Google's long-planned 80-acre San Jose campus may be on hold, at least for
now. CNBC sources say the Alphabet brand has halted construction of its
Downtown West facility after an initial demolition phase. The company
reportedly "gutted" the campus development team as part of its large-scale
layoffs in January, and froze construction with no word to contractors on
when it might resume.

In a statement to Engadget, a representative says the firm wants its
office space to reflect the "future needs" of the business, hybrid workers
and the community. Google is still determining "how to best move forward"
with the San Jose campus but is "committed" to long-term development in
San Jose, the spokesperson adds.

Google spent years negotiating and designing Downtown West, and received
approval in 2021 after promising concessions that include 15,000 housing
units across Silicon Valley, $200 million in community support (such as
helping displaced businesses) and devoting more than half the campus to
public uses. Construction was supposed to start in earnest later this year
and take 10 to 30 years. Critics objected to the elimination or relocation
of well-known businesses and landmarks, but the potential economic boon
for the city was such that Governor Gavin Newsom touted the deal as
playing a major role in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, it's the pandemic that ultimately put Google in its current
position. The company has hired aggressively in previous years (its ranks
have grown 20 percent since 2017), but is laying off around 12,000
employees this year as would-be ad and cloud service customers tighten
their budgets. Google is also adopting a hybrid work strategy that lets
staff stay home some of the time. Simply put, there's not as much need for
offices as there was before.

This doesn't mean Downtown West is dead. The potentially decades-long
timeframe for the project gives Google some flexibility. However, the
uncertainty leaves San Jose in an awkward state. Google has cleared out a
large area, but isn't building the campus that's supposed to bring jobs
and economic activity to the region.

<https://news.yahoo.com/google-reportedly-halts-construction-of-its-giant-
san-jose-campus-210845053.html>