By Sonia Herrera. San Jose Spotlight. Bay City News.
Time is money, and in Silicon Valley, that saying is very true. So when news broke that Google's long-awaited megacampus in San Jose might be postponed, it was met with surprise and concern.
At stake are approximately 25,000 jobs and $155 million for a community fund that will be used to pay for education, job training and to try to prevent displacement following the construction of Downtown West. These benefits will only become apparent once Google employees occupy offices on the downtown San Jose campus.
“Originally, we all knew it was going to be a long-term plan,” said San Jose Councilman Omar Torres, who represents downtown. “But yeah, it’s definitely concerning that a lot of the money is coming when the cranes are up in the air.”
Nanci Klein, director of San Jose's economic development department, confirmed to San Jose Spotlight that the $155 million community fund will not be awarded until Google has completed its offices. The company is also not legally required to build its campus.
Google has not yet said it plans to pause construction, however, and Klein said the company has already gone beyond what is typically required of companies building offices in the city.
“Google has continued to be an extremely dedicated and good partner to the city – they’ve moved forward with the demolition and they’ve already done what most developers don’t do, which is give dollars up front before the development takes place,” Klein said. “So Google is already doing more.”
Regina Celestin Williams, executive director of the housing advocacy group SV@Home, sits on the 13-member commission that will decide how to distribute $155 million to the broader community. This fund is intended to offset the economic effects, including a sharp rise in rents, that will likely result from Downtown West. A delay in the project could give the city more time to protect residents from displacement, she said.
The commission plans to hold its first meeting next month.
“Once they implement that project and enact this tremendous expansion of downtown San Jose, it will reshape the city,” he told San Jose Spotlight. “We, as advocates, are primarily concerned about how it affects the people who are already here.”
A city within a city
Although Google has already paid San Jose $4.5 million and agreed to pay $15 million within 120 days of the start of construction, the remaining money promised by the tech titan won't arrive until Googlers are working on the site.
Progress on projects the size of Downtown West — which spans about 80 acres and has been called “a city within a city” — may slow or speed up as it reaches new phases of construction, an unnamed Google source told San Jose Spotlight. The company hasn’t announced whether it plans to postpone construction, only that it’s “reevaluating” its timeline.
San Jose Councilwoman Dev Davis said she was not surprised by Google's announcement. Her district encompasses the entire Downtown West project.
“We always knew there was uncertainty about community benefits and that community benefits were largely tied to the actual project,” Davis explained to San Jose Spotlight. “The great thing is that we know Google is committed to San Jose, and they provided us with community benefits, and we have dollars available that we can use.”
The planned transformation of the Diridon Station area into the “Grand Central Station of the West” remains a major incentive for companies like Google to build campuses downtown, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan said.
“With the state recently completing funding for Caltrain electrification and adding $375 million to the BART extension to Silicon Valley, the case for Google to invest in Downtown West is stronger than ever,” Mahan added.
RJ Ramsey, a homeless advocate who also sits on the commission, agreed that more time could allow Google to shape the project in a way that minimizes disruption to local communities.
While some residents remain nervous about Google's impending arrival downtown, the $155 million community fund will go a long way toward allaying concerns, Ramsey said.
"If the commission does its job, this should be a win-win for everyone in San Jose," he said. "Hey Google, take your time to get it right."
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