July 2018 Downtown Dimension

The JULY 2018 Downtown Dimension is now available at:

https://sjdowntown.com/wp_2016/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/July2018DTD.pdf

In this edition:

• Google presents initial plans for west side of downtown, acquires more parcels and continues negotiations with City of San Jose for another nine parcels.
• Henry Coca, Jr. reflects on 61 years of family-run business as a fitness club company acquires historic building at Second and Santa Clara streets (Note: This story is extended at sjdowntown.com/sjda-news.
• Nineteen restaurants are involved in Dine Downtown Restaurant Week, starting July 13
• Buddy's San Jose Music in the Park is July 12 with Toots & The Maytals.
• SJSU President Mary Papazian reflects on growing university-downtown synchronicty.
• A second option for downtown medical care materializes.
• VTA proposes pilot program for railings along Second Street to minimize pedestrian-light-rail disruptions.
• The latest downtown high-rise proposal, this time an office tower at 200 Park Ave.
• New businesses, favored moments from the past and more.

Also available:

• Live and Local SJ to live music in the center city.
• Traffic alerts keep up with lane and road closures and openings.
• Groundwerx 10-year anniversary report covers the past decade of activities to improve the look and feel of downtown.
• Boom City: SJDA continues to update the roundup of new downtown building proposals and west side acquisitions.

Downtown Dimension is a leading source for information about downtown San Jose news, events and businesses.  Subscribe with a simple email to sjda@sjdowntown.com, subject line: Subscribe

Triple tower and new theater proposed in SoFA!

The latest high-rise proposal in Downtown San Jose is easily one of the most ambitious. Invicta Towers would consist of three (!) high-rise buildings between South Second and First Street Downtown. This is the heart of the SoFA district with several museums and theaters within a one block radius. The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, and MACLA would all practically be inside of the project (they are buildings between the towers in the first image).

Invicta would include 667 residential units and 41,500 SQFT of tail and public arts exhibition space. Part of that space would be a 12,000 SQFT theater for live performances. Tower A would be 295 feet tall and 27 stories, making it the 2nd-tallest tower Downtown.

Each tower would have at least one restaurant on the ground floor, but the project will support a total of 4-10 dining options. Parking would be in a 4-story below-grade parking structure.

While not mentioned in the article, the renders have a swimming pool on top of each of the towers, one covered and two uncovered. It looks like the amenity space will be on the penthouse floors, which is a great idea given the views from this location and our weather.

Hats off to developers, which are stepping up and continuing to raise the bar on Downtown proposals. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll get so see some more projects break ground before the end of the year.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose International overtakes Oakland as the Bay Area's 2nd busiest airport

After 17 years trailing Oakland International in terms of passenger numbers, SJC's incredible growth rate has brought the airport back to 2nd place. SFO still retains 68.3% of the passenger market while SJC's slice of the pie is 15.9% and Oakland is now at 15.8%.

San Jose International had by far the highest growth rate year-over-year among Bay Area airports. Between May 2017 to May 2018, passenger growth was up 17.1%. SFO was up 7% and Oakland was up 4.1%. This means all three airports are doing better than 2017, but ours is fairing particularly well.

The growth creates both direct and indirect benefits to San Joseans. The most obvious benefit is more flights and routes, which also tend to drive prices down as competition increases. Since the airport is owned by the city of San Jose, this increases tax dollars going into our coffers. Spending from visitors also bolsters our economy and is especially significant on international routes--which now make up over 8% of passenger traffic.

Source: SVBJ

Electric car company grows in San Jose

NIO, a Chinese EV startup, is doubling down in North San Jose. They are moving into a 100,362 SQFT building at 3100 N. First Street, which was previously home to Broadcom and Hitachi. NIO already employs 520 people in San Jose, so this is a positive sign that more high-tech jobs will be opening up soon.

