Google pays $1 billion for Yahoo buildings in Sunnyvale

SUNNYVALE, Calif. (KGO) -- The sign at 701 First Avenue in Sunnyvale may have the iconic purple Yahoo! moniker, but seven of those buildings now belong to Google.

Public records show a Grant Deed was filed on Tuesday, transferring the property to the Google.

Google wouldn't comment on camera, but a spokesperson did confirm the sale to ABC7 News.

"It's a big deal. Google has acquired quite a bit of property in our Moffet Park area," says Kent Steffens, Sunnyvale's city manager.

He says Google will rent back the campus to Yahoo for an undisclosed period of time.

Google says it plans to keep the Yahoo office park as an office campus. And Steffens says it is still too soon to know if any of the newly purchased property would used in Google's billion-dollar plan to build homes in the Bay Area.

Currently, Moffet Park area isn't zoned for housing. Steffens It would require an amendment to the Moffet Park Specific Land Use Plan plan to do so.

"Housing is one the things we are considering for that area. But we need to do environmental impact reviews, and studies before there are any conclusions," explains Steffens.

"(If) that would actually reduce the impact and street traffic all over the place, hey, why not!" say Valeria Taylor, a local resident.

Taylor says she supports Google's expansion, and wants to see the tech giant build homes. But she doesn't see it as an automatic fix to the housing crisis here in Bay Area. Her concern is the impact on city's services and infrastructure.

"This would cut down on commutes, which is great. But we have water that has to be supplied to these homes, also sewer. How much sewage piping is there? And what is it going to do the infrastructure of our waste products right now? These are things we have to think about," says Taylor.

The city says the environmental impact review and other studies necessary to amend the Moffet Park land use plan would take more than a year.