Source: The Mercury News
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
524 new apartments proposed near Santana Row
Source: The Mercury News
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Festival for Foodies
Friday, July 12, 2024
San Jose's fanciest movie theater shuts down
Source: Silicon Valley Business Journal
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Eye-catching residential towers could rise near Valley Fair and Santana Row
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
iChina hires a rockstar chef, obviously aiming for the stars
Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Famous Korean BBQ spot Baekjeong opens first Northern California location in San Jose
Monday, March 27, 2023
Valley Fair is expanding and hitting records
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
iChina Restaurant in Valley Fair
Covid hit just as San Jose was beginning a true culinary Renaissance. We even got our first Michelin Star restaurant in 2017. Over this entire decade it feels like expectations have changed and there is a general shift away from cookie-cutter chain restaurants to more unique offerings. Old strip malls from my childhood that were filled with fast food joints like Taco Bell and Little Caesars now have Vietnamese Cafes, Indian Pizzerias, and wine bars featuring tapas.
I was pleasantly shocked when I stumbled across these photos of iChina in Valley Fair. This easily could have been another Cheescake-factory, but instead they hired the same designer from Hong Kong that worked on the top floors at the Burj Dubai (world's tallest building). The aesthetic looks stunning, and hopefully the food will live up to design. I can't wait to visit when all this craziness is over.
Source: Silicon Valley Joe from the San Jose Development Forum
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Lucid Motors opens Valley Fair "Studio"
Valley Fair has a new flagship electric car store, and it's not Tesla. Lucid Motors is an ultra-luxury car brand that just has a single model, the Lucid Air. It's a $100k+ sedan that competes with the likes of the Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7-Series and comes with a staggering 1,000 horsepower powertrain.
If the car and store seem eerily similar to Tesla, that's because most of the team behind Lucid are ex-Tesla engineers that helped design the Tesla Model S. Coincidentally, the very first Tesla "Store" was across the street at Santana Row. Lucid event built a high-speed charging station in the Valley Fair garage, very similar to what Tesla did across the street at the row.
While you won't be able to test drive a Lucid Air yet, you can see all of the options and trims (which are named after Californian destinations like Santa Barbara). The showroom also looks stunning, it's worth checking out if you're at Valley Fair already.
This location is one of only four with the others being Lucid's Headquarters in Newark, Beverly Hills, and Century City (LA). Eventually they will have 20 studios. Long term, they plan to offer SUVs and more affordable models as well.
Source: SVBJ
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Valley Fair Open-Air Market
The outdoor market is open from 1pm to 7pm from Friday to Sunday in the Outdoor Plaza and North Valet Lot. Below are the list of participating retailers and eateries. The department stores are now fully open as well (masks required of course).
PARTICIPATING RETAILERS
- Athleta (Thursdays & Fridays only + the weekend of 8/21)
- California Pizza Kitchen: outdoor dining on their patio, adjacent to Forest Avenue (open 7 days a week)
- Champs Sports
- The Waffle Roost Food Truck (@thewaffleroost | Saturday's only from 12 - 3:30)
- Coach
- Cotton On
- Cotton On Kids
- David Yuman
- Din Tai Fung: outdoor dining on their pop-up patio, adjacent to Forest Avenue (open 7 days a week)
- Foot Locker
- Fresh Society
- Haagen Dazs (open 7 days a week in the North Valet)
- Hugo Boss
- Johnny Was (only Sat & Sun)
- Kay Jewelers
- Koja Kitchen Bar
- Levi's
- Lovesac
- MCM
- Mex Cal Taco Truck
- Pac Sun
- Pottery Barn
- Quay Australia
- Rabbit Rabbit Tea
- Salt & Straw (open 7 days a week on the plaza)
- Shoe Palace
- Talbots
- UNTUCKit (open 7 days a week on the plaza)
- Young Art Lessons
- Zales
- Zumiez
Source: San Jose Inside
Monday, March 16, 2020
Valley Fair's $1.1B expansion is now partially open
Parking is now a lot easier with a new six-story garage right off of Steven's Creek that goes underneath the expansion and has direct connections to the new Bloomingdales. Speaking of which, it's a true flagship department store with San Jose branding everywhere. Unfortunately I couldn't afford most of the cool things in there, it's more expensive than Nordstrom yet not quite as insane as Neiman Marcus. I did find my favorite clothing store near one of the two entrances of the expansion--Untuckit. This is the first one in San Jose. The expansion also includes Forward (premium doctor's office), Orangetheory Fitness, Bulgari, Cole Haan Grandshop, and a few ex-Santana Row brands such as Anthropologie, Pinkberry, and Urban Outfitters.
