NextEV (Chinese Tesla Competitor) Building R&D in San Jose

There is a little known fact that before purchasing the NUMMI plant, Tesla was trying to build their factory in North San Jose. Since they would not qualify for federal incentives at that location, the deal fell through. However, Tesla still does have some history with San Jose as they chose to open the first Tesla Store in San Jose--which is still considered to be the United States flagship store. I should also note that they are rumored to be seeking office space in San Jose.

Well, it turns out Tesla won't be the only electric vehicle (EV) company in town for very long. A Chinese company called NextEV has selected North San Jose as their location for a significant R&D center. The company already has a supercar that competes in the Formula E racing series. Now their goal is to manufacture a mass-market electric car in 2017 for the Chinese market as well as a US-bound electric car in 2019. The company seems pretty serious unlike previous EV companies like Coda. They have hired a former CEO of Maserati and poached employees from both Tesla and BMW.

NextEV has leased a 85,000 SQFT building at 3200 North First Street. The R&D center will focus on "connected car" functionality. Manufacturing will be done in China while car design will be handled in Germany.

Now all we need is an Apple facility for their future self-driving cars as well as a relocation of the Tesla Headquarters to San Jose--then we'll have hands-down the EV capital of the world.

Source: SVBJ

Bay 101 is Moving Forward With a New Cardroom

Ever since Bay 101 purchased the San Jose Airport Garden Hotel on North First Street years ago, we knew it was just a matter of time before they would move ahead with a new project closer to M8trix. That time is apparently now, demolition of the 512 room hotel is going to begin by the end of the year. Bay 101 is going to construct a new casino and hotel worth around $100 million on that site.

The new card club will be two stories, 67,836 SQFT, and the same number of card tables as the current location (49). The layout will be more spread out and they are planning to do a high-end restaurant as an added attraction. The hotel would be seven stories and 174 room, which is actually much smaller than the hotel is replacing. It is too bad they are not planning to go larger with the first phase, because we really could use the extra hotel rooms.

There is a second phase being planned with a 10 story hotel tower and 150 rooms. In an area that could easily accommodate a 30 story hotel building (which would draw extra attention to the cardroom), this scale is very disappointing to me.

The parking lot east of the card room could also be developed into a 250,000 SQFT office building with 12 stories, but that would be in a far later phase. Bay 101's new home should be ready for gaming by Fall 2017.

Source: SVBJ

Sprouts Coming to North San Jose

A new Sprouts Farmer Market is going to anchor a new 150,000 SQFT retail center at the southwest corner of East Brokaw and Oakland Road in North San Jose. This will fill up a huge gap in grocery options for this neighborhood, which is a key area for mixed-use development in San Jose. While there are tens of thousands of tech jobs within a few square miles, residential projects have also started to infill the area. The New Home Company is building 239-units right behind the new retail center and KB Home is building out thousands of units at the San Jose Flea Market nearby.

Sprouts will take about 30,000 SQFT of the retail center, but their brand cache is strong enough to get the center renamed from Brokaw Plaza to Sprouts @ Brokaw. No other tenants have officially been announced, but the developer is in lease negotiations with about 30 tenants. Hopefully some will be unique or at least new to San Jose instead of the same old chains.

Sources: SVBJ, SiliconBeat

237 at First Office Project Begins Construction

South Bay Development is moving forward with a 615,000 SQFT speculative office project in North San Jose at the intersection of Highway 237 and North First Street. Speculative means that they are building this without a specific tenant in mind. These types of projects typically only get built when the office market is on fire. It's a common practice in Palo Alto and Mountain View, but unfortunately there have not been many "spec" projects moving forward in San Jose. Perhaps that is about to change.

Construction is now beginning on the first phase of the $100 million project, which is broken across four buildings that will be six-stories or so each. South Bay Development acquired the land from Cisco three years ago. The project will also include some of the fun amenities that tech workers have come to expect such as outdoor space with volleyball, basketball, and bocce courts. 237 at First should be completed by June 2016.

Unfortunately there is no retail incorporated into this project, but the @First shopping center is just down the street and a new 150-room Homewood Suites by Hilton will also be built nearby. Now that office vacancy in all of Silicon Valley is below 10% and asking rents have increased 25% over the last four years, it won't be long before more of the surrounding vacant land is filled up.

Source: SVBJ (Subscription Required)

ITU Growing Into North First Street

San Jose's International Technological University (ITU) has been a relatively small graduate school offering a variety of Master's Degrees in Business (MBAs), Software Engineering, Digital Arts, Electrical Engineering, and Computer Engineering. They even have a handful of Doctoral programs for Business Administration, Electrical Engineering, and Interdisciplinary Science. Their enrollment before last year was 700 students. Then in 2013 they became accredited from the Western Association of Schools & Colleges, and their enrollment shot up to 2,000.

