Sharks, Google Reach Agreement Over Development Around SAP Center

This is a surprise: The City of San Jose announced tonight that the city, Google, and the San Jose Sharks have reached an agreement over the tech giant’s downtown development plans.

The Sharks had actively opposed significant facets of Google’s plans for development around SAP Center, arguing that the Big Tech company’s proposed 84-acre campus and urban village would imperil accessibility to their home arena.

Per The Mercury News, Google and the City of San Jose have addressed the Sharks’ concerns about parking, street network access, and construction impact. Specifically:

• The city and Google will consult with the Sharks on future parking facilities, guaranteeing at least 2,850 parking spaces will be within a 1/3 mile of SAP Center’s south entrance
• The city will pay the overage on any transportation and parking management program fees greater than the Sharks’ 2019 costs
• The city will consult with the Sharks on any changes to the street network surrounding SAP Center
• There will also be coordination between the city and the Sharks, per the San Jose Sharks, to ensure “the management of the impacts from massive construction projects in the area over the next 20-30 years”

In return, the Sharks have agreed to not sue Google or the City of San Jose.

This is a long way from six months ago, when the Sharks said Google’s development project could force the team out of San Jose.

Sharks Say City, Google Development Could Force Them Out of San Jose

The San Jose Sharks released this statement to San Jose Hockey Now:

“Today, Sharks Sports & Entertainment (SSE) came to an understanding with the City of San Jose and Google regarding a number of key changes to the Downtown West project approvals and to the Arena Management Agreement, based on SSE’s requests.

“SSE has long been a proponent of the urban planning vision that the City has for the Diridon Station Area, including Google’s Downtown West project, so long as it does not endanger the viability and success of the City-owned and SSE-managed SAP Center.

“The key [tenet] of this understanding is the mutually-agreed coordination between the parties regarding the final design and capacity of the street network surrounding SAP Center, as well as the management of the impacts from massive construction projects in the area over the next 20-30 years. Failure to appropriately plan for these issues during this time of substantial transition will likely lead to gridlock in the area and the inability for our guests to safely and conveniently reach the arena.

“While not the organization’s primary concern, SSE has never advocated for more parking for their exclusive use. We have advocated that each of these projects, including Downtown West and BART provide the bare minimum of parking to meet the demand these projects are expected to create. SSE and the SAP Center have consistently been a leader in shared-use parking (office and transit usage during the day, and events and entertainment use in the evening) and encouraging carpooling (SAP Center events average 2.5 persons per car).

“We sincerely appreciate the efforts by the City and Google to address SSE’s concerns, and we look forward to continuing discussions as these projects move forward.”

This settlement agreement was part of the San Jose City Council’s larger approval tonight of Google’s sprawling “Downtown West” project.

BREAKING: #Google's massive "Downtown West" project approved by San Jose City Council, the largest development deal in city history.

Project will include:
-7.3 million sq ft of office space
-up to 4,000 housing units, (1,000 affordable housing)
-15 acres of open space and parks pic.twitter.com/45op8kh2zf

— Ian Cull (@NBCian) May 26, 2021