Google real estate executives discuss plans for San Jose Mega Campus

This article was created in collaboration with San Jos Spotlight and Content Magazine, a non-profit print featuring the innovative and creative people of Silicon Valley.

When Alexa Arena commute from her San Francisco home to San Jose, she often uses the Caltrain.

In an interview with Sanjos Spotlight, Google’s senior director of real estate development, Arena, said it’s good news not to make phone or video calls while sitting on the train. So, frankly, you have time to read the information and make sure it’s digested.

For the past three years, the Arena has been a central leader in the negotiations for the 80-acre office and housing complex San Jose’s tech giant Downtown West Project, known as the city’s city. The complex will be located near Diridon Station, a transit hub where San Jose leaders want to become Grand Central Station in the west, especially following the arrival of California’s long-awaited high-speed rail.

But for now, the station mainly serves VTA buses and light rail, as well as the Caltrain, which runs from San Jose to the SoMa district of San Francisco. Commuting provides technology real estate executives with a quiet time often lacking in Silicon Valley’s fast-paced rat racing lifestyle.

According to Arena, our conference culture has taken over a world that was difficult to find at the time. You can also see a lot outside the window, especially on the train. So it gives you that spiritual space just to reflect.

The Diridon station, named after Rod Diridon in downtown San Jose, is depicted in the photo in this file.

The 44-year-old arena was born in Dallas, but moved with her family every few years as a kid. She also lives in Baltimore, Chicago, Boston, and New York City.

He moved to San Francisco 13 years ago with advice from a mentor at Harvard Housing Institute, and the diversity of locations and experiences makes me feel how unique each culture and community is. I think he did. He recommended the West Coast. It was much more open to the idea of ​​building a community and how we think of the physical environment as a composition of ways to bring the neighborhood to life, rather than as a series of buildings.

The executive worked in the development department of Lendrease, California when he made the connection with Google. She said she exemplifies the type of building that first inspired her to enter the real estate industry.

It was really about community and neighborhood building vs. building, and it was intriguing to me, she said. Arena was drawn to the high-tech giant’s team-oriented approach to project planning.

The arena looked back at the work done to push a large Google project across the finish line, as well as the work approved by the San Jose City Council in May and the rest. It’s been three years since the council passed the agreement and sold some plots of public land to a technology company for the new megacampus. The arena said it was excited to see the project at the next stage of evolution.

This figure shows the different heights and land use types of buildings proposed by Google’s Downtown West Project. Google image provided.

According to Arena, the openness of the dialogue after the (Memorandum of Understanding) vote was highly appreciated.

Before the project was approved, activists worked hard to prevent the sale of land to Google, some chaining in protest of chairs in San Jose City Hall.

The proposed high-tech campus includes 7.3 million square feet of office space, 4,000 residential units, 15 acres of park, and 30,000 to 50,000 square feet of community center. The project also features 500,000 square feet for retail, culture, arts and education. A quarter of the project’s housing units are affordable.

According to Arena, the most difficult aspect of planning was finding ways to bring the complexity of the project into the needs of the community.

She explained that without deep and lasting partnerships with people in the equity community, people in the arts community and people in the environmental community, the project and its goals could not have been achieved. Without the idea of ​​partnership and co-creation, we cannot do this complex project with the myriad goals we really want to achieve.

The COVID-19 pandemic also poses a challenge that the arena said the inhabitants faced a tremendous amount of turmoil.

She said it shows the people of the community, their dedication to results and goals, and we all categorized how to roll up the sleeves and handle them together.

Many residents are wondering how this project will merge with other downtown areas. The arena said the key to answering that question was 40 feet above the sidewalk.

A new Google campus and village rendering proposal coming to downtown San Jose, called Downtown West.

According to Arena, we often talk about the first 40 feet of real estate by actually experiencing it. The developers added that they aim to create a ground-level experience that instills in the different cultures of San Jose. It’s a pretty incredible culture around the festival around San Jose’s pocket, but it’s widespread. So, with the right understanding, you can put that community around the first 40 feet and do the following: This only happens in San Jose. I know Im in San Jose, but it’s not a common city in downtown. It takes a lot of partnerships to get there.

At the heart of that partnership is the fate of artists being drawn around downtown through hubs like Local Color. Arts groups like SVCreates met with Google executives before the city council approved the development, and the arena said the conference informed many of the project’s design guidelines.

Our worst scenario is that the ground is too high to invite artists … we absolutely don’t want that to happen, she said. I was thinking about how to optimize the whole place for the right type of ecosystem that defines a real city … The importance of public art is a component of the project, so it’s accessible to everyone who visits the site. I can do it.

A new Google campus and village rendering proposal coming to downtown San Jose, called Downtown West.

The project’s design guidelines include a ban on art that causes environmental destruction in the retreat of the banks of the Los Gatos Creek or the Guadalupe River. The guidelines also evoke a sense of destination in a busy and highly visible area, shape the gathering place, and create art that will be part of the placemaking of the destination, such as cafes, event venues, and programmed activities. I want to do it.

The arena said it helped a committee of art advocates and residents from all over San Jose communicate the design guidelines and requirements for public art displays.

Free programming has its own budget. Often it becomes art. Performance art, other events, music, in their open spaces. The overall goal of free programming is to invite you to the community and make it feel like a place where you don’t have to buy anything to join the community.

Local Color planned to host an artist studio in one of the project site buildings. However, according to Carman Gaines, Membership Manager of Local Colors, the facility was never opened due to the COVID-19 Health Guidelines in Santa Clara County. According to Arena, Google wants artists and other cultural leaders to continue working in the downtown area.

There will be some movement, but it is absolutely about the stability and growth of networks like those that are really important to help our arts and cultural communities thrive, she said.

It depicts the Alexa Arena, which played an important role in taking Google to downtown San Jose. Photo by Daniel Garcia.

Sculpture and theater are the arena’s favorite art media. The three-dimensional aspect of the sculpture allows the general public to experience the work and each other in a unique way.

Art is a way to really connect Google with Google and society … to make us feel like part of something bigger, have conversations, and try different ways of thinking, Arena said. .. Google needs art just as our culture needs it.

According to Arena, Google wants to capture San Jose culture in public, and art is at the heart of a vibrant downtown vision.

She said San Jose has an incredible spirit of entrepreneurship, celebration, creativity and diversity. The goal of downtown is to put it all together, access it often, and feel like coming every weekend to discover something new.

Please contact Sonya Herrera. [email protected] Or follow @SMHsoftware on Twitter.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://sanjosespotlight.com/how-googles-downtown-campus-will-transform-san-joses-art-landscape/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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