At that level of enrollment, they have completely outgrown their Downtown San Jose digs and are upgrading to a 76,500 SQFT building at 2711 North First Street. This will provide them with triple the space as their former headquarters on San Fernando Street.

The move will also allow for a variety of other upgrades:

• A gym and yoga studio
• Health and wellness services
• Collaborative lounge spaces
• Enhancing research programs in embedded systems, robotics, digital arts, and AI

And yet, there is still more. ITU would like to add undergraduate programs in the future targeted towards international students. This may include building a ground-up residential campus in the future to complement their new educational facilities. We could have a new world class university in the making here right in the middle of Silicon Valley.

Source: SVBJ

BASIS Independent Now Open in Silicon Valley

BASIS Independent in North San Jose is off to a good start with the largest first-year enrollment recorded by any private school group in the country. BASIS Independent is a private school with a strong emphasis on STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and I'm sure will be a huge asset to the San Jose community. Check out the press release below.

BASIS Independent Schools open flagship schools on both coasts

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley and BASIS Independent Brooklyn welcome founding classes in California and New York; Largest private school opening in history

September 16, 2014 (Silicon Valley, CA) – In an unprecedented move, BASIS Independent Schools announces the opening of not one but two new private schools in the most globally advanced and competitive educational markets in America. BASIS Independent Silicon Valley and BASIS Independent Brooklyn begin classes with the largest first-year enrollment recorded by any private school group in the country.

“The American demand for global quality education has never been greater,” said BASIS Independent Schools CEO Dr. Mark Reford. “Parents on both coasts recognize that an internationally benchmarked curriculum featuring rigorous studies and passionate faculty is critical to our children’s success and happiness.” 

The two new schools are based on the proven education model of the BASIS charter school network led by Michael and Olga Block, deemed by scholars, national rankings and international tests as amongst the best in the world. BASIS.ed schools offer a STEM-focused liberal arts and sciences curriculum benchmarked against the highest international standards and employing the most talented teachers from around the world.

On the west coast, BASIS Independent Silicon Valley, is a stunning redesign of a former IBM office building located in San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley. The state-of-the-art glass-front, three-story 80,604 square foot building will be completed with the additions of a 7,501 square foot gymnasium and 6,000 square foot cafeteria. The school opened to grades 5-11 with an enrollment of nearly 600 students, a record number for a first-year private school. The 12th grade will be added next year. The school can accommodate 800 students.

The east coast school, BASIS Independent Brooklyn, is completing construction of its brand new modular-constructed 90,000 square foot architectural masterpiece in Red Hook. Built 12 feet above ground level, the new high tech, six-story school will feature abundant indoor and outdoor learning spaces with views of lower Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and New York Bay. The school opened to grades k-8 with high school grades to be added over the coming years. Various transportation options are available. The school will accommodate 1000 students.

The new schools are founded on the educational leadership of Michael and Olga Block, known for their relentless pursuit of academic excellence and as the founders of BASIS.ed, the management company for the highly successful charter school network of sixteen schools and counting. The new Independent Schools will be the first of a separate network of private schools to open across the country. Michael Block is a Stanford-educated economist and former university professor and Olga is a former vice dean of Charles University in Prague. Their education model marries exemplary world-class standards with the American spirit of creativity.

BASIS Independent Schools CEO, Dr. Q Mark Reford, is an international school leader and educator. Born in Northern Ireland, Reford was educated at Oxford University and later taught there in their Stanford University program. He moved to America in 1993 and has since been a teacher, administrator and Head of School in some of the most outstanding independent schools in the country.

“As President Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address, ‘Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort,’ quoted Dr. Reford. “That describes the essence of BASIS Independent schools and the spirit you feel in our classrooms, hallways and playgrounds.  Our students are taught a love of learning that will serve them a lifetime.”

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BASIS Schools were founded in 1998 by Michael and Olga Block. In 2009, they created BASIS.ed to manage the growing network of BASIS charter schools, with 2014 marking the introduction of their first two private schools. The Washington Post, U.S. News & World Report, and Newsweek consistently rank BASIS.ed schools among the best high schools in America. For more information, visithttp://www.basised.com/ or http://basisindependent.com/.

Real Escape Room San Jose

An interesting new attraction is coming to North First Street. "Escape from the Mysterious Room" is a game where you trapped in a room with 10 other people. Inside are mysterious codes and puzzles that needs to be solved in order to escape from the room. Essentially... it's a real-life video game.

