SAN JOSE — Construction work is underway at the sites of nine Google-owned buildings, part of an extensive effort to enable the tech titan to move next year into a huge campus emerging in San Jose.
The nine buildings are located in North San Jose’s Alviso area at 4300, 4400 and 4550 N. First St., 65, 95 and 110 Nortech Parkway, and 5079, 5087 and 5093 Disk Drive.
Building work or construction equipment was visible in recent days near or inside all the buildings.
Google bought the nine buildings through four transactions during a two-year period from January 2018 through January 2020, according to Santa Clara County property records.
During those two years, Google spent $426.8 million to buy the nine buildings, the county documents show.
The nine properties consist of six office buildings and three huge industrial structures that together total 1.32 million square feet.
A very active construction effort — including improvements to the interior of both buildings — was underway at two big office buildings that Google owns at 4300 and 4400 N. First St.
The interior improvements, as well as upgrades to the outdoor spaces, are slated to be completed by sometime in 2023, a Google spokesperson said.
Google is expected to begin moving its employees into the Alviso-area buildings next year, the Google spokesperson said.
Mountain View-based Google didn’t disclose which company teams would operate in the North San Jose buildings starting next year.
The search giant’s expansion efforts in the area and elsewhere offer a counterpoint to coronavirus-linked economic woes and business shutdowns that emptied corporate sites throughout the Bay Area and nationwide.
Even after fears waned regarding the deadly bug, uncertainties persisted about the pace at which companies would return to in-person work, a murky prospect that prompted numerous corporations to jettison big chunks of office space or scrap expansion plans.
At the same time that Google’s growth efforts are underway in the Alviso area, the company is quietly gearing up to develop a transit-oriented neighborhood in downtown San Jose featuring office buildings, homes, shops, restaurants, hotel facilities, entertainment hubs, cultural loops and open spaces.
Google could employ up to 25,000 people in its proposed transit village, called Downtown West.
The tech titan also has leased four big office buildings in North San Jose near the corner of North First Street and Brokaw Road.
In late 2019 and early 2020, Google paid $164.2 million to buy from Cisco Systems four office buildings and a parking garage on West Tasman Drive in North San Jose.
In May 2022, Google officially opened its Bay View canopy campus at NASA Ames in Mountain View, saying 4,000 people would work at the futuristic green complex powered by solar panels that resemble dragon scales.