Google’s downtown San Jose project proposal has just cleared a significant hurdle. On Wednesday, the San Jose Planning Commission unanimously voted yes to recommending that the City Council approve the tech giant’s proposed campus. The project is now set to go before the council for a vote scheduled tentatively for May 25th.
Downtown West, as the project has been dubbed, is Google’s proposal for a mixed-use project that would turn approximately 80 acres around downtown San Jose’s western edge into an integrated, village-like campus. The project would include 5,900 housing units, up to 7.3 million square feet of commercial space, and 500,000 square feet of retail space in addition to planned outdoor/nature areas.
The San Jose Sharks have raised concern over the parking situation that would be impacted at SAP center by this new development. To mitigate for this impact, the Sharks are asking that the city double the project’s parking space requirement to 4,800 spaces. This would be in addition to a 1,200-space parking garage that the city has offered to build next to the arena.
San Jose Spotlight reported on one of the San Jose local’s voicing support for the development is Kathy Sutherland. She is co-founder of the Diridon Area Neighborhood Group, which is a group is made up of three neighborhood associations whose areas meet at the development’s doorstep.
“I feel very fortunate that there is a big master developer, because if that entire site was being developed by different people, it wouldn’t have that thoughtful look at it as a whole.”
Google’s Downtown West project now faces its next hurdle, a vote of approval from the San Jose City council currently scheduled for May 25th.
