Tech giant Google with company headquarters based in Mountain View, recently made another high priced real estate purchase in Sunnyvale, expanding its footprint in that city. The purchase was for a two-story office building previously occupied by Texas Instruments at 165 Gibraltar Court for $28.5 million. This move preceded a more recent decision to hold off on acquiring office buildings at 350 and 380 Ellis Street in Mountain View due to a COVID-19 pandemic-induced hiring slowdown.
The Sunnyvale purchase adds to a collection of nearby offices it acquired in 2017 at 160 Gibraltar Court, 1212 Bordeaux Drive and 1265 Borregas Avenue. In 2019, Google had spent $1 billion on Verizon-owned properties in northern Sunnyvale on First Avenue, Java Drive, Bordeaux Drive and North Mathilda Avenue. The spending in Sunnyvale continued in September with $95.6 million paid for 16 acres bounded East Java Drive, Geneva Drive, East Caribbean Avenue Drive and Crossman Avenue, formerly owned by NetApp.
Earlier this year, Google also signed leases for buildings at 1020 and 1050 Enterprise Way to complete occupancy of Moffett Place and Moffett Gateway.
These acquisitions come alongside Google’s plan to build a new campus on a 40.5-acre site bounded by Caribbean Drive, Mathilda Avenue and Borregas Avenue. The Planning Commission recommended the project’s approval on Feb. 24, however City Council hasn’t met to decide on the project. If approved, 13 existing buildings would be demolished allowing for the construction of two, five-story office buildings totaling over one million square feet.
Last year, the Santa Clara County Office of the Assessor’s report indicated an overall assessment roll growth of 6.79 percent. Google and Apple alone contributed to three percent of the increase, with Google’s property holdings values showing an increase of $759 million.
Depending on how the situation progresses, this year could be a different outcome with the COVID-19 pandemic causing 8,400 jobs to be lost in the South Bay during March and double-digit unemployment numbers looming.
In February, Google CEO, Sundar Pichai had announced the company would invest more than $10 billion in offices and data centers across the U. S. in 2020, focusing on a list of 11 states that included plans for new offices in the Bay area and Los Angeles. However, it’s unclear if that plan has been modified.