NIO currently only manufactures a single car, the EP9. It's a $1.2M supercar with 1,341 horsepower that currently holds the electric car record for the Nurburgring and for the fastest autonomous lap at the Circuit of the Americas. Like Tesla they decided to start with a halo car and work their way down to cars the masses can afford. Their next car will be a 7-seat SUV called the ES8 that will compete with Tesla's Model X.

NIO has already raised $1 billion and are rumored to be gearing up for a US IPO that could raise another $2 billion. It's clear that the auto industry is going to look a lot different in 5-10 years than it does today. If NIO turns out to be another disruptor like Tesla, then San Jose has a lot to gain as the brand grows.

Source: SVBJ

Topgolf breaking ground in Alviso

Later this year, Topgolf will begin construction on their first Bay Area location. Topgolf is the Dave&Busters of driving ranges and has 41 locations nationwide (only one in California). The San Jose venue will have a three-story driving range with 120 hitting bays, each of which can accommodate six people. Each golf ball has a microchip that can score each golfer--turning it into more of a video game than a traditional range. 

Most Topgolfs are open until midnight during the week and 2am on the weekend. This would provide another much-needed late-night entertainment option for North San Jose and Aliviso. Of course there will be a high-end lounge, one or more restaurants, and several bars onsite. To put the size of the project in perspective, it will employ about 500 people and entertain 450,000+ guests each year.

In addition to the Topgolf, the overall development site will also have a 200-room hotel and 119,000 SQFT of retail. The project is being proposed without subsidies and would bring even more tax dollars to San Jose coffers. It's not clear how long it will take to build, but an opening by the end of 2020 would be a safe bet if there are no roadblocks.

Source: SVBJ

Viva Calle 2018 - Sep 23rd

One of my favorite events of the year returns in just couple of months. During Viva Calle SJ, miles of city streets will be completely shut down to let people walk, run, bike, or skateboard down the streets of San Jose.

Viva Calle features multiple activity hubs which are basically festivals-within-a-festival that highlight the local area. This year they will be located in SoFA, the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, and Martial Cottle Park. You can expect live music, vendors, food, activities, bike parking, and good times at all three hubs. In between the activity hubs you will still find all sorts of interesting stops, hydration stations, and stores.

Similar to last year, the route has been streamlined to just a single line without branching out. The route runs from SoFA all the way to Martial Cottle Park, which will showcase San Jose neighborhoods not featured in previous events.

Last year 130,000 people attended the event, which is up from 100,000 the year before. It's not clear if PokemonGo will be incorporated into Viva Calle like last year, but I would say the odds are good.

Viva Calle 2018 takes place on Sunday, September 23rd from 10am to 3pm (streets are closed until 4pm). It is completely free and has no designated beginning or end as it's not a race. You can use the handy map below to locate the routes and festivities. For more info, head over here. Hope to see you there!

New two-story office and restaurant project Downtown

If you are an urbanist, you are probably already freaking out with the headline of a new two-story building in the most dense part of San Jose. However, it will make more sense when you look at the photo down below and see where it is being built.

Storm Land Company is planning to build a 34.5 foot-tall building at the corner of Santa Clara Street and North Almaden Avenue. You might remember this as the patio for the Mmoon or the exterior staircase for the SVG Innovation Center. It is a small sliver of land connected to a historic building, so there are severe limitation on what can be developed here.

The plan is to have a new full-service restaurant on the ground floor that would potentially sell alcohol and stay open until 2am. The second floor would be used for corporate offices. It could actually a pretty neat infill project that would better utilize the space. I love the outdoor seating, but perhaps they could use accordion or roll-up doors to open up the restaurant to the street (similar to Olla Cocina).

Source: SVBJ

More millennials are moving to San Jose than SF

Based on 2016 immigration and emigration data, it looks like more San Jose is getting more traction among millennials. This generation is currently defined as those aged 22 to 37. In 2016, San Jose gained 5,496 millennials (this is net, immigration - emigration). On top of the list for net migration was Seattle, followed by Columbia and the only other Northern California city in the top ten, Sacramento.

Source: SVBJ