Google downtown San Jose transit village expands again, this time near SAP Center
SAN JOSE >> Fresh from deals for huge properties to expand the footprint of a Google transit village in downtown San Jose, the tech titan and its realty ally have scooped up a sizable site near the SAP entertainment center for nearly $2 million.
Google’s total property investments in the Diridon Station area of downtown San Jose have now reached roughly $350 million — or more — a head-spinning amount that’s based on the money Google and its development ally have spent on completed property purchases, what Google intends to pay for governmentowned
parcels and the likely minimum value of a huge piece of property owned by Trammell Crow that Google
intends to buy.
TC Agoge, a partnership of Google and developer Trammell Crow, has bought a parcel on North Montgomery Street directly across from the SAP Center.
The venture paid $1.9 million for a property at 240 and 250 N. Montgomery St., the long-time site of Frank Joseph’s Automotive, a vehicle repair shop.
“Now you start to see the northern end of Google’s plans taking shape,” said Scott Knies, executive director of the downtown San Jose Association. “This is giving Google a lot more elbow room in this part of the village.”
The latest deal was concluded on April 17 and extends a flurry of purchases in recent weeks by Google on
in recent weeks by Google on the western edges of downtown San Jose.
On March 29, the GoogleTrammell Crow alliance paid $39.6 million for a big site occupied by Orchard Supply Hardware near the corner of West San Carlos Street and Royal Avenue.
Then on April 5, Google executives confirmed a deal to buy from Trammell Crow a huge 8.5-acre site bounded by West Santa Clara Street, Delmas Avenue, West San Fernando Street and the Guadalupe River. Trammell Crow has won San Jose city approval for the project that, in its own right, would be a mega-sized mixed-use development of offices, homes, retail and restaurants.
The new purchases by Google solidify the notion that the tech company is steadily widening its areas of interest in downtown San Jose.
“It shows a very thoughtful development plan behind all of these acquisitions,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land use and planning consultancy.
Case in point: The latest acquisition just east of the SAP Center parking lots, when coupled with a Jan. 3 purchase of a residential structure around the corner, suggests Google has begun to scrutinize an entire block bounded by
North Montgomery, West Julian, North Autumn and West St. John streets.
Plus, the SAP Center parking lots nearby are among the key parcels that Google intends to purchase from the city of San Jose if the company and the municipality can strike deals for the property transfers.
Mountain View-based Google has proposed development of an integrated mixed-use community of offices, residences, retail, restaurants, open spaces and amenities totaling 6 million to 8 million square feet near the Diridon train station and the SAP Center. Eventually, 15,000 to 20,000 of Google’s workers could be employed in office buildings in the development.
At an early April meeting of the Station Area Advisory Group, a top Google executive stated that the tech company has now edged close to gaining control of enough land for a cohesive project.
“Just to get the sites together by itself is obviously very complicated, and it’s not completed yet, and it’s taking a while,” Mark Golan, Google’s vice president real estate development, told the advisory group during its April 9 gathering. “But we are getting close to having a site that is viable.”
Google and its realty ally have spent at least $223.5 million purchasing an array of vacant lots, industrial sites, commercial parcels and residential properties in a buying endeavor that began in December 2016. Including the value of the completed purchases, the $67 million Google agreed in February to pay for nine government-owned parcels and the likely $58.5 million minimum value of the Trammel Crow development site, Google’s property investments in downtown San Jose have an aggregate value in the $349 million range — or higher.
Ultimately, Google’s shopping spree for properties in downtown San Jose, all of it west of the Guadalupe River and State Route 237, yet extending as far north as a Target-anchored power center and as far south as Interstate 280, could dramatically reshape what is traditionally thought of as the city’s urban heart.
“Google’s development plans are creating a new downtown core,” Staedler said.