BART Expansion to San Jose Getting Some Help from Obama

In Obama's proposed budget, $1 billion is earmarked for California transit. San Jose gets a nice shout out, since $165 million of that is to continue the BART expansion in Silicon Valley. Have a look at the source link for more details on the transit plans for California.

Source: LA Times, Hatip to Barclay Livker for sending this in!

Saturday Stats: The San Jose Metro Has the #3 Highest GDP Per Capita in the World

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) represents the value of all goods and services produced withing a country's borders over the course of a year. GDP per capita is an offshoot metric that looks at the average amount each individual produces in a given area, and includes everyone in the population even if they do not work.

It turns out that San Jose has the highest GDP per capita in the US and the third highest in the entire world. Only Zurich and Oslo ranked higher. San Jose's GDP per capita came in at $77,440 per person while San Francisco was $66,790.

Also worth noting is that San Jose is one of only 32 metros in the US that have fully recovered from the recession.

Source: SiliconBeat

CBS Video on Downtown Retail

Below is a short video featuring Adam Mayberry (from the DH Company) talking about his concept for a pop-up retail district in Downtown San Jose made up of shipping containers. This would be great in a number of open parking lots that we currently have.

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) – Looking to revive retail in Downtown San Jose, one entrepreneur is hoping to create a pop-up shopping mall created out of shipping containers.

Adam Mayberry had big ideas and just a little cash. So he built a small store into a shipping container and placed it in Downtown San Jose for the holidays. It worked, well enough for him to make a go of it year-round, selling custom designed sports apparel.

“The idea behind the shipping container store is that businesses could test the waters such as myself in downtown,” Mayberry told KPIX 5.

Now he’s thinking bigger. Mayberry wants to take his single concept store and blow it up, creating a sort of pop-up shopping district made entirely of shipping container stores with built in cafes and sitting areas.

“If you string four or five of these together, in our case we want about 15, then you have a critical mass of businesses, advertising to their customers and in turn bringing customers to their neighbors,” Mayberry said.

He’s now trying to sell the idea to downtown landowners, including operators of parking lots that could be flipped into the city’s newest mini malls.

“With pop ups, there’s a lower barrier to entry, a lower cost to get in,” said Daniel Harris of the Knight Foundation.

The idea has some big supporters, including the Knight Foundation and the San Jose Downtown Association.

“This could be a step into a potential brick and mortar establishment,” said Scott Knies of the association. “It has promise. You could see this happening really easily with some of the open space that we have.”

Retail has been one of the big missing links in Downtown San Jose for about the last 45 years, ever since the big suburban shopping malls like Valley Fair started gaining in popularity. There are blocks and blocks of vacant store fronts in downtown, and the stores that are open are often spread out making window shopping difficult.

They are not the most attractive things. But backers say they don’t have to be, they just have to be better looking than the blighted closed up shops that downtown has now.

New Panda Mural in Downtown San Jose (UPDATE)

Cardinal2007 from the San Jose Development Forum snagged a bunch of great photos of the new Panda Mural on 1st Street between San Fernando and Santa Clara Streets. Since we won't have retail on this side of the street anytime soon, it's a brilliant design to entertain diners along 1st Street. This may now be my favorite mural Downtown.

UPDATE: For more information on the artist and the mural, check out the PandaBloggin site over here!

Bonobos Guideshop Santana Row Now Open

The first Bonobos Guideshop in Silicon Valley is now open at Santana Row. Bonobos is a menswear e-retailer that is know for personalized/tailored fits and great customer service. While you try on the clothes in the store, you can have everything shipped to your home for free. Check out the description below of how the process works. Sounds like the perfect business model for Silicon Valley!

About the Bonobos Guideshop:

The Bonobos Guideshop brings Bonobos’ personalized and comprehensive shopping experience to life with a physical e-commerce store. The brick-and-mortar Guideshop offers men the opportunity to look, feel and try on current collections from Bonobos before purchasing, guided throughout the process by a skilled Bonobos Guide.

Once fit for style and size, customers can make a purchase at Bonobos.com while at the Guideshop, through help from a Guide, or later at home. Sizing + order information is saved to an online customer profile for easy access later, and product arrives (with free shipping + returns!) 1-5 days after the order is placed.

