Google’s Next Big Real Estate Move: A $1.5 Billion Dollar (At Least) San Jose Campus

After four years of planning meetings, including over 100 community sessions, the multi-purpose campus for Google received unanimous approval this week from the San Jose City Council. The 80-acre site will bring 4,000 residential units plus 7.3 million square feet of office space. The office buildings are to provide space for an estimated 20,000 workers.

While all the land in the project will be owned by Google, more than half of this ‘Downtown West” campus will be reserved for non-office use. In addition to the 4,000 housing units, 1,000 of which are reserved for affordable housing, plans call for approximately a dozen public parks, plus restaurants and retail space. An additional 800 short-term lodging units for corporate visitors and 300 hotel rooms are part of the plan. 

Google has committed to paying $1 billion to cover the cost of the parks and other outdoor spaces, including the preservation of historic sites and features described as ‘ecological viewing stations’. 

The company has also pledged $200 million for initiatives focused on benefiting the community such as job readiness programs and ways to prevent displacement of current residents. A further $265.8 million is to be allocated for costs associated with land and infrastructure fees. These combined costs do not include estimates for how much Google will spend on constructing the office buildings so the $1.5 billion dollar estimate is sure to increase.

Google already has another campus underway in nearby Mountain View–a 122 acre plan for a mix of office and residential space (7,000 residential units are the goal), plus 34 acres of parks and outdoor trails.