Huge new Google tech hubs could create thousands of jobs in San Jose

SAN JOSE » The birth of four Google tech hubs in San Jose could translate into 30,000 new jobs — and perhaps many more, depending on the tech titan’s use of newly bought sites.

The most high profile enterprise by Google is the company’s game-changing Downtown West transit village. Google plans a transit-oriented neighborhood of office buildings, shops, restaurants, hotel facilities, entertainment hubs, cultural amenities, homes, and open spaces near the Diridon train station.

Yet it’s also clear thatGoogle has its sights set onmultiple expansion hubs beyond the downtown.

Google’s principal areas of interest outside of downtown have sprouted as a daisy chain of sites along or near theNorth First Street light rail line.

SanJose is a placewhere the company is looking to grow, a Google spokesperson said Thursday. For one thing, the four sites all are close to the company’s headquarters in Mountain View.

Plus, all four employment hubs are close to rail lines and other mass transit options, the Google spokesperson said. Of particular interest is the Diridon station, which already is a hub for Caltrain, Amtrak, light rail, the Capitol Corridor line, and the ACE Train, and is slated to someday be a BART stop, Google said.

“The smart place to grow is near transportation and housing options,” said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association.

Google’s future job hubs are expected to enjoy swift connec

tions to the city’s increasingly packed international airport as well as BART stations that someday will spring to life in Milpitas, San Jose’s Berryessa district and the downtown district.

To be sure, Google has provided employment estimates only for the Downtown West community, which would set the stage to dramatically widen the scope of what is thought of as the city’s urban core.

“Downtown San Jose can offer more walking, biking, riding to work than any other location in Silicon Valley,” Knies said.

At the Downtown West village near the Diridon Station, Google anticipates that it could employ 25,000 people once the mile-long neighborhood is completed.

That’s a big number, no question. But the other three locations where Google has bought or leased office or industrial properties leave the door wide open for several thousand more jobs. The locations all offer greatly different expansion and employment options for

Google.

Near Alviso in north San Jose, Google has spent $409.3 million for five big office buildings and three giant industrial buildings near North First Street and Nortech Parkway. The eight buildings total 1.27 million square feet and the five office buildings alone total 709,000 square feet. It’s tricky to estimate employment for big industrial buildings because the usage drives the job. However, the offices by themselves could accommodate 3,500 to 4,700 workers.

At the corner of Brokaw Road and North First Street, Google has leased four office buildings from famed developer Peery Arrillaga that together total 729,000 square feet. About 3,600 to 4,900 people could work in these modern office buildings.

This week, a beehive of development activity was visible at the Brokaw and First Street site. The exterior of one building was complete, along with a parking garage. Three other office structures were being constructed.

Plus, Peery Arrillaga could develop up to 2.03 million square feet of offices on the site — enough room for 10,000 workers.

On Dec. 3, Google paid $123 million in cash for three Cisco office buildings and revealed an agreement to buy a fourth, deals that would enable Google to own four adjacent offices and a parking garage on 25 acres in north San Jose on West Tasman Drive near North First Street. As they exist now, the West Tasman offices could accommodate 2,500 Google workers.

Because Google’s purchase of the Cisco buildings was only completed in recent days, Google noted that it’s still too soon to know the intended use of the Cisco buildings or if the site might be redeveloped as a modern campus.

However, were Google to someday gain approval for bigger, taller, and more dense — and modern — office buildings on the West Tasman campus, similar modern office projects in the vicinity point to a development of roughly 2 million square feet. That could be enough space for 10,000 employees.

When it all is added up, if Google only leases the four buildings in the Peery Arrillaga site at Brokaw and

First, and doesn’t redevelop the West Tasman campus it obtained from Cisco, the four tech hubs for Google in San Jose could produce 37,000 jobs.

If Google expands further at Brokaw and First, and redevelops the West Tasman Cisco site, Google’s employment numbers in San Jose would soar higher.

These major expansions are occurring even though Google recently put the brakes on its preliminary interest in leasing up to 900,000 square feet in The Assembly at First tech campus on North First Street, according to sources with direct knowledge of those discussions. That entire development is now again available for leasing.

“San Jose is the largest big city in America that lacks a jobs-base that is anywhere near its residential base,” said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. “Google’s plans for jobs, next to rail transit options, is good for San Jose’s budget, economy, tax base, and residents. A quadruple-win for our city and our Valley.”