How the Guideshop Works:

• Make an appointment for a one-on-one fitting with a Bonobos Guide at www.bonobos.com/guideshop; walk-in appointments are also welcome
• Once you’re fit, check out at Bonobos.com either during your Guideshop appointment, with the help of a Guide, or place your order at home later
• Shipping is free and items are delivered to your doorstep in 2-5 days
• Bonobos offers easy returns (free return shipping) and guarantees 100% customer satisfaction

South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk Tonight!

SoFA's monthly art walk is happening tonight, and there are two new venues joining that will bring the roster to 20 participating locations. Vyne Bistro on Paseo de San Antonio and Third Space CrossFit (next to MACLA) are the additions. The event starts at 7pm and runs until 11pm. For a preview of the art on display tonight, have a look here.

Sourisseau News: Whatever Happened to the Corner Market?

In the latest edition of Sourisseau News, you can see what San Jose's food markets and original supermarkets looked like. I really wish the Palace Market was still around--that would have been something very interesting to see. The video is only 2 minutes long and you can watch it below:


Whatever Happened to the Corner Market?” from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Rockage 4.0: February 6-8 at the SJSU Student Union

Do you love video games? How about indie music? Rockage 4.0 combines the two all weekend long! In addition, this event has industry panels, classic arcades, and video game vendors. It's well worth checking out and is a great example of some of the unique events San Jose should be focusing on. Below you can see the music/panel schedule. For more info head here and for tickets head here.

Silvery Towers have BROKEN GROUND!!!

Two new high-rise residential towers are now officially under construction in Downtown's fastest-growing neighborhood!

Source: Robertee from the San Jose Development Forum

Think Bigger San Jose: "Retail... in Downtown San Jose?"

Think Bigger San Jose has a great post about creating a continuous retail district in central Downtown San Jose. Commercial vacancy is below 10% and several high-density housing projects are about to come online... is now the time to turn Downtown into a retail destination? Mark proposes creating a retail paseo in the area outlined below where parking spaces could be turned into unique retail parklets, perhaps using shipping containers. It's a must-read for visitors of this blog, so please check out the post over here.

On a slightly related note, we may soon have drawings for a temporary retail project consisting of multiple shipping containers that is being proposed for Downtown.

Check Out Avaya Stadium!

The new Quakes stadium is coming along quite nicely. I really like the blue pattern that they chose for the seats and of course that massive bar below the scoreboard. Oh, and the team also signed a new sponsor: BMW. The club at Avaya Stadium will be branded the BMW Club and cars from the Bay Area BMW Centers will be displayed at each MLS game. The sponsorship is worth $2 million over the next 5 years.

Check out the great photos below by Vicki Thompson. There are a bunch more at the Silicon Valley Business Journal article over here.

Apigee Preparing for an IPO!

We really scored big-time when Apigee decided to move from Palo Alto to Downtown San Jose. The rapidly expanding software company is reportedly in talks with bankers to file for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) valuing the company at $700 million.

What would this mean for San Jose? The IPO would mint many new local millionaires that would be working Downtown. Perhaps some of them will decide to move closer to work, or invest in the area. At minimum, they will be more likely to drop some bucks at local restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues and accelerate our economy. Of course, having another public company headquartered Downtown does nothing but help the area's brand and will attract even more emerging companies.

Source: Siliconbeat

Symphony Silicon Valley Performing Fantasia for Valentine's Day

Live Symphony Orchestra with Huge Movie Screen

San Jose, CA – There is a chill in the air, but the hottest ticket in town is the Valentine love story between Symphony Silicon Valley and Disney’s Fantasia.  The weekend of love, February 14 and 15 at San Jose’s Center for Performing Arts, Symphony Silicon Valley will be performing live on stage the classic music from the original 1940 Walt Disney film and Disney’s Fantasia 2000 update while the movie is projected in high definition on a huge screen.

“This performance is also a love story between the magic of film and the love of music,” said Andrew Bales, President of Symphony Silicon Valley.  “This is the perfect Valentine for everyone: friends, lovers, families, music lovers old and young.”

Disney shares one of its crown jewels of feature animation with Symphony Silicon Valley, accompanying scenes from both the 1940 original version by Walt Disney, as well as Disney Fantasia 2000, highlighting selections from each, including Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite.

