Google invests in affordable housing
$5.3M will help fund complex with units for people with disabilities
SAN JOSE >> Google has invested $5.3 million in a large affordable housing project near downtown San Jose that will set aside units for people with developmental disabilities, the search giant and the project’s developer said Tuesday.
Kelsey Ayer Station, a 115-unit project planned for a site at 447 N. First St. near a light rail stop, has landed an investment that’s part of Google’s $250 million affordable housing fund.
“The Kelsey creates and advocates for housing where people with and without disabilities live, play and serve together,” said Micaela Connery, chief executive of The Kelsey, a housing nonprofit. “With a $5.3 million investment from Google, we’re building our first community, Kelsey Ayer Station.”
The project will have 89 affordable units and 26 residences at market rates. Of those, 28 units will be for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. All the units will be offered as rental housing.
Mountain View-based Google said one of the attractive features of the project is that Kelsey officials intend to ensure it is built and open to prospective residents
within four years, a company representative said.
“The Kelsey’s first development in San Jose will be a pioneering, inclusive housing community,” said Alexa Arena, Google’s San Jose real estate development director.
San Jose city leaders embraced the tech titan’s initiative.
“I’m happy to learn of Google’s contribution to help house some of our community’s most vulnerable, and look forward to seeing their continued investment in our city,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.
The development’s ground-floor spaces will include a community kitchen and a lounge that will be open to the public during business hours. The developers hope the ground-floor spaces will help create more activity on that stretch of North First Street.
The tech titan has become increasingly active in San Jose. In the downtown district, near the Diridon train station and SAP Center, Google intends to develop a mixed-use, transitoriented community of office buildings, homes, hotel spaces, shops, restaurants, entertainment hubs, cultural amenities and open areas, where the company could employ 25,000 people.
Downtown San Jose is far from Google’s only area of interest in the Bay Area’s largest city. The company has taken steps, through property purchases or leases of big office spaces, to create new mega-campuses near the corner of North First Street and Brokaw Way, and near North First Street and Nortech Parkway.
It’s also apparent that Google is trying to help remedy the housing woes in the Bay Area. In June, it revealed a $1 billion commitment to ease the Bay Area’s housing crisis, pledging to add about 20,000 homes across the region.
The Kelsey Ayer Station residential development marks the first time Google has invested money from its $250 million affordable housing initiative in a specific project. That initiative was included as part of Google’s larger commitment.
“As we engage with the city and community, we continually hear that preserving affordability is vital to San Jose’s future,” Arena said.
The $5.3 million investment from Google will provide a kind of seed capital for the project. The money will enable The Kelsey housing nonprofit to obtain the property, gain entitlements and undertake other efforts before the start of construction.
“Google is very excited to be a part of The Kelsey, and we’re looking forward to more opportunities to help with the creation and preservation of affordable housing,” Arena said.