The game being hosted at 777 N. 1st, Suite #740 and runs on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays starting October 3rd (next week). For more info click here.

Boston Properties Moving Forward on Huge Office Project

There are so many projects in the queue for North San Jose that it is difficult to keep track of them all. You have the mysterious Peery-Arrillaga project that would encompass one huge Fortune 100 tech tenant and up to 2 million SQFT. Then you have n1 Campus with up to 2.8 million SQFT. Over on Zanker Road you have Innovation Place with 540,000 SQFT. Now there is talk of another huge office project moving forward in the area.

Boston Properties owns a 24.5-acre business park on North First Street with five buildings totaling 190,000 SQFT that were all built in 1981. They want to tear down all of these buildings and create up to 1.55 million SQFT of new office space along with some retail. Most buildings would be 5-6 stories tall with one up to 10 stories (perhaps taking a note from Samsung).

It is still not clear if Boston Properties is going to wait for some anchor tenants to build or start the project speculatively, but they are applying for entitlements which could be approved by the city as soon as the end of the year. One thing is certain, North First could look dramatically different in a few years than it does today.

Source: SVBJ

Tallest North San Jose Apartment Project Ever Moves Forward

After eight years of stalls and delays, the Century Center Towers project is getting a new push. Barry Swenson Builder is now partnering with Essex Property Trust to get two 12-story residential towers built at 1733 N. 1st St. The location is near the old Sony campus and Casino M8trix, and has convenient access to both light rail and Highway 101.

Century Center Towers will have 376 apartment units and will cost $170 million to build (including land costs). There were no special incentives or fee reductions here, and the land is already being prepped for construction.

This is the first San Jose residential high-rise building to be built outside of Downtown San Jose. I don't think it will be the last. This is a strong sign of increasing density in San Jose, and a new push to build in transit corridors. Hopefully more corporations (like Samsung) will employ this model as well as opposed to your traditional sprawled out office campuses.

Source: SVBJ

Verizon Leasing 130,000 SQFT in North San Jose!

I've seen this terminology being tossed around the media for a while, but I think I'm officially going to start calling North First Street "Renovation Row." Verizon has has leased over 130,000 SQFT in a three-building reno project called THE Campus. This is enough room for about 750 employees, a sizable expansion from the 300-400 staff Verizon has today in Silicon Valley.

Their goal is to harness Silicon Valley's engineering talent in a building that supports modern amenities that tech workers have come to expect (the Googlization of the tech industry). Check out the outdoor fire pit and lounge space below.

The total property consists of about 250,000 SQFT, so there is still some more space to lease at "THE Campus." The way things are going, I have a feeling it will be 100% leased by the end of the year.

Source: The Merc, SVBJ

Blach Moving HQ to San Jose

Blach Construction is a 44-year-old general contractor that has built offices for Stanford, Kaiser, and Silver Lake Partners. They have been renting in Santa Clara (about 26,000 SQFT) but have decided to take a big step up and purchase an 88,000 SQFT R&D building in North San Jose. Of that space, they will occupy 54,000 SQFT--still giving the company plenty of room to grow--and leasing the rest to Laird Technologies.

Blach plans on putting $7 million in improvements to their new San Jose headquarters at 2040 Fortune Drive. They are hoping to stay there for generations to come.

Source: SVBJ

Construction Starting on 554-Unit North San Jose Apartment Project

The Golden Triangle is the area bound by Highways 101, 237, and 880. It is the largest tech cluster in the world and where you'll find most of San Jose's high-paying jobs. In recent years, several dense housing projects have sprung up right in the middle of the triangle and the trend is continuing.

Equity Residential has just wrapped up the Domain apartment project, a 444-unit, $155 million project right across the street from the @First shopping center. Domain has the distinction of being the largest modular construction project in the area. The apartments were prefabbed and then assembled like lego pieces, which explains how the building went up so quickly.

Now Equity is about to break ground on Tasman Apartments, an even larger development across the street from Domain. This one will clock in at 554-units and cost $215 million to build. It looks like the bulk of the building will be a respectable six-stories.

The amenities list is quite long: roof deck (love these), pool, spa, fitness center, bike-repair shop, BBQ center, clubhouse, and a game lounge. Equity is even throwing in two parks: the five-acre Domain Park and a one-acre park at Tasman Apartments in 2015.

The location I would say is ideal. Not only is it close to jobs, but Light Rail is nearby, @First is across the street, it has easy access to Highway 237, and the new Stadium (plus related projects) are 5 minutes away. The only thing I would have liked to see is some retail on the ground floor of these buildings. All in all, this should be a solid addition to the area.