Other iconic moments include Mickey Mouse as he dabbles in magic in Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the mythical unicorns and winged horses that accompany Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. The greatest hits in Fantasia include Debussy’s Claire de Lune, Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird, and who doesn’t recognize Pomp and Circumstance by Sir Edward Elgar with Donald Duck as an assistant in The Noah’s Ark story. But the most memorable of all are the dancing hippos and elephants in Amilcare Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda.

The screening and concert of Fantasia will be on Saturday, February 14 at 8 PM and Sunday, February 15 at 2:30 PM at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, located at 255 S. Almaden Blvd, San Jose, CA 95113. Advance tickets are from $44 to $80 and available by calling the box office Monday – Friday 10 AM to 5 PM at 408 286 2600 or visit  www.fantasiassv.org

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About Symphony Silicon Valley

Symphony Silicon Valley is the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose.  Founded in 2002, the nonprofit company has progressed from a daring idea to rapidly become the greater South Bay's premiere orchestra and a notable community success story.  The Symphony's artists, nationally recruited, locally resident, with an average performance tenure in San Jose of over 20 years, are recognized as among the best in the greater Bay Area.  Led by an exciting roster of distinguished guest conductors on the European model, the Symphony is an anchor tenant of San Jose's magnificently restored downtown California Theatre, one of Northern California's most outstanding music halls.  Symphony Silicon Valley is setting an example of an innovative business model in the arts -- market driven and financially conservative, with low overhead and the flexibility to match its programming to its support base.  Besides the Symphony's core Classics concerts, other programs include Target Summer Pops free music festival, five diverse concerts produced outdoors on the lawn and annually bringing nearly 20,000 people out to enjoy totally free and family-friendly music; and ArtSPARK, the county-wide arts education program for all elementary students in grades 3-5. This school year the program will serve 19,000 students.

BART to San Jose Update Video

Below is a quick update on the progress of the Milpitas BART station.

Source: Usedmedia on the San Jose Development Forum

Saturday Stats: San Jose is One of the Healthiest Places in America

NerdWallet has put together a list of the healthiest cities in America. In order to determine which cities made the cut, the study looked at the American Fitness Index, % of residents that are a healthy weight, % of residents who engage in physical activity, % of residents with health insurance, and the number of physicians and surgeons per 100,000 residents.

San Jose came in a respectable 7th place. SF came in 2nd (due mostly to a high number of physicians per capita), and NY made it to 15th place.

Source: NerdWallet

"Slide The City" Coming to San Jose!

A 1,000 foot slip-and-slide is coming to a very lucky street somewhere in San Jose this June. This is exactly what is sounds like... an inflated water slide three football fields long. To get an idea of the sheer scale of this, have a look at the photos below from the inaugural Salt Lake City event.

The exact date and location have not yet been set. I'm hoping for a spot somewhere around Downtown San Jose, but I'm not sure if we have a hill steep enough in the area. Where do you guys think this will go?

The pricing will range from $15 to $60 depending on how many times you want to go down the slide (one, three times, or unlimited) and the kind of swag you'd like to take home. All passes come with a water gun.

To get on the mailing list and be the first to know when early registration becomes available, just head over here.

Hat-tip to Payge Lyn for sending this in!

Donner Lofts Affordable Housing Community Breaks Ground

MidPen Housing recently broke ground on a 102-unit housing complex at 156 E. St. John Street. The six-story project is on the former site of the Donner-Houghton estate, which was the home of a Donner Party survivor. Unfortunately, the home was destroyed in a 2007 fire.

The apartment complex includes 2,500 SQFT of retail on the ground floor as well as a community gathering space, computer lab, and exercise facilities. In order to lease an apartment, you cannot earn more than $37,700 as the units are designed for low-income workers and formerly homeless people in the Downtown area. The total cost of the project will be $30.8 million and it is expected to be completed by Summer 2016.

Source: SVBJ

Samsung in San Jose will Beat Apple & Facebook to Achieving Landmark Campus Status

The first Tech company in Silicon Valley to have a truly landmark building when it comes to architecture is not going to be Apple, Facebook, or Nvidia. It's going to be Samsung in North San Jose. At 10-stories it will be the tallest "traditional" tech campus in the valley and also one of the most unique. Each floor will always be at most one level away from an outdoor green space with trees and plants. This will make more sense after you watch the video below.

