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San Jose considers $82-million in corporate welfare for Google big wigs????
San Jose airport lobbies for $82-million hangar for Google jets By Salvador Rodriguez February 8, 2013, 12:55 p.m. Mineta San Jose International Airport officials are urging the city to approve construction of an $82 million facility that would house jets flown by Google executives. The proposed 29-acre facility would sit on the airport's west side and accommodate Google's and other clients' jets. It would be developed and managed by Signature Flight Support. The facility would include an executive terminal, hangars, ramp space and aircraft servicing facilities. According to a San Jose Mercury News story, Google's top three executives have at least eight jets, including a twin-aisle Boeing 767 passenger jet that is commonly used by airlines for transcontinental flights. Airport officials said they are recommending approval of the facility because it would help pump up the local economy and the airport. If the facility is built, Signature Flight Support would pay the airport $2.6 million each year and $400,000 in annual fuel fees, according to a release by the airport. Additionally, the project would create 36 permanent jobs and 150 to 200 temporary construction jobs. An additional 370 direct and indirect jobs would be created as a result of the project. The airport estimated that the facility would generate $70,000 in taxes annually in its early years and more than $300,000 on its fifth year and beyond. Google honchos' jet business a boon to San Jose airport; fate of Moffett hangar uncertain By Brandon Bailey and Tracy Seipel Mercury News Posted: 02/09/2013 08:20:13 AM PST SAN JOSE -- In their search for a reliable place to park their growing fleet of jet aircraft, Google (GOOG) co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have boosted the fortunes of San Jose's struggling international airport, while leaving a cloud of uncertainty over Mountain View's historic Moffett Field. Plans for a new $82 million facility for private and corporate jets at Mineta San Jose International Airport were hailed by city officials on Artist renditions of a proposed new general aviation facility at a former parking lot at Mineta San Jose International Airport. If plans are approved, new tenants would include the Google corporate fleet of aircraft. (Courtesy of Mineta San Jose International Airport) Friday as a boon for the airport, which has been working to attract more planes -- commercial and private -- and revenue to repay the costs of a recent $1.3 billion renovation. Blue City Holdings, a company that manages aircraft for the Google principals, has signed on as a primary tenant at the new San Jose facility. The move comes amid lingering questions about the federal government's plans for Moffett, the former naval airfield where the Google chiefs have been parking their planes, just four miles from the giant Internet company's main campus in Mountain View. "I'm really excited about it,'' said Mayor Chuck Reed on Friday. "It's a big investment, and having the Google folks park at San Jose's airport will generate tax revenue for us. Each of those airplanes is a property tax generator.'' The new San Jose facility would also house private jets used by other members of Silicon Valley's corporate elite, while providing at least $3 million a year in rent and other fees to the city- owned airport. Officials at Florida-based Signature Flight Support, the company that will build the facility, said market research shows significant demand for private jet facilities from Silicon Valley executives who don't want to drive to San Francisco. In its proposal, which won preliminary endorsement from city officials this week, Signature said the facility will include five hangars totaling 180,000 square feet of space for planes owned by Page, Brin and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. San Jose airport director Bill Sherry said he understood the Blue City fleet includes several "very big aircraft," including a wide-body Boeing 767 and more than one 757 model. "While our base of operation at Moffett Field currently meets our needs, expansion is both limited and uncertain," Schmidt wrote in a letter endorsing the Signature project. "Partnering with Signature Flight Support will provide us with long term hangar stability and the ability to grow our flight department in Silicon Valley." It's unclear what the move means for efforts to restore Moffett's giant Hangar One, a former base for military dirigibles and war planes, whose distinctive silhouette is a landmark for daily commuters on Highway 101. Google honchos had previously offered to pay the estimated $33 million tab for renovating the Hangar One structure, in exchange for the right to use part of it. But NASA, the federal agency that now controls most of the decommissioned naval base, has never formally responded to the offer. While Google and NASA representatives declined comment Friday, a longtime environmental and community activist said he's been Artist renditions of a proposed new general aviation facility at a former parking lot at Mineta San Jose International Airport. If plans are approved, new tenants would include the Google corporate fleet of aircraft. (Courtesy of Mineta San Jose International Airport.) told the Google chiefs would like to continue using Moffett. "Moffett is more convenient, but they need something certain, so at least for now they're willing to pursue both," said Lenny Siegel of the nonprofit Center for Public Environmental Oversight in Mountain View, who leads the Hangar One subcommittee of the Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board. Google and its billionaire cofounders may need two sites to house their planes. Brin and Page are aviation and space enthusiasts who, along with Schmidt, reportedly owned two Boeing airliners and four smaller jets in 2010. A year later, their fleet reportedly had grown to eight jets. A San Jose official said they may have as many as 11 today. Google's corporate fleet has also grown; federal aviation records show the company acquired at least one jet when it purchased Motorola Mobility last year. The fate of Hangar One, meanwhile, has been the subject of long-running debate among preservationists, community activists and federal officials, who have struggled with questions about toxic contamination while hammering out agreements for redeveloping some of the old naval air base. Google is also pursuing plans to build a new campus, with offices and housing for employees, on part of the old Moffett site, which sits just across Stevens Creek from the company's headquarters complex. That project is separate from the Hangar One proposal, which was made by another company, H211, that maintains and operates aircraft at Moffett for Page, Brin and Schmidt. NASA officials have proposed declaring part of Moffett, including Hangar One and nearby runways, as government surplus, which would trigger a lengthy process for deciding how to dispose of the property. Meanwhile, local business groups and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-San Mateo, have been lobbying the Obama administration to leave Hangar One under NASA's control and to consider the Googlers' offer to pay for restoration. San Jose officials said their new facility will include a total of 270,000 square feet of building space on the west side of the airport grounds. Sherry estimated the project will create 150 to 200 airport and regional construction jobs, 36 permanent airport jobs and as many as 370 other jobs. The project announcement follows recent news that two commercial carriers, All Nippon Airways and Virgin America, are inaugurating passenger service to San Jose, bringing the number of airlines at the airport to 13. Contact Brandon Bailey at bbailey@mercurynews.com or contact Tracy Seipel at tseipel@mercurynews.com |