Google grabs big north San Jose office buildings

SAN JOSE — Google has grabbed two big office buildings in north San Jose, an unexpected property purchase that underscores the search giant’s wide-ranging interest in the Bay Area’s largest city.

Potentially 1,800 to 2,000 employees of Google or its owner, Alphabet, could work in the large office campus on North First Street that the company has bought in an all-cash purchase.

“We see substantial vacancies and opportunities for expansion in north San Jose,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said Wednesday in an interview. “It’s good to see Google and other companies starting to absorb that space.”

Mountain View-based Google has jumped into downtown San Jose over the last two years with plans for a transit-oriented community of office buildings, homes, restaurants, shops and open spaces where the search giant could employ 15,000 to 20,000 workers.

Now it appears that Google is widening its areas of interest in north San Jose with the acquisition of the corporate campus, which consists of a pair of big, curving office buildings.

“An investment by Google is probably going to be a good investment for any city,” said Bob Staedler, principal executive with Silicon Valley Synergy, a land use planning and consultancy group.

Google paid $154.5 million for the two buildings at 4300 N. First St. and 4400 N. First St., according to Santa Clara County property documents filed on Oct. 30.

The buildings total 377,000 square feet, according to a marketing sign in front of the offices.

Google, through a spokeswoman, confirmed the acquisition but didn’t discuss the situation in detail on Wednesday.

This isn’t Google’s first major foray into north San Jose. In January, Google paid $117.3 million for three large warehouses in the Midpoint@237 industrial complex, just a few hundred yards away from the two-building campus that the tech titan has just purchased.

Google also has workers in some small offices further south near North First Street and East Trimble Road.

“North San Jose is a great market,” Staedler said. “You have a lot of companies and investors that are looking in that area.”

The office complex that Google has bought has been leased to major tech companies, including IBM and Harmonic. Harmonic still occupies space in the 4300 N. First St. building.

“We are very excited about Google’s investment in north San Jose,” said Nanci Klein, San Jose’s director of real estate and assistant director of economic development. “It’s great to see that Google continues to make north San Jose stronger in addition to the downtown.”

North San Jose appears to be front and center in the next wave of corporate and tech expansions in Silicon Valley.

“With Sunnyvale and Santa Clara, most of the quality space is leased which means north San Jose is going to get more and more activity,” said Dave Sandlin, an executive vice president with Colliers International, a commercial realty firm. “North San Jose is the main location where you can find these large blocks of top-quality office space. There are a lot of sites getting interest.”

Adding to the attraction in the region: BART stations that could go online in the coming months in Milpitas and northeast San Jose’s Berryessa district.

“Having transit being upgraded nearby really does help that area,” Sandlin said. “You can have shuttle buses for the last mile to connect to both those stations.”

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