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Published on 10/21/1996 All articles from this issue

MV, Silicon Graphics join up to build new park

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Town Crier Staff Report

A new 7-acre park in the North Bayshore area of Mountain View will open to the public on Saturday.

Charleston Park is located on Charleston Road, between Shoreline Boulevard and the new Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) corporate campus, just a short stroll away from Shoreline Amphitheatre and more than 600 acres of open space at Vista Slope and Shoreline at Mountain View park.

The new park features a series of landscaped terraces with pathways, benches and more than 100 flowering cherry trees. The terraces are accented by a cascading water fountain and central plaza.

Charleston Park is built on five acres of city-owned land and two acres of land leased to SGI. In addition to contributing to the construction cost of the park, SGI has also agreed to allow public access through its corporate campus to neighboring open space and park amenities.

The new park results from a public-private partnership first conceived in the late-1980s when the North Bayshore Advisory Committee considered alternatives for developing land that had originally been acquired by the city for a municipal landfill. Based on strong community sentiment, the committee concluded that the city-owned land, which would not be used for landfill, should be, developed as a blend of private offices, cultural uses and public open space. The Mountain View City Council then adopted land use policies for the site which included incentives to office developers to provide public amenities as a part of their developments.

"The contribution made by Silicon Graphics toward this park provides more open space for public use and more special features than the city could have afforded if we had funded it with just taxpayer money," said Mountain View Mayor Ralph Faravelli. "It is a jewel of a park."

that fits in with our overall open space plan, not just for the North Bayshore Area but for the entire city as well. This is an example of the way public-private partnerships are supposed to work."

Employees will begin moving into SGI's new corporate offices in January 1997.