Mountain View City Council approves plan for North Bayshore gateway

Google and SyWest will both build residences, retail, office and entertainment space

Councilmember Sally Lieber and rendering of North Bayshore Gateway (BDE ARCHITECTURE, mountainview.gov)
Councilmember Sally Lieber and rendering of North Bayshore Gateway (BDE ARCHITECTURE, mountainview.gov)

The North Bayshore gateway has finally been approved.

The Mountain View City Council voted unanimously to approve a general development plan for what is being called the gateway to North Bayshore, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.

The official decision will resolve a long-standing dispute between the area’s two main property holders, Google and SyWest Development, about how to develop the property.

“Moving these projects forward is crucial for our communities,” Council member Sally Lieber said at the meeting.

The 29-acre site, located at the northwest corner of US Highway 101 and North Shoreline Boulevard, is in an area that is considered the general entrance to the North Bayshore area.

SyWest and Google will be able to build up to 2,800 housing units and 500,000 square feet of office space combined under the plan the City Council approved. Moreover, the two companies can also build 50,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, a hotel and 300,000 square feet of entertainment space. The plan does require 70,000 square feet of open space and limits the amount of parking to 2,100 spaces.

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The two companies will split the office and retail space allocations and can choose to either coordinate their developments or move forward with them separately.

Based on the plan, the gateway area will be divided into three districts. The hotels, entertainment venues and offices will be built on the section closest to the freeway, the northwest section will hold residences and the northeast section will have both residences and retail.

SyWest and Google have battled over the gateway site since 2016 when Google acquired a portion of the land from LinkedIn. Before the trade with Google, LinkedIn was planning to develop a new headquarters on the land in conjunction with SyWest. Google and SyWest have been unable to reach an agreement on what to do with the land since.

Google plans to develop its portion of the gateway area as part of its North Bayshore campus.

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[SVBJ] — Victoria Pruitt