Plans for the 30-year project, which will supplant the Google offices and parking lots currently in the area, include over 3 million square feet of office space and 7,000 residential units.

Originally, the developers planned to dedicate 20 per cent of the new housing to affordable units, but the approved plan sets aside only 15% for lower- and middle-income housing. Google lowered the target to make the project viable in an uncertain economic climate, a spokesperson told SFGATE. This past January, the firm laid off 12,000 workers.

The new development sounds an awful lot like the "company towns" of 1900-era American settlement and earlier UK factory towns where the firms ran all the stores and housing for their workers — but a Google spokesperson said the new project's restaurants, housing and services would serve the broader Mountain View community.

Along with the housing and Google office space, the plans include 26 acres of public parks and open space, up to 288,990 square feet of ground-floor commercial space, land for a school, new streets and a private utility system. The developers have 30 years to complete the project, as long as Google and Lendlease hit permit benchmarks and complete other terms within the first 15.