The new Santana Row-style outdoor concourse will feature a bunch of high-end restaurants including Maestro's. I have a feeling that they will get another Michelin-recommended restaurant or two this year. Din Thai Fung already has that rating. Salt & Straw is the only place open so far, but the ice cream was exceptional (Bone Marrow and Smoked Cherries... wow). I loved the interactive art on the walls near the entrances too.
They have five new stores focused on retail concepts. One had a bunch of cool Kickstarter projects in it and is similar to B8ta at Santana Row. Definitely worth checking out.
While not part of the expansion, I also finally got to try Ramen Nagi. Even with the Coronavirus, it still took an hour and 15min in line. Totally worth it, it was some of the best ramen I have ever had. It goes by faster than you think since you customize your food while waiting in the line and the food comes quickly once you get inside.
Once the virus boils over, this is hopefully going to drive a lot of extra tax revenue to San Jose. It's hands down the nicest mall in the Bay Area and they are making an effort to be more Santana Rowish with the outdoor space. I truly hate going to traditional malls, but this experience was way better than what I expected. I'll definitely be back to check out the new restaurants as they open.
Source: SVBJ
Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Eataly coming to San Jose
The market clocks in at an impressive 51,000 SQFT. Eataly is large enough to house multiple restaurants, cafes, food stalls, bars, and take-out counters. If you're a foodie that likes Italian food, this may be your new favorite location in the mall. It will also be the only Eataly location in Northern California.
Eataly San Jose will open sometime in 2021.
Source: SVBJ
Monday, June 24, 2019
Quick look inside the Valley Fair expansion
The expansion will bring flagship stores for Apple and Bloomindale's as well as other premium brands such as Jimmmy Choo, John Varvatos, UNTUCKit, and Gorjana. Double Eagle Steakhouse, Shake Shack, Salt & Straw, and SomiSomi are some of the new eateries. 80% of the expansion is already pre-leased. If you are concerned about parking, they just added another 1,200 space garage and optimized the new front entrance for car sharing/pooling, bikes, and pedestrians in mind (finally).
By pushing the mall outwards towards Stevens Creek and adding an outdoor paseo, they are doing their best to better connect to Santana Row. Inside the more traditional mall area, they are using a lot of high-end materials and leveraging natural light thanks to massive skylights.
The expansion will have its grand opening early next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of the 100 new stores did a soft opening before Christmas.
Source: SVBJ
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
ShowPlace Icon is San Jose's new flagship movie theater
ShowPlace Icon is a 10-screen movie theater spanning two floors and 60,000 SQFT in Valley Fair Mall. All 1,474 seats are reserved loungers with electric footrests and heaters. Their largest theater is a 281 seat ICON*X premium large format room with a 4k laser projection and Dolby Atmos sound. What really made Icon stand out for me was the VIP section upstairs for those 21 and over. Up there you will find surprisingly good craft cocktails, an adult take on Icee's with flavors like "Frozen Margarita," a great food selection, and bacon popcorn. The whole floor looks like a lounge and has comfortable seating throughout. After entering their largest movie theater from the VIP section, you'll soon realize you are on a private balcony where you can continue to enjoy your fancy beverages and food. This is a great design that I hope others will copy.
I was fortunate to get a media preview of The Upside (great movie by the way). The seats were at least as comfortable as the recliners at CineArts or Cinemark Mountain View. The food and drink are for sure the best you can find in any South Bay movie theater. The video and sound quality were exceptional, we're talking IMAX-level. I also like the finishing touches throughout the theater like photos of San Jose and portraits of actors born in the Bay Area.
You can reserve a seat now at www.shoplaceicon.com. Prices are in line with other theaters and I highly recommend checking them out.
Friday, September 15, 2017
New Proposal in West San Jose
The applicant submitted several design concepts to gain an understanding of what staff would support. The conceptual designs can be found here. The concepts are all of a similar design but different enough to be able to have a preference for one over the other. I will say it is very exciting to see interest in architecture that is different from the typical boxy industrial look we have seen all too much in the Bay Area (think Mission Bay in San Francisco).
-Kimberly Vacca
Location: