Mountain View-based Google Inc. may get to build its gigantic campus after all. But its construction and impact on Los Altos and Mountain View is likely several years away.
The search giant has yet to reveal a timeline for what will surely be elaborate plans in the wake of a June land swap with Linked- In Corp. The deal enabled the search giant to secure all of the North Bayshore area land it lost to LinkedIn last year. When the two companies competed for the land, the Mountain View City Council ultimately sided with LinkedIn, whose intentions for development – including a new Shoreline Commons shopping center at Shoreline Boulevard and Highway 101 – the council deemed more community-inclusive.
But the land swap, in which LinkedIn acquired Google-owned properties in Sunnyvale, ensures that Google will own most of the 2.5 million square feet of developable land in the North Bayshore corridor, the area north of Highway 101 it already dominates.
Forced to scale down its plans, Google had presented to the council in March a proposal to build a 600,000-square-foot campus off East Charleston Road.
The land swap clears the way for Google to pursue development similar in size to its previous plan – multiple large, canopy-roofed structures covering much of the North Shoreline business park area. The futuristic designs, which aim to blend in and complement the surrounding baylands environment, feature a network of bike and pedestrian paths.
Representatives of both companies touted the deal as mutually beneficial, consolidating each company’s campus in one area. LinkedIn, however, will still have a Mountain View presence in the Whisman area and at The Village at San Antonio site, where office space is being constructed under Phase 2 of development. A Linked-In spokesperson said the impending acquisition of the company by Microsoft Corp. would have no impact on its development plans.
Unanswered questions
The wildcard at play is what Google plans to do with the Shoreline-101 area – prime real estate currently occupied by the Century movie theaters, the Sports Page bar and other businesses. It was in this area that LinkedIn had proposed the Shoreline Commons shopping center in partnership with developers from SyWest Properties. In part because of its community benefit, the city council approved the plan and granted bonus floor area for the project.
“The process will depend on what Google intends to do with the Shoreline Commons site,” said Mountain View planning director Randy Tsuda. “Google can proceed with the LinkedIn proposal through the standard development review process. If Google chooses to make significant modifications to the LinkedIn proposal, they will need to go back to the city council for reallocation of the bonus floor area that was granted to the Shoreline Commons site.”
City officials want the entertainment and retail elements of Shoreline Commons preserved.
“This does not give Google the right to do whatever they want,” Councilman Mike Kasperzak said.
Although Kasperzak said the land swap is a “win-win” for the city and the two companies, he noted, “Google can’t come in (to Shoreline Commons) and build their domed buildings there.”
Simplifying the process
The advantage from the city’s point of view is that one landowner – Google – will work with the city on the area’s traffic mitigation, simplifying the process.
Reached by the Town Crier, a Google spokesman offered only this statement: “Google and LinkedIn have come to an agreement that will have a direct, positive impact on the ongoing traffic challenges in Mountain View and is beneficial to both of our organizations as well. We’re excited to move forward with our respective development plans in our hometown.”
Mark Golan, Google’s vice president of real estate and workplace services, told the Silicon Valley Business Journal that the company is “generally supportive” of the Shoreline Commons plan, which also includes a bike and pedestrian bridge over Highway 101.
“(Google) acquired the right to continue on an already existing proposal,” Kasperzak said. “They’ll have to make good on it.”
Another factor, Kasperzak noted, is that Google has no track record of building from scratch. Google real estate official David Radcliffe remarked last year that the company has occupied existing buildings like “hermit crabs.”
“Google still has not built anything from the ground up in Mountain View,” Kasperzak said. “We’ve never seen them execute.”
Another unknown is the number of housing units Google will seek exclusively for its employees. An environmental impact report for the city’s North Bayshore Precise Plan update is expected to come before the council in the fall. The update studies the possibility of adding up to 9,850 new multifamily residential units in addition to the existing 360 units in the area. The plan is targeted for adoption in early 2017.
