Google widens downtown San Jose transit village holdings

SAN JOSE — Google has widened its property holdings in the area where the tech titan intends to develop a transit-oriented neighborhood near downtown San Jose’s Diridon Transit Center.

The most recent property purchase by Google in downtown San Jose is a lot between the bustling Poor House Bistro on South Autumn Street and the light rail train tracks that run along West San Fernando Street.

All told, Google has now spent $459 million to collect properties for the land the company needs to develop a vast project that would forever change the nature of a currently sleepy section of the urban heart of the Bay Area’s largest city.

Downtown West, Google’s name for its proposed development, would consist of office buildings, homes, hotels, shops, restaurants, cultural centers, entertainment hubs, and open spaces on a site near the train station and the SAP Center.

In the latest transaction, Google paid $5.3 million for a surface parking lot at 93 S. Autumn St., public property documents filed on March 3 show.

The sellers were Daniel Palermo and Cami Palermo, according to Santa Clara County records. Google paid cash for the site, the documents show.

The property is a few blocks from the front entrance to the train station.

Diridon Transit Center is already a busy connection point that links numerous transit options, including Caltrain, Amtrak, the Capitol Corridor line, the ACE Train, light rail, and buses.

Even bigger draws for the future: The Diridon center also is the proposed site for a BART station and even a high-speed rail stop.

Starting in December 2016 with its acquisition of an old telephone company building on South Montgomery Street, Google has bought an array of properties that include vacant parcels, surface parking lots, office buildings, commercial sites, industrial buildings, stores, and residences.

The tech titan’s transit village at present stretches roughly a mile and equates in approximate length to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mountain View-based Google plans to employ up to 25,000 people in Downtown West.

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