Google unveils building plans
The project includes complete Mountain View neighborhood
MOUNTAIN VIEW » Google has unveiled plans for a vast redevelopment of the northern Mountain View area, a new effort that would create neighborhoods of offices, homes, restaurants, hotel facilities, shops and parks.
“We’re excited about the city’s ideas about North Bayshore moving from the office park to something truly special, a place for people and nature,” Google said in its proposal to Mountain View city planners, adding its goal for the development is “complete neighborhoods.”
The project, called Shorebird, includes 3.12 million square feet of new and redeveloped offices, up to 400,000 square feet of community retail area, as many as 8,000 new homes and 35 acres of open spaces. Google intends to team up with a residential builder to construct 6,000 to 6,600 dwelling units on land that it owns, with 20 percent of those to be set aside as affordable housing.
Two hotels, and local businesses that would include a grocery store, medical offices and a farmers’ market are proposed for Google’s north Mountain View development, the company said.
“Housing for all” is how Google
describes the residential elements of the plan.
In December 2017, Mountain View city officials approved the broad outlines of a conceptual plan to allow development of nearly 10,000 homes north of U.S 101, along with 3.6 million square feet of offices.
“We wanted to achieve 9,850 new homes in the North Bayshore area, and Google’s plan goes a long way to meeting those goals,” said David Meyer, director of strategic initiatives with Silicon Valley at Home, an affordable housing advocacy group. “This proposal checks the boxes for meeting the goals for the area.”
Google hopes to place 1,200 affordable units on land the company owns.
“Affordable homes would be targeted to very low-, low- and moderate-income households, as well as those in the ‘missing middle’ such as public safety employees, nurses, teachers and people living in the North Bayshore area,” Google said in the proposal. “Housing needs to work for everyone.”
To create complete neighborhoods, Google has proposed ways to connect the areas it envisions in the Shorebird development.
“Our framework plan includes two ‘hearts’ — an entertainment-focused gateway and a culturally rich, more neighborhood- focused retail experience,” according to Google. “Two new proposed hotels in North Bayshore will bring additional evening activation to the entire area.”
The office part of the project would be potentially enough space for 15,600 Google workers. As many as 8,000 homes could be built in the Google proj- ect area, with help from other developers.
“This proposal in many ways exceeds what we had envisioned,” said Cliff Chambers, an official with Mountain View Sustainable Planning Coalition. “It is a very environmentally sustainable development.”
The northern Mountain View area would be transformed over the next 10 to 15 years, although the city planning process is anticipated to begin in 2019, Google said.
“We look forward to continuing to support our community through the proposed transformation of North Bayshore and doing our part to help deliver on the City’s bold vision,” Mark Golan, chief operating officer of real estate investments and development with Google LLC, wrote to Mountain View’s city manager.