Google's Plan to Build a City Within a City

San Jose could soon see 8 million square feet of its downtown reshaped into a "transit-oriented" complex of slickly designed office, housing and commercial space, a plan designed by Google and its development partner, Trammell Crow. The project, located near the Diridon Station and the SAP Center, could house up to 20,000 employees. $124 million has already been spent in property acquisition.

Downtown workers have expressed mixed feelings about the so-called Google Village, which would displace many local businesses, potentially chasing them out of San Jose and the Bay Area entirely as the high-tech boom increasingly edges out blue collar industry.