San Jose is getting a 24-story Tribute Hotel!

Finally, some significant vertical development news for Downtown. It looks like San Jose's first cantilevered tower will be moving forward. The proprietors behind San Jose's Downtown Four Points (which is probably the nicest Four Points in the US) want to build a 24-story hotel tower in a narrow lot to the right of the hotel. The lot is so narrow that the tower would have to cantilever over the Four Points as you can see in the photos below. It creates a very interesting architectural juxtaposition of a building from the 1910s merged with a modern high-rise.

Now for the even-better news. The 279-room tower will be branded as The Tribute Hotel San Jose as opposed to being an expansion of the Four Points-branded hotel. The Tribute is a new Marriott brand (which now owns Starwood Hotels) and it is far more upscale and prestigious.

The tower will have amenities that don't even exist in San Francisco or Los Angeles. I'm talking about a rooftop pool on the 24-floor. That is officially one of the coolest hotel amenities possible and I will be booking a room at some point just to take advantage of it. The Grand Hyatt in Toyko (hotel from the movie "Lost in Translation") is the only other property I have been to with something like that and it was awesome. The Tribute Hotel will also have their gym and meeting rooms on the penthouse floor featuring amazing views of Silicon Valley. This is going to be a very unique destination and a huge win for San Jose enthusiasts.

Source: The Merc

First Friday @ SPACES by Santana Row

You now have two First Friday events to chooser from in San Jose! SPACES, a new coworking space in Santana Row, is hosting a monthly event with art, cocktails, and networking. Their first event happens today from 5pm-8pm. SPACES is located at 3031 Tische Way.

South First Fridays tonight in SoFA

It is a little wet outside, but that should not stop you from enjoying great art in some of Downtown San Jose's most interesting venues. 20 destinations will be open late tonight and proudly display local artwork. South First Fridays is completely free and you can find a preview of what will be on display over here.

For an interactive walking map (sorry the one below is just a boring image), bookmark this link.

Zoom and Wrike are growing in San Jose

Two hot tech companies are choosing to grow their presence in Downtown San Jose. Zoom is a video and web conferencing solution founded in 2011. It currently has 180 employees with plans to add 20 more.

Wrike is a work management solution with 10,000 paid accounts. Their first office was in Downtown San Jose, but they moved to Mountain View in 2014 after getting their series A funding. Late last year they moved back to Downtown San Jose and now have 70 employees with plans to grow.

Both Zoom and Wrike are headquartered on Almaden Avenue--Zoom is on the 6th Floor of 55 Almaden and Wrike is on the 10th floor of 10 Almaden.

Source: SJ Economy News

The Pierce is honoring World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and one of the coolest art projects in Downtown San Jose is doing something special for the occasion. Voxel Cloud--the LED light system on top of The Pierce--will be illuminated in blue from 7:30pm to midnight. To learn more about the "Light It Up Blue" campaign in support of people living with autism, please head over here.

Downtown San Jose Beerwalk - April 5th

Beerwalk is coming to Downtown for the first time ever next week. On Wednesday, April 5th, from 6pm-9pm you can stroll around sampling killer brews while checking out art galleries, boutique shops, and our long list of great restaurants.

The check-in area is Local Color at 27 S. 1st Street and tasting locations include 55 South, AFK, Blush, Firehouse, Five Points, O'Flaherty's, Sushi Confidential and more. You really will be walking since tasting locations stretch from the Historic District to San Pedro Square.

Participating Breweries

• 10 Barrel Brewing Company
• Almanac Brewing
• Altamont Beer Works
• Anchor Brewing
• Ballast Point Brewing Company
• Calicraft Brewing Company
• Discretion Brewing
• Elysian Brewing
• Firestone Brewing Co.
• Golden Road Brewing
• Golden State Brewery
• Goose Island
• Heretic Brewing Company
• Lagunitas Brewing Company
• Lost Coast Brewery
• Saint Archer Brewing Company
• Santa Clara Valley Brewing
• Sierra Nevada
• Strike Brewing Co.
• Uncommon Brewers

Tickets cost $30-$38 and benefit the Bay Area Brewers Guild (Designated Drivers are free of course).

Find out more and get your tickets over here.

Vintage Tower Apartments has two massive balconies

I was catching up on Nate DonatoWeinstein's twitter feed, and found this little fun fact. One of Downtown San Jose's first "tall" buildings has two substantial balconies. I have never seen the Vintage Tower building on Santa Clara Street from this angle and always thought those were maintenance areas. It turns out that whoever is on that top floor has a pretty amazing perk--a backyard in the sky.

Blue Bottle Coffee opening their first South Bay location in Downtown San Jose

Blue Bottle Coffee is a very popular "third-wave" coffee shop based out of Oakland. They are going to be the anchor retail tenant for 1 W. Santa Clara Street after the historic building's renovation is complete. This is a prime corner at the intersection of First Street and Santa Clara, which will only become more prominent a few years from now when the BART subway is built in Downtown San Jose.

Blue Bottle is also known for adding some extra vibrancy around their stores and have a reputation for seeking locations in up-and-coming areas. The 1,100 SQFT cafe will be the 12th Blue Bottle Coffee shop in California and the first in the area.

It will be interesting to see how 1 W. Santa Clara looks after the renovation is complete. Below is a before and after. It is difficult to make out many details from the picture-within-a-picture, but almost anything would be an improvement over the current aesthetics.

Source: SVBJ