When completed later this year it will have 680,000 SQFT and home to at least 600 employees.

Source: Venturebeat


Samsung North America Headquarters from nbbjdesign on Vimeo.

New Milkshake Bar Downtown

Downtown San Jose has just gotten a new type of dessert place that I haven't seen anywhere else--a custom milkshake bar. You start off by selecting the flavor of ice cream and either normal milk or almond milk, and then things get interesting. You can infuse a wide assortment of chocolates, fruits, and candy into your milkshake.

My Milkshake opened up mid-December and it already has a four star rating on Yelp. You can find it at 151 S. 2nd St., in what used to be an Icebee Yogurt shop. While I love frozen yogurt, we had 6 different froyo places Downtown and I'm happy to see entrepreneurs trying something new. Looking forward to trying this place out!

For more info, check out their Facebook Page over here.

Hat tip to Alex Shoor for sending this in!

China's Hainan Airlines is Coming to SJC!!!

This has been a long time coming. San Jose International Airport has finally landed another key route! China's Hainan Airlines is going to launch nonstop flights to Beijing this summer. Hainan is one of China's premium airlines (perhaps the best), with an excellent reputation and a five-star ranking. They are very similar in terms of prestige to ANA, San Jose's other international airline servicing Asia. This will be the very first time San Jose has had a direct flight to China.

The only other airports in the US that are serviced by Hainan Airlines are Seattle, Chicago, and Boston. For the San Jose route, Hainan will be flying a fancy Boeing 787 Dreamliner with 5 flights per week.

These international routes offer a huge boost to the airport, the local economy, and our brand. Hopefully, the combination of ANA and Hainan will attract even more international carriers to the airport. I would love to see some direct flights to Europe, Australia, and South America at some point in my lifetime. Which international destination do you think we'll get next?

Source: SVBJ

"Changing Boundaries: The History of San Jose" Screenings at Camera 12

Did you miss the premier last week for Changing Boundaries, the first feature length documentary about San Jose? Well you are in luck. Camera 12 will be screening the film on February 5th, 6th, and 7th. You can get your tickets now by clicking here!

Changing Boundaries: The History of San Jose

Opens 2/5/2015

Coming to:

Camera 12 Downtown - Buy Tickets

Director: Tricia Creason-Valencia 

Synopsis: CreaTV San Jose, Norman Kline Productions and History San Jose present Changing Boundaries: The History of San Jose – the story of the working people, political leaders and dreamers who built the City of San Jose. Narrated by local actor Daniel Wilson, and featuring an original musical score by Grammy nominee Robert Berry of Soundtek Studios, this first-of-its-kind documentary features interviews with key historical figures, from farmers to civic leaders, including Tom McEnery, Blanca Alvarado and Norm Mineta. Other notable interviewees include historians Terry Christensen, Nannette Regua and Steven Millne. Produced by Norman Kline and CreaTV San Jose and directed by Tricia Creason-Valencia, the film’s production includes a key collaboration with History San Jose, which provided archival photography and documents. 

Running Time: 80 Minutes 
(plus 8-10 minutes of trailers) 

Official Web Site:
http://www.creatvsj.org/creatv-san-jose-to-partner-with-norman-kline-productions-and-history-san-jose-on-first-full-length-san-jose-documentary/ 

MPAA Rating: NR

Advance Showtimes

Camera 12 Downtown Buy Tickets 
All Seats $5.50 Before 6:00pm; $8.50 Evenings (C12 Only)!
Thu-Fri, Feb. 5-6, at 7:00pm; Sat, Feb. 7 at 2:00pm

No Free Passes or Discount Cards. 

San Jose Lands One of the Most Expensive ZIP Codes for Housing

This is not a duplicate post from yesterday, although the topic is along the same lines. Movoto ranked the 95120 zip code--which is San Jose's Almaden area--as the 10th most expensive housing zip in the country. If you are renting here, you are likely paying around $3,395.

The study looked at median home value, median gross rent, and median selected monthly homeowner costs in order to create the ranking.

