Planning underway for Downtown West

Google and our development partner Lendlease are excited to be working with the City of San José and community on a plan to transform Downtown West into a vibrant and welcoming mixed-use, transit-oriented destination rooted in the City’s unique heritage. We look forward to engaging with the community to realize the shared vision for Downtown West.

Reflecting on 2021

The Downtown West team closed out the year on a high note with the delivery of initial community benefits to the City of San José, including the early transfer of land parcels, which provided the City an opportunity to begin planning for the development of affordable housing. In addition, we made an early $7.5 million community benefits payment to the City. The City allocated $3 million to support community stabilization programs, and the remaining $4.5 million will be allocated at an upcoming Council meeting. Visit www.diridonsj.org for more information.

2021 also provided opportunities to get involved with many San José organizations that are doing impactful work in the community. Activities included volunteer clean-up events along Los Gatos Creek facilitated by South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition; a community event celebrating Local Color and Valley Verde’s unveiling of a mural by a local artist; and the annual Viva Calle San José and Mosaic Festival. We’re excited to work with even more community-based organizations in the future.

What’s happening in 2022

Delivering a project of this size and scale will require extensive improvements to roads and infrastructure over the next 12-18 months. To start, we’ll begin submitting concept plans to the City that will show the range of required site preparation and infrastructure improvements to support the construction of the project.

Working jointly alongside Lendlease, the City of San José, and multiple agencies, some site preparations for infrastructure-related improvements are already underway. One example is the relocation of local favorite Poor House Bistro, which included moving the entire Victorian-era building to Little Italy. While the bistro works toward a summer reopening, customers can still enjoy music and food from a mobile kitchen at its original location. Respecting the community’s history and rich culture remains a priority as we continue to further develop plans around the care of existing historic buildings.

Downtown West will take more than 10 years to complete and will be delivered over several construction phases. Our first phase of development includes office and residential units as well as retail and public green spaces. Much of the work will take place between West San Fernando Street and Park Avenue, and will include the adaptive re-use of some existing structures along Barack Obama Boulevard. We’ll continue to work with the community on imagining how these buildings and spaces could have a public-serving use.

Stay Informed

We’ll keep the community informed with regular updates via e-newsletters, blog posts like this one, and community meetings. You can also find updates on the City’s website.

We encourage you to sign up for updates or reach out directly to the Downtown West team via email at downtownwest@google.com.