Source: SVBJ

Thin Film Establishing an Innovation Center in San Jose

Thin Film Electronics ASA in a Norwegian company that specializes in "printing" electronics on rolls of flexible material. This technology could become very disruptive, lowering the cost of producing electronic components dramatically and also opening up new markets. One cool product they are working on that ships this year is an electronic piece of plastic that includes integrated sensors with the ability to track temperature. Imagine having this slapped on a bag of fish or meats to track the full temperature history of that product, ensuring the food is not compromised by the time it gets to the grocery store.

They are entering the San Jose area by purchasing Kovio, a company that supports NFC (near field communications) on these tiny printed electronics. The tech makes it so that you can use a smartphone or other electronic device to easily communicate with these printed devices wirelessly. Kovio is located on Zanker Road, where it also has a manufacturing facility.

Source: SVBJ

Two New Hyatts Coming to North San Jose

Yet another duo of hotels is coming to the North First area. It seems like every hotel announced in this general area is coming in pairs. First we had SpringHill Suites (146 rooms) and Residence Inn (175 rooms) at Airport and North First which will share the same physical building and back of house operations. Then earlier this year we found out about Hampton Inn and Suites (145 rooms) and Home2 Suites (140 rooms), which will be housed in separate buildings at the old Piercey Toyota lot, but likely share operations and resources.

Now we have two Hyatts being announced: a Hyatt Place clocking in a 164 rooms and seven-stories, and an extended stay Hyatt House with 140 rooms (five-story building). This will all be located on six acres at North First and East Brokaw Road, very close to both the airport, the casinos, and a massive 2 million SQFT office project proposed for the area. I also have to mention that there is easy access to light rail here, making these hotels great options for people flying into town to catch an event at the new 49ers Stadium.

The project will cost $65 million and construction will begin in Q2 2015 with completion expected in late 2016.

Hyatt House: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/california/hyatt-house-san-jose-airport/sjcxa
Hyatt Place: https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/california/hyatt-place-san-jose-airport/sjcza

Source: SVBJ, Hat tip to Joseph Meduri

New $35M Hotel Project in North San Jose

Remember the old Piercey Toyota lot on North First near the airport? That is about to become not one, but two hotels. On the table is a 145-room Hampton Inn and Suites as well as a 140-room Home2 Suites. Unlike the SpringHill Suites and Residence Inn project also happening near the airport, each of these hotels will be housed in a separate building. However, I would be surprised if they did not share some of their resources and staff since the owner is going to be the same (Kalthia Group Hotels).

I know some of the urbanists that frequent this site will not be impressed with five-story buildings, especially along North First where we could theoretically go beyond 30. Personally, I'll take it over an empty parking lot any day of the week. North First seems under-serviced by hotels, and we need these resources to help entice more large companies to the area.

Source: SVBJ

Cavium Doubles San Jose Office Space

Cavium is a networking company that was founded in three small office rooms in San Jose back in 2000. They eventually moved to Santa Clara, then Mountain View, and in 2011 they returned home to San Jose. Now, they are expanding their footprint in North San Jose by signing a lease for a neighboring 111,000 SQFT building at 2345 N. First. This will bring them up to a grand total of 224,000 SQFT.

North San Jose office vacancy was 21.5% last quarter, so this expansion should made a positive dent in those figures sometime in the near future.

Source: SVBJ

Massive 2 MILLION SQFT Office Project Proposed for North First!

Nathan Donato-Weinstein from the Business Journal nabbed what will likely be the largest development scoop of the year. 10 freakin towers proposed on North First Street!!! The project spans 20 acres at First Street and Brokaw which consists of some empty land and the Bay 101 casino. It would likely be built in two phases, Phase 1 on the area currently vacant with Phase 2 coming in after the casino moves to their new home closer to M8trix.

The buildings would each be about seven stories--which is tall for your typical tech campus, think Brocade in the @First area. Total square footage would clock in at a jaw-dropping 2,025,350 SQFT. In terms of sheer size of an office project, this would come second only to the new Apple Campus in Cupertino. This dwarves all other planned office projects in the Bay Area, including expansion project by Samsung, Facebook, Linkedin and Google (their Bayview Campus).

No potential tenant has been named, but there is speculation that it will be a huge tech company like Microsoft, Amazon, or Apple.

Amenities will include 7,103 spaces of mostly underground parking (Lightrail is also across the street), an underground pool, a soccer field, and courts for basketball, racquetball, and squash. Check out photos of the modern curved glass buildings below! I really, really hope this goes through.

