File:Google campus in Mountain View, California in 2023. The tech company plans to build a village near its headquarters with housing, retail, offices and parks.
The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Google has finally acquired the remaining portion of the property needed to realize its dream of an exclusive village near its Mountain View headquarters.
The Molinari-Martinelli family has leased its 1-acre estate to the tech giant for about $3 million for 35 years, as first reported by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, with the intention of expanding and potentially expanding the property when it becomes available. Option to buy has been given. The family held onto the property for years as Google continued to acquire land around its offices in an attempt to transform the area into a small village that would include homes, retail, hotels, parks, and a school.
Now, it appears the family has given up after years of fighting to protect their family history. The former fruit and vegetable farm on Charleston Road was founded by Victor Molinari more than 70 years ago, but was most recently used as a rental property. Sandra Martinelli Bilyeu, a surviving relative, told the Guardian in 2016, “If we keep it, we keep our history.”
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According to a Mountain View city council report, Google plans to build a parking lot with 100 spaces on the Molinari property at 1851 Charleston Road, demolishing two barns, two sheds, a house and an apartment building in the process. Will be done. Do not conform to required residential zoning. The 153-acre mixed-use neighborhood has already been given the green light, and the city has given the company 30 years to complete the development.
Google did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
This isn’t the only massive, city-by-town-like development in Silicon Valley, or even for Google: The company’s 80-acre “Downtown West” mega campus in San Jose has completed its first demolition. phase (costing some long-term institutions in the city), and although CNBC reported that development is now paused, Google says it is assessing how and when to proceed. Metra, meanwhile, is working on its 1.6 million-square-foot “Willow Village” in Menlo Park.
Source: www.bing.com
