Today, the City Council will vote on selling some of San Jose’s most valuable public land in the Downtown-Diridon area to Google for their proposed mega campus. The City and Mayor claim the land is being sold at fair market value, yet that is a misrepresentation. Google is, in fact, getting nothing short of a sweetheart deal. The fair market value being utilized by the City does not take into account the massive increase in land value that will come when BART stops near the campus’s front door, Caltrain is electrified or high-speed rail comes right next to the campus.
Additionally, the fair market value does not consider the increase in property value when the land is upzoned, allowing for Google to build much taller, larger structures. In fact, the City is considering a proposal to allow Google to build twice as high, possibly adding as much as an additional 120 feet of allowable height and giving Google the ability to add 8-10 more floors of future Google office towers. Furthermore, the Google deal leaves City taxpayers on the hook to replace parking for the Sharks, rebuild a costly Fire Training Center and acquire 5 additional acres of land for new parks the City is losing by selling these resources to Google.
The reality is that the true value of property, both to Google and City residents, is far higher than the “fair market value” San Jose is charging. While the City plans to negotiate with Google to capture some of this future value through a Community Benefits Plan, it is yet to be determined whether Google and the City can be trusted to reach a deal that puts the needs of San Jose residents over Google shareholders.
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