I am very excited about this hotel. It will be great to have conference facilities so close to downtown MV. I hope the room rates aren't through the roof like Four Seasons or the Ritz.

We're really going to need a city shuttle or VTA light rail extension up to the N. Shoreline/Bayshore area to connect the business district with downtown when this hotel is built.

Wouldn't it be better to put the hotel in the old DIALOG/Knight-Ridder building Web Link than in the new 100 year flood zone? For one thing, the Knight-Ridder building is already built, and it's a great piece of Mountain View history. Why aren't we getting the most out of it instead of setting ourselves up for expensive insurance hikes?

Unfortunately - is this just another development that will possibly tie up Shoreline District redevelopment bond money (not voted on by citizens) and exclude property tax $ from the schools because of the "perpetual nature" of this redevelopment district? ref . SJMN March 27, 2008 pg 14A

Well said, Steven. I've never understood why our council allows unchecked development out in Shoreline that has no fiscal benefit to the bulk of town and will create even worse gridlock at key access points to town.

Traffic is not on this councils radar. Its bizarre. Guess they like pollution

Funny, I get the opposite feeling about this council. Granted, I'm comparing to Palo Alto...but I have no problem getting around Mountain View, with exception to Central/Rengstorff. And the city is looking to fix that problem.

As Em said, maybe this will be a stimulus to create a shuttle to shoreline or send VTA in that direction.

The shoreline district paid for all for the recreation facilities. Its a great deal for the city. The problem with this project is the huge subsidy to entice a developer to put in all of the council perks in the project.

Soon this North Shoreline area will certainly need a VTA light rail extension with all the traffic that leads into the area around 9:30am and throughout the day.

Andrew, you have clearly never had to deal with southbound 101 during the evening commute. Just look at the traffic maps, it's usually smooth sailing past Palo Alto, a crunch and slowdown bottleneck as you approach San Antonio and Rengstorf, and then it picks back up around the 85 exchange. I'm not sure about the other direction, but as I look at the historic traffic maps, it's as if the traffic gods are trying to tell Mountain View that we have overdeveloped.

Its not that the marsh/dump area of 40 years ago did not need (re)development out of a underused area of the city. It's that the situation of 4 decades ago - perhaps blight - certainly does not apply to the area now. This district is slated to keep > $3 billion off the general property tax rolls FOREVER! What needs to be monitored is the economic projections for this center - and the environmental impact reports. If Google does not think it a good investment - why is the city development director so sure it is a good 'public investment'?