The company parted ways with its development partner, signaling a shift in strategy for a proposed 15,000-unit housing and office space project on Google-owned land in Silicon Valley.
A partnership between Google and developer LandLease has dissolved, placing into question a plan to build 15,000 housing units to alleviate the Silicon Valley housing crisis perpetuated by tech giants.
As Nate Berg reports in Fast Company, “The projects, announced last year, were intended to transform large swathes of Google-owned land in San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View into four dense, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods.”
While the ocmpanies call the move a “strategic redirection,” Berg writes, “It’s hard to not read between the lines of this partnership’s dissolution, especially for a high-profile project that had aims to build many units of housing alongside ample office space.” For Berg, “Google and Lendlease parting ways suggests that large projects that are anchored to office developments—even ones as needed as dense housing in one of the country’s most expensive markets—will require some significant reconsideration.”
A Google spokesperson said the company is looking for new partners to move forward with the project. “That Google’s Arena refers to this next phase as delivering on Google’s “housing commitment” may indicate that its next steps are less focused on the commercial side of the original plan.”
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Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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