Yahoo unveils proposal to build Santa Clara campus

SANTA CLARA, CA

City officials say it's potentially the largest single real estate development ever.

If this /*Yahoo*/ expansion goes through, it would be a 48-acre campus right nearby the Convention Center and the intersections of Tasman and Great America Parkway.

Right now, the email and internet search giant is headquartered in Sunnyvale. It has multiple building sites and a total workforce of just over 13,000.

By moving to Santa Clara, it could consolidate employees into a proposed 3 million square feet of office space, featuring 13 six story buildings.

According to the environmental impact report just released on this development, Yahoo's purpose is to consolidate existing leased office and research and development space. Plus have room for future growth. Another perk for this move could be the huge savings, up to a million dollars, Yahoo could get by buying electricity from Santa Clara's municipal utility, Silicon Valley Power.

Yahoo is not confirming whether it would relocate corporate headquarters, but if it does, this would be a huge revenue loss for the city of Sunnyvale.

Santa Clara, on the other hand, would benefit with more local jobs and tax revenues, but issues would include increased traffic and housing pressures. This expansion project may seem somewhat surprising at a time when Yahoo cut about 2,000 jobs, and has lost internet search ground to Google and Microsoft, but it's forecasting more profits and a brighter economic outlook.

Yahoo bought the land in 2006. It currently has mostly vacant office buildings.

Pending approval by the city, demolition could begin within the next year, with the new campus built in a series of phases.

A public hearing is scheduled for February.

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