The long-term lease with the two schools was signed in December, six months after Google agreed to lease 42.2 acres within the park from NASA for development of a 1.2-million-square-foot office/R&D campus that also will include company housing. Google agreed to an initial 40-year lease that includes periodic escalations and adjustments of rent and multiple 10-year extension options that could extend the lease by an additional 50 years. Google's initial base rent will be $3.66 million per year. Depending on the escalations, which are based on inflation, the total lease value for the initial 40-year term is somewhere between $150 million and $200 million.

Per the agreement, construction will proceed in three phases, with the first phase slated to begin by the end of September 2013, the second phase by 2018 and the third by 2022. Google has said the majority of the development will consist of office and R&D space but also will include company housing and other amenities such as dining, sports, fitness, child care, conference and parking, as well as recreation and park facilities. NASA says it will retain control over the project during its construction phase, including approving the design, issuing building permits, conducting inspections and monitoring construction.

NASA Research Park, the former Moffett Naval Air Field, is entitled for 4 million sf of development and currently houses already houses 30 private companies, six non-profits and five academic partners, including Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at Santa Cruz. The universities collaborate with NASA on a broad spectrum of fields including biotechnology, environmental technology, nanotechnology, communications and homeland security. The existing buildings at NASA Research Park that meet the necessary safety and code standards are fully leased.

NASA Ames Research Center was founded Dec. 20, 1939 as an aircraft research laboratory; it became part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. Ames, one of 10 NASA field installations, plays a role in virtually all NASA missions. It is home to some $3 billion in capital equipment, 4,000 research personnel and has a $775 million annual budget.