Google still has plans to break ground on its 80-acre mega campus in San Jose in 2023. But, according to one report, those plans may be on pause.
Despite claims made by anonymous sources familiar with the massive “Downtown West” mixed-use plan to CNBC last week, a company spokesperson told SFGATE the construction project is not on hold. The property, which was expected to break ground this year, is expected to include more than 4,000 housing units, 15 acres of parks, 7.3 million square feet of office space, and 500,000 square feet of “retail, culture and arts” space.
“As we’ve stated, we’re working to ensure our real estate investments match the future needs of our hybrid workforce, our business and our communities,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement also provided to CNBC. “While we’re assessing how to best move forward with Downtown West, we’re still committed to San José for the long term and believe in the importance of the development.”
CNBC also alleged that much of the development team working on the project had been cut during the company’s recent layoffs. The Google spokesperson denied this as well.
An area of the “Downtown West” planned development from Google in San Jose.
Google streetviewGoogle announced in a February earnings call that it would pay approximately $500 million to consolidate office leases across the globe and the company is evaluating all real estate holdings. The tech giant told the Mercury News at the time that its planned downsizing wouldn’t derail the company’s planned village in San Jose and groundbreaking would still happen by the end of 2023.
But CNBC reported that Google recently removed “Downtown West” construction updates from its website. The demolition phase for the campus is nearing completion, with San Jose institutions bulldozed in the process. The company has said the huge undertaking could take anywhere from 10 to 30 years to complete.
The firm laid off around 12,000 employees in January, and the company has continued to tighten its belt ever since, despite CEO Sundar Pichai earning a staggering $225 million in 2022. (Pichai’s package is 808 times larger than the median Alphabet employee pay in 2022, which was $279,802.) There’s been a series of perks cut as well, including closing some snack bars — known as “microkitchens” — and shuttering cafeterias on days they see less traffic. Employees also won’t get to automatically replace computers or expense phone purchases as easily, and nonengineering workers will get Chromebooks instead of higher-end laptops, CNBC reported.
