SAN JOSE | Projects and Developments

[cardinal2007]

[cardinal2007]

[cardinal2007]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/...t-village/amp/

Google and San Jose strike land deals for tech titan’s huge downtown transit village

SAN JOSE — Google and the city of San Jose have struck a deal for land sales in downtown San Jose — with a potential value of as much as $220 million — that mark a major milestone for a transit-oriented community poised to be a game-changer for the Bay Area’s largest municipality, city officials reported Friday

The deals involve the proposed sales to Google of several government and city-owned properties near the Diridon train station, as well as planned options that the search giant would obtain for the large surface parking lots next to the SAP entertainment and sports complex.

“This is a critical step, but we are still in the early innings of a long ball game,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said Friday. “Between now and the time that the city gives an approval for re-zoning of these sites, there will be much work to do for the city, Google and the community.”

The San Jose City Council is scheduled to vote Dec. 4 on the deal. The properties are expected to be formally sold, and the options officially recorded in public records, by the end of this year. Some city insiders believe Google might submit proposals sometime in 2019 for specific components of the development of the site.

“Unlike many other South Bay cities, San Jose does not have enough jobs for our very large resident population,” San Jose City Manager David Sykes said Friday. “This makes San Jose the most fiscally challenged city in the South Bay, and this causes lengthy commutes for residents. We appreciate having a major company such as Google willing to invest in downtown and partner to achieve city development goals for the Diridon Station Area.”

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Looks like Google will be going ahead and buying the land near Diridon to build out their new office complex, no idea on what if any retail or residential it will comprise.

[cardinal2007]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/...t-michael/amp/

Michael Covarrubias of TMG Partners talks up downtown San Jose, downtown Oakland

Q How do you assess the downtown sectors of the Bay Area’s three largest cities?

A San Francisco has essentially been out of large blocks of space for about three years. Oakland is the beneficiary of that, as is downtown San Jose.

Q How long have you been active outside of the downtown San Francisco market?

A We went to San Jose and Oakland three years ago. We entered both those markets even though that was 2015, when there were worries about how long the economic recovery would last. We thought there were several more years of economic expansion.

Q What are your major efforts in downtown Oakland?

A We bought three major assets in Oakland and earlier this year we sold 1330 Broadway downtown. We will still be in Oakland after this deal. We are bringing two other assets to the market this year.

Q What are your plans in downtown San Jose?

A In San Jose, we have our Platform 16 office project, consisting of 1 million square feet of offices, a fully entitled project. We are now starting to think about how to activate that development. We are having conversations with tenants and capital partners.
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[gillynova]

700 Santana Row update:

[cardinal2007]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/...d-problem/amp/

Opinion: Google plan will help San Jose fix 42-year-old problem

In 1976, Mayor Janet Gray Hayes announced that the biggest challenge facing San Jose was the city’s jobs-housing imbalance. 42 years later, little has changed. San Jose only has .85 jobs per employed resident, while neighboring cities have as many as 3 jobs per employed resident.

The number of jobs a city has directly translates into tax revenue for residents. For example, Palo Alto rakes in $407 per capita tax revenue, while the same calculation for San Jose equals only $140. Cities cannot provide services based on goodwill and good intentions, and instead must rely solely on tax revenue to pave roads, deploy police officers and keep libraries open.

San Jose has historically excelled in one area in particular, to our own economic detriment: It is the most generous city in providing housing stock for the entire region. Other cities built scant housing and instead focused on commercial development, which brings in substantial tax revenue to pay for city services.

For most of my own career, I have commuted outside of San Jose for work, as do 60 percent of our employed residents. Not only does commuting take away from family life and contribute to traffic congestion, when consumer spending occurs in other cities, San Jose also loses out on tax revenue to help our neighborhoods.

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[cardinal2007]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/...-downtown/amp/

What Google’s San Jose project means for downtown

For years, much of the area around Diridon Station has been a neglected jumble of grimy auto body shops, vacant lots overgrown with weeds and shabby warehouses.

Google — whose plans face a critical City Council vote Tuesday — is expected to transform some 50 acres into a mix of offices, shops and restaurants connected by pathways that wind through parks and plazas filled with public art. Steps away, Diridon is set to undergo its own renovation and become the only place in the Bay Area where BART, Caltrain, Amtrak and high-speed rail converge.

It’s a tall order. But if the tech giant succeeds, the project could transform a downtown that has struggled to rebound from sprawling development in the 1950s and 1960s, when city manager Dutch Hamann rapidly annexed land at the city’s fringes while neglecting its urban core. When it’s complete, the area could support more than 25,000 workers, a 65 percent increase in the number employed in the core of the city today.

For longtime restaurateur and downtown business owner Steve Borkenhagen, Google’s foray into San Jose might finally spark the kind of urban rejuvenation he’s dreamed of for decades. For Kathy Sutherland, a nearly 40-year resident of the Delmas Park neighborhood in the shadow of the proposed development, the project brings both the long-sought possibility of a vibrant neighborhood and the fear of displacement. And for the urban studies theorist Richard Florida, the project is less personal but no less important — a chance for a major American city to finally get redevelopment right, to provide an antidote to the debacle of the Amazon HQ2 rollout.
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[timbad]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/...-downtown/amp/

when I dream, I imagine Hwy 87 gone as part of this redevelopment, allowing a truer linking of this area to downtown.

[cardinal2007]

KQED talks about the Google "Village" next to Diridon:

https://www.kqed.org/news/11709388/a...s-largest-city

This isn't supposed to be your traditional tech campus. Google says it wants to build a village inside San Jose that will be open to the public, different from how most tech campuses operate. It's expected to have public parks, restaurants and other amenities. The plan, if approved, could more than double the population of San Jose’s downtown. The city council takes a big step Tuesday with a vote to sell off 21 acres for $220 million.