Source: Movoto

SoFA Market Good News and Bad News

Okay, so I have some bad news and some good news regarding the SoFA Market. Let's start with the bad news. The Falafel Bar is closing down and they are going to temporarily shut down all of the SoFA Market except for Vero's coffee on February 1st. Okay, now the good news. The reason why they are shutting down the space is to accelerate construction for 4 new vendors. These will include Downtown's first Ramen shop, Japanese tapas, Hawaiian Poke and Burgers, a top secret dessert place, and the long awaited Fountainhead Bar. Let's call it SoFA Market 2.0, and the ETA is late March - April.

Here was the official announcement post from the SoFA Market Facebook Page:

When we bought this building at the end of 2011, it had been vacant for more than a few years. There was little street life in the neighborhood perhaps with the exception of the San Carlos and 1st St corner. The idea of a a communal space or a neighborhood market came about as a way to help activate a street devoid of retail businesses. We envisioned a group of like-minded vendors committed to creating a vibrant urban scene and interested in locally-sourced and organic products to come together and make something out of this empty space.

It's been a long road. Building downtown has never been easy and it wasn't easy for us. The financial risks were huge and finding tenants for an unproven concept was especially challenging. But we have made significant progress, albeit slowly.

A couple of pioneering vendors signed up from the start and have weathered the pains of opening a new venue with us. Falafel Bar will soon leave the market, unfortunately. But Veros Coffee, with its affable owners Omar and Veronica Quinonez, will keep marching on (if you haven't had their highly-crafted, artisan espresso-based drinks or pour-over coffee, you really ought to try; just watching them make a joe is a joy in itself).

4 more vendors have signed up late last year and with this opportunity, we are going to push the reset button. Except for Veros Coffee at the front, we will shut down the rest of the market temporarily for a couple of months starting on February 1. This allows the construction of these new businesses to proceed in the fastest way possible.

When we reopen, you will see a new SoFA Market. There will be a diverse offering of quality food: ramen and Japanese tapas (with beer and sake to wash them down), hawaiian poke, burgers and skewers, and some very interesting dessert products (this last one we can't yet divulge). And of course, there will be The Fountainhead Bar.

Look for our re-opening in the late March - April time frame.
Please bear with us. We believe in downtown San Jose and the SoFA neighborhood in particular. We are in this for the long run, and if this were easy, everyone would have done it already!

Saturday Stats: San Jose Has Most Expensive Rent in the US

This news is going to hurt a bit, but then again I'm guessing you are already aware of the situation. The San Jose Metro now has the highest average monthly rent out of any metro are in the country at $1,807 per month. You can see the top 20 list below. San Francisco is right behind us followed by Washington DC, San Diego, Los Angeles, and New York/New Jersey.

Source: I Heart SJ, Business Insider

KALEID Gallery Kicks Off 10th Year With New Works

The South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk kicks off its 10th year on February 6th. KALEID Gallery will have two new solo exhibitions of all new work by Michael Borja, and Fernando Amaro, Jr.

Come out from 7–11pm and meet the artists, enjoy live music and check out all the venues downtown San Jose.

KALEID Gallery

88 So. First St.
San Jose, CA
www.KALEIDGallery.com

ASML Moving Santa Clara office to San Jose

ASML is a supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment that is currently based in Santa Clara at 4211 Burton Drive. The company is growing quickly (specifically this division that was formerly Brion Technologies) and has decided to move to 92,000 SQFT at "THE Campus" on Trimble Road. This office complex benefited from a $26 million upgrade last year and sits in a prime location in the middle of the Golden Triangle (the largest tech cluster in the world). For more info, hit the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

Sourisseau News: Fruit Labels in the Valley of Heart's Delight

The latest edition of the Sourisseau News provides a looks at historic fruit labels going back to the late 1800s. It would be nice to have some more murals honoring these like the one we have across the street from the San Pedro Square Market. Completely unrelated, but did you know the Fruit Cocktail was invented in San Jose?


Fruit Labels in the Valley of Heart's Delight from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Our January Sourisseau News video, sponsored by Linda L. Lester, helps us to forget the Winter Solstice and the icy north wind that whistles outside our windows. Instead, we get to languish in artful visions of the Valley of Heart's Delight— as preserved on the colorful labels which adorned the wood fruit crates and cans that shipped our bounty near and far!