As Google’s effort to buy 21 acres in San Jose looms, mayor differentiates the deal from Amazon’s HQ2

As Google tries to assemble land for a new 21-acre megacampus in San Jose, the city’s mayor took the opportunity to make an example of how local government and tech companies could do business.

“Google will pay full freight for land, taxes, fees, and additional community benefits like affordable housing, in stark contrast to other cities handing out billions in local tax dollars to attract big companies,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said in a statement cited by CNBC. “We offered Google no subsidies, and they didn’t ask for them.”

Liccardo famously wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal criticizing the incentive packages Amazon expressly solicited for its HQ2, which cities around the country readily offered to the tune of billions, and calling them “a bad deal for taxpayers.”

Google will pay about $110 million for the land on which the company plans to build offices and residents for up to 20,000 employees. Since the project was first proposed in 2016, locals have expressed concern for what the “Google Effect” may mean for San Jose. The City Council will decide on the sale in a December 4 vote.  [CNBC] — Erin Hudson