[cardinal2007]

The vote on the Google deal is tonight and a lot of op-eds are going up.

https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...-san-jose.html

Why one big business group supports Google's Diridon plans

As with much of the business community in San Jose, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group has thrown its support behind the Memorandum of Understanding between the city and Google that goes for a vote before the City Council tonight.

Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino penned an endorsement letter to city officials that backed Alphabet Inc.-owned Google's plans to bring 20,000 workers to the Diridon Station area. Among the reasons Guardino said a majority of San Jose residents backed the plan, based on SVLG polling, was because it would lead to:

Job creation: "It will be an important source of jobs for San Jose, supporting more than 1,500 to 2,275 annual full-time, family supporting construction jobs onsite and around 20,000 permanent new jobs once built out."
Economic development: "The City-commissioned economic study by ADE estimates that a built out Diridon Station Area will generate a net surplus of more than $8.5 million to $12.5 million annually to the City in new tax increment revenue. Additionally, an economic benefit of more than $45 million to $69 million annually to the County and local school districts in new property taxes are estimated."

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https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...ogle-deal.html

What SPUR wants from San Jose-Google deal

Tonight, the San Jose City Council will vote on a long-anticipated land sale deal with Alphabet Inc.-owned Google that would be a huge step toward the tech giant's goal of bringing some 20,000 employees to the area around Diridon Station. Last week, we ran a series of guest editorials about the vote, and we've since received more reactions and advice to city leaders.

Teresa Alvarado, the San Jose director of SPUR, offered up her prescription of what should happen in a letter to San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, Vice Mayor Magdalena Carrasco and the other members of the City Council.

Alvarado voiced her support for the Memorandum of Understanding before them — it "articulates a thoughtful process for meeting many of the policy recommendations SPUR has made and encompasses the ideas and principles put forward by the community over the past year" — as she also advised them to be steadfast.

"SPUR strongly urges the Council to be diligent in holding Google as well as all future development within the Diridon Station area to the most ambitious principles of smart growth and great urban design. This is not only an opportunity to grow San Jose’s job base, but also to build a city," Alvarado wrote.

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[cardinal2007]

Article on the vote:

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/loca...501877221.html

Vote to Decide Future of Google's San Jose Expansion

San Jose City Council will vote on whether to sell Google $111 million worth of land

Tuesday marks the day that could trigger the transformation of downtown San Jose.

The San Jose City Council is expected to approve an 11-acre land sale to Google that would pave the way for the tech giant's proposed downtown development.

Google's development planned for an area near Diridon Station and the SAP Center could bring in roughly 25,000 new jobs to San Jose. In addition to Google work space, plans call for retail, hotel and housing space.

City officials on Tuesday are expecting to receive a significant amount of public comment regarding the proposed development. If surveys and previously submitted letters from the public are any indication, the plan has received broad support.

But not everyone is pleased with the proposal. A homeless advocacy group on Monday began a three-day fast to urge the city to consider setting aside money for homeless programs and for permanent tent encampments.

"A city which turns its back on those people to chase after the big Google dollars, it's just wrong," advocate Sandy Perry said.

Others argue that allowing Google would generate tax revenue and jobs.

"With Google being one of the bigger companies in the world, I think they're going to bring value to San Jose," business owner Vidal David Carrillo said.

In a statement, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said that through the Google partnership at least 25 percent of new housing will be affordable and rent restricted. A new downtown fee and a pending community benefits package will provide millions more for affordable housing.

[cardinal2007]

The meeting last night went well into the night, past midnight. With the city council unanimously agreeing to sell the land to Google.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/12/...ale-today/amp/

San Jose City Council approves sale of land to Google in meeting marked by arrests, protests

In a landmark vote early Wednesday morning after more than 10 hours of debate, protests and arrests, the San Jose City Council unanimously approved the sale of more than $100 million in land west of Highway 87 to the tech giant Google.

Mayor Sam Liccardo called the sale an important “first step” toward achieving a vibrant mixed-use development in a region that is dominated by parking lots and vacant industrial lots.

But the vote was not without controversy. Police on Tuesday arrested eight protesters who disrupted the meeting. Shortly after 9 p.m., officers used bolt cutters to remove protesters who had chained themselves to chairs in the council chambers before arresting them.

The commotion came nearly eight hours into the meeting, as Councilman Raul Peralez called on several community organizations protesting the land sale to acknowledge the financial help they have received from Google.

More than an hour later, the council returned to empty chambers, with police directing everyone but staff and press to what had been an overflow room to watch a livestream of the deliberations, fueling criticism that the city was operating behind closed doors.

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[SLO]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

Article on the vote:

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/loca...501877221.html

Sounds like a tough choice - Google or permanent homeless tent encampment...

[gillynova]

Had Chipotle earlier today and took a picture of the airport near Eastridge.



Just imagine how different this place will be in ~20 years. Hell, even in 5 years with the VTA expansion from Alum Rock to Eastridge.

[gillynova]

Sparq:







The Graduate:

[gillynova]

More Updates:

Graduate:







Modera:



Silvery Towers:

[gillynova]

New parking garage for Valleyfair looks to be close to completion:



I'm sure they just recently renovated this, right? I don't remember there being lights around the building before (Next to San Pedro Square Market and Silvery Towers)

[gillynova]

Hey guys! I created a new video mainly filmed in Christmas in the Park/Downtown San Jose using a new lens for my phone. I just wanted to post it here in case you are interested. If this is against the rules of the forum then I can take down the link. (Start at 18 seconds)

• Video Link

[gillynova]

Project on Senter and Tully:

[fimiak]

wrong thread