A spokeswoman from Google confirmed on Tuesday that Google has bought seven parcels on the 1000 block of East Meadow Circle and a small plot of undeveloped land on the Fabian Way. The company, however, did not want to reveal this. According to The Registry, a real estate media company, Google bought the property from the California Pacific Commercial Group for $60 million to $70 million in cash. If Google does redevelop the parcels, it has bought for its own use, it would mean a comeback for them to Palo Alto.
Aaron Aknin, acting director of the city’s Planning and Community Environment Department said, “Palo Alto has some concrete ideas about what should be done. A concept plan developed in 2010 for the industrial area calls for high-end research and development as well as related office uses. The concept plan is one of two that will be incorporated into an amendment to a larger document that guides development in the city — the comprehensive plan. With an environmental impact report still left to do, the city is a year or so away from adopting the amendment. However, Palo Alto has neither heard from Google nor seen any of its plans for the parcels.”
Mayor Greg Scharff didn’t seem much happy about the idea of Google returning to Palo Alto. He opined, “I want us to be the breeding ground for the world’s technology. Google is a great company. But I think that startups and innovation is what Palo Alto is all about. We need to try and preserve that as much as we possibly can — at least provide opportunities for those companies to exist in Palo Alto. I hope Google would set aside some incubator space similar to what AOL Inc. has done with its office building at 395 Page Mill Road in Palo Alto.”
City officials, on the other hand, shared mixed sentiments. “We’re delighted to have Google come back to Palo Alto and we look forward to working with them on whatever their project ends up being.” expressed Thomas Fehrenbach, the city’s economic development manager.
This is the list of the locations, Google actually bought :
1015 East Meadow Circle – 2.12 acres
1020 East Meadow Circle – 2.63 acres
1025 East Meadow Circle – 1.77 acres
1036 East Meadow Circle – 3.13 acres
1040 East Meadow Circle – 1.75 acres
1085 East Meadow Circle – 1.43 acres
1086 East Meadow Circle – 1.06 acres
A roughly 1-acre undeveloped lot on Fabian Way