Google's 80-Acre San Jose Mega-Campus Is On Hold (cnbc.com) 30
According to CNBC, Google has halted construction of its proposed 80-acre campus in San Jose, California, after the first demolition phase. "Some sources close to the development told CNBC that the company doesn't have plans to revive the project in the near future." From the report: In June 2021, Google won approval to build an 80-acre campus, spanning 7.3 million square feet of office space, in San Jose, California, the third-largest city in the country's most populous state. The estimated economic impact: $19 billion. [...] The city of San Jose may now be paying the price. What was poised to be a mega-campus called "Downtown West," with thousands of new housing units and 15 acres of public parks, is largely a demolition zone at risk of becoming a long-term eyesore and economic zero. CNBC has learned that, as part of Google's downsizing that went into effect early this year, the company has gutted its development team for the San Jose campus.
The construction project, which was supposed to break ground before the end of 2023, has been put on pause, and no plan to restart construction has been communicated to contractors, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named due to non-disclosure agreements. While sources are optimistic that a campus will be built at some point and said Google representatives have expressed a commitment to it, they're concerned the project may not reach the scale promised in the original master plan.
The Mercury News, one of Silicon Valley's main newspapers, previously reported that Google was reassessing its timeline. Sources told CNBC that the company started signaling to contractors late last year that the project could face delays and changes. In February, LendLease, the lead developer for the project, laid off 67 employees, including several community engagement managers, according to filings viewed by CNBC. Senior development managers, a head of business operations and other executives were among those let go. Last month, Google also removed construction updates from its website for the project, according to internal correspondence viewed by CNBC.
The construction project, which was supposed to break ground before the end of 2023, has been put on pause, and no plan to restart construction has been communicated to contractors, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named due to non-disclosure agreements. While sources are optimistic that a campus will be built at some point and said Google representatives have expressed a commitment to it, they're concerned the project may not reach the scale promised in the original master plan.
The Mercury News, one of Silicon Valley's main newspapers, previously reported that Google was reassessing its timeline. Sources told CNBC that the company started signaling to contractors late last year that the project could face delays and changes. In February, LendLease, the lead developer for the project, laid off 67 employees, including several community engagement managers, according to filings viewed by CNBC. Senior development managers, a head of business operations and other executives were among those let go. Last month, Google also removed construction updates from its website for the project, according to internal correspondence viewed by CNBC.
They may have noticed... (Score:2, Troll)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
... that in between the successful offloading of office rental costs on their "remote workers"
You say that like it's a bad thing...
My *home* now has a detached 10x20 office building.
Wired for 10 gig, ~50 amps of power available, nice Hue lighting, heat, AC, a desk, couch, a few large TV screens, a hot/cold water dispenser, a mini fridge for be...uh..snacks, a coffee pod gizmo, phones, several workstations, servers, a large NVR, enough UPS power to keep everything (including the coffee pot) up for ~30 minutes which is more than enough time to reach over and hit the "start" button on the keyfob for
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Why not complete your mega office design by going all the way?
Add a 2MW CAT diesel engine/generator combo out back with a utility-grade power transfer switch...cuz a Generac just lacks the kewl factor.
When the power goes out the UPS systems hold up your stuff while the diesel-generator combo fires up.
Once everything is up to speed & AC frequency is stabilized, the diesel-generator the transfer switch kicks in to run everything off the BIG CAT while others suffer without power.
Bonus points for engineer
Re:They may have noticed... (Score:5, Interesting)
It hasn't even been a week since the story https://it.slashdot.org/story/... [slashdot.org] about Seattle workers being laid off and being offered lower wage contract positions - where they have to compete with remote workers with lower housing costs.
Hopefully Google has realized it can open remote offices in 4-5 smaller university towns for a fraction of the cost, and pay non-Silicon-Valley wages too. CIO magazine has a list of the top 10 growing tech hubs https://www.cio.com/article/30... [cio.com] and the only city in California is Sacramento. Wasn't there last year, must be 'remote workers' and remote offices that want to be close enough to the Bay area for an occasional day trip, but outside of 'bedroom community' pricing.
Build affordable housing (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Congrats San Jose, you now have 80 acres for affordable housing and a nice park. Make it happen!
That was part of the plan. ...oh, you meant for the municipal government to pay for the construction and development?
Re:Build affordable housing (Score:5, Insightful)
Google owns the land. If they build affordable housing on it, they'll just turn around in 3-4 years and announce they're gonna tear it all down.
On the plus side, 80 acres leaves plenty of room for the Google Graveyard.
Re:Build affordable housing (Score:5, Insightful)
This is likely the script that happened, as this is what happens in many many cities. ... time passes ...
Google: We're going to give you a lot of jobs and a big tax base, just sign this contract.
San Jose: Oh boy, money, I'm signing, I'm signing!
Google: We're cancelling the project.
San Jose: OMG, quick someone find the contract and find out what the fine print says! Are we on the hook for this???
Re:Build affordable housing (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Build affordable housing (Score:2)
Re: Build affordable housing (Score:3)
Really dumb idea (Score:3)
Why the fuck did Google ever think this was a good idea in the first place?
Re: (Score:2)
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No, it was still pretty bubblicious even then.
Re:Really dumb idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Because Apple did it with its semi-mega campus. Keeping up with the Riches.
Same reason someone buys a Bentley - it's to be seen, not to be practical.
Both companies a few years ago had more money than they knew how to spend.
Re: Really dumb idea (Score:3)
These mega offices are for the C suite to walk around and feel important. Now that money is tight, suddenly mega offices arent such a great idea.
Re: Really dumb idea (Score:4, Informative)
And Apple struggles to get people to come in. They are threatening to fire people and taking attendance.
I don't work for Apple, but I have several friends who do. They don't mention these threats. Rather, they seem to be handling going to the office three days a week matter-of-factly. Of course, they all own their own homes, so they stayed in the Bay Area, and high housing prices aren't a problem for them.
In stark contrast to Google, Apple is continuing to acquire existing buildings and build new ones. Maybe there is a seething anger from workers forces to go to the office, but Apple definitely does not struggle to get workers to go to the office. Apple was one of the first to get their employees to go back to the office. Their parking lots were full long before other companies opened up.
Re: Really dumb idea (Score:4, Insightful)
These mega offices are for the C suite to walk around and feel important. Now that money is tight, suddenly mega offices arent such a great idea.
Many years ago, one of my former coworkers quoted another former coworker's term for that: "building a monument to yourself." Companies build overpriced buildings that are hopelessly impractical, designed by architects that care more about making their mark on the world than about functionality, and then go under.
Case in point, the Googleplex is SGI's monument to itself. Cupertino City Center was very nearly Apple's monument to itself. And so on.
But in this case, money really isn't tight. There's just no point in wasting money on adding more office space when mass layoffs have opened up some of the existing office space, existing offices are nowhere near full occupancy after the pandemic, and new hiring is unlikely to pick up any time soon.
I mean, up to a point, it might make sense to build office space timed to be available right around when existing multi-year leases are ending, so that they can stop overpaying for office space, but beyond that, it would be a huge waste of money unless they plan a hiring binge to fill those offices, and I would hope that they don't.
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Google is one of Satan's most impressive creations. Combining bipolar and psychopathy in to one multi-headed beast... Genius
The Cognitive Dissonance is Shrinking (Score:1)
Not surprising...they're recruiting remote workers (Score:2)
Another killed by Google (Score:2)
Needs to be added to https://killedbygoogle.com/ [killedbygoogle.com]
Re: Another killed by Google (Score:2)
Needs a new category, even.
Re: Another killed by Google (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't you mean Bard?