SAN JOSE — Google’s main real estate partner for several new Bay Area neighborhoods — including a transit village in downtown San Jose whose development timing is being reassessed — has trimmed its workforce.
Australia-based Lendlease has confirmed it has restructured and trimmed its staff following Google’s revelations of 12,000 layoffs, including 1,600 job cuts in the Bay Area, as well as a reassessment by the search giant of the timeline for its new mixed-use neighborhood nearby from Diridon train station and SAP Center in downtown San Jose.
“In order to align our resources with the market, we are reorganizing, including reductions in, our Google Development Ventures business,” a Lendlease spokesperson said in comments emailed by the global real estate development and services company to this news organization sent.
The primary Bay Area districts in which Lendlease provides development services for Google consist of four areas: one in downtown San Jose, two in Mountain View, and one in Sunnyvale.
“As a development partner of Google, we remain committed to creating thriving mixed-use communities in the Bay Area,” a Lendlease spokesperson said in the email commentary.
The Bay Area projects involving the partnership between Google and Lendlease, even in their early stages, will bring about dramatic changes in the respective neighborhoods where they would sprout:
- Downtown West, in downtown San Jose, would create a new neighborhood with up to 7.3 million square feet of offices; 4,000 to 5,900 homes; up to 500,000 square feet of retail, dining, cultural, entertainment, and arts centers; 100,000 square feet of event space; up to 300 hotel rooms; 15 acres of parkland and open space; and infrastructure and utilities, including a new power plant. Google could employ up to 25,000 tech workers in Downtown West.
- North Bayshore in Mountain View, which would include up to 7,000 new homes, up to 1,400 of which would be affordable, as well as offices, restaurants, shops, and extensive parks and natural areas.
- Moffett Park in northern Sunnyvale, where city officials envision up to 20,000 homes and up to 8 million square feet of new office space on various-sized lots owned by Google, developer Jay Paul Co., defense and aerospace titan Lockheed Martin and others.
- Middlefield Park in Mountain View would consist of up to 1,900 homes, up to 380 of which would be affordable, along with new offices, retail, restaurants and open spaces.
“We continue to operate in Google’s neighborhoods and maintain a significant team to help deliver to these communities,” said Lendlease’s spokesperson.
Among these remaining Lendlease employees are people working on the Downtown West project, which could represent a breakthrough for San Jose’s economy and business climate when the first phase begins.
Google has begun a reassessment of the Downtown West neighborhood at the same time the tech titan has begun scaling back the office space it occupies in the Bay Area and globally.
“We are assessing how best to move forward with Downtown West,” said Sheela Jivan, Google’s director of development for Downtown West, in a response given to this news organization a few days ago.
The city’s approval of the Downtown West neighborhood was accompanied by Google’s agreement to provide the City of San Jose with a range of community benefits.
In May 2022, Google completed a $7.5 million early payment for a community benefits program. The company will pay the rest of the public benefits as Downtown West development progresses. All told, the community benefits package totals $200 million.
Google was expected to begin infrastructure installations this year to serve the project. The company has also begun demolition of several buildings just south of the train station, including the old Patty’s Inn watering hole.
Despite the reassessment, Google plans to continue with Downtown West.
“We are still committed to San Jose for the long haul and believe in the importance of development,” Jivan said.
