Dive Brief:

• The Mountain View, CA, City Council denied the futuristic, buzzed-about development plans of Google's headquarters expansion earlier this month. Instead, the council ended up giving approval to LinkedIn for a 1.4 million-square foot headquarters. 
• Google, which currently sits on 7.3 million square feet in Mountain View, was assigned 515,00 square feet—one-quarter of the space it needs for the desired expansion. The city had about 2.2 million square feet of commercial space available.
• Google's elaborate plan featured wetland restoration, bike paths, parks and housing units. 

Dive Insight:

The council said it wants business diversity, and feared Google's plan would stunt growth in the city. One council member said despite the impressive nature of the company's plan, the 5,000 housing unit complex was too reminiscent of mining towns from old frontier days.

Gridlock and rising housing prices have all been claimed as consequences of Google's growth. The company has yet to signal its next move, but did say: “We know the City Council had a tough decision to make last night and thank them and our community for more than six hours of debate. We’re pleased Council has decided to advance our Landings site and will continue to work with the city on Google’s future in Mountain View.”