As an Xoogler, I think this is great news. By the time I left a year ago, there were far too many far-flung buildings in Sunnyvale, with new ones opening all the time (and my group was -- and still is -- slated to move into exile in Sunnyvale).
These were the worst of both worlds -- you still had to deal with a Bay Area cost of living and commute, but you were too far to easily collaborate with other groups, or take advantage of events & resources on the main GooglePlex (TGIF at Charlies, author talks, various events, picking up dogfood hardware, etc.) Not to mention fragmented bus routes.
They acknowledge that. That was their point, that in both scenarios you get that downside but then pointed out a series of upsides of being on the actual Google Campus.
Did you stop reading halfway through the sentence?
These were the worst of both worlds -- you still had to deal with a Bay Area cost of living and commute, but you were too far to easily collaborate with other groups, or take advantage of events & resources on the main GooglePlex (TGIF at Charlies, author talks, various events, picking up dogfood hardware, etc.) Not to mention fragmented bus routes.