Source: SVBJ

Bay 101 Planning New Complex Closer to M8trix

M8trix was a dramatic improvement over Garden City Casino, bringing with it a tiny bit of Vegas to San Jose and a colorful new tower. Now it looks like Bay 101 is looking to not only looking to do a similar remodel but move much closer to their gaming neighbor. They purchased a 20-acre hotel at 1740 N. First and are planning a 87,000 SQFT card club with two attached hotels with a combined 470 rooms, retail space, an upscale restaurant, and a six-story parking structure. Note that while the card club would be 12,000 SQFT larger than their current home, the number of gambling tables would be the same since the limit is set by San Jose voters. The skyline would also benefit from the two modest hotel towers as one would be 9 stories and the other would be 10, and both would be visible from Highway 101 and probably 880.

The new plans will happen in phases (much like M8trix which is also planning a hotel tower and celebrity-chef restaurant) with the card room happening first, followed by the hotels and the parking structure. The location is really ideal for them: no residential neighbors, close to 101, close to the airport, and next to techies along North First. It also would open a development opportunity on the site of the old casino. Looks like a nice project!

Source: SVBJ

Extreme Networks Getting a San Jose Headquarters

Extreme Networks is moving their corporate headquarters from Santa Clara to a 57,586 SQFT buildig in North San Jose (145 Rio Robles). The company is a leader in Ethernet technologies and sells a variety of switches and wireless solutions. They have manufactured over 30 million Ethernet ports.

As a side benefit, their move will clear the way for Irvine Company to develop up to 800 housing units and 50,000 SQFT of retail/commercial space at the site of the former Santa Clara headquarters.

Source: SVBJ

The Pointerless Web with Nicholas Zakas

Interesting free event below with local food, craft beers, and a great topic for those in tech (probably at least half of us). To register, just click here.

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  Thursday, February 21, 2013

  6:30 PM To 9:00 PM
• PayPal Town Hall

  2161 North 1st Street, San Jose, CA (map)

  PayPal Town Hall is at PayPal HQ and faces North First St. Park anywhere!

• 
  

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Not everyone uses a computer in the same way… yet many developers tend to build web experiences as if they do.

Nicholas Zakas is a renowned engineer, known for his leadership in front end architecture, including performance and maintainability.

Come hear Nicholas’ story and explore:

• How people navigate the web without using a mouse
• How the web is inherently accessible and how web developers make it less so
• How spatial navigation is changing the way keyboard users navigate the web

Special host for the evening: Victor Tsaran, Head of Accessibility, PayPal

As always, this event will feature:

• delicious, free food from a San Jose-based restaurant,
• craft beer tasting and
• an opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with the brightest TechXplorers in the South Bay!

RSVP now to get your seat.

Agenda:

@ 6:24PM: Delicious Food & Craft Beer Tasting

@ 7:21PM: Nicholas Zakas' Pointerless Web

@ 8:03PM: Questions & Answers with Nicholas Zakas and Victor Tsaran

How to find us: Town Hall is at PayPal HQ, facing North First Street.

Public Transit Info: PayPal Town Hall is directly across the street from the Karina Station of VTA/Light Rail in San Jose, CA.

Parking Info: All unmarked spots at PayPal HQ are up for grabs. When you pull into the campus, look for Town Hall (large building says "Town Hall" above doors, faces North First) and then park where you'd like.

Please RSVP for you and your guests to make check-in speedy.

Please also bring a valid ID.

About Nicholas Zakas:

Nicholas C. Zakas is a front-end consultant, author, and speaker. He worked at Yahoo! for almost five years, where he was front-end tech lead for the Yahoo! homepage and a contributor to the YUI library. He is the author of Maintainable JavaScript (O’Reilly, 2012), Professional JavaScript for Web Developers (Wrox, 2012), High Performance JavaScript (O’Reilly, 2010), and Professional Ajax (Wrox, 2007). Nicholas is a strong advocate for development best practices including progressive enhancement, accessibility, performance, scalability, and maintainability. He blogs regularly athttp://www.nczonline.net/ and can be found on Twitter via @slicknet.

About Victor Tsaran:

Victor leads the Accessibility Team at PayPal. The team is responsible for ensuring that users with disabilities can effectively utilize PayPal's products and services, both on mobile and desktop devices. Prior to PayPal, Victor oversaw the implementation of the company-wide accessibility activities on the technical side for Yahoo! In addition to his job responsibilities, Victor has a passion for jazz guitar and participates in various open source projects, the most known of which is JSonar, the software which enables visually impaired musicians around the world to use Cakewalk Sonar, the world’s leading music recording application for Windows.