Benavidez said. Benavidez added that initial work would involve “demolition and construction.”