New San Jose Marriott Hotel(s)!

Finally, a new major construction project! Barry Swenson is planning to break ground on an 8 story building that encompasses two different Marriott hotels, SpringHill Suites (146 rooms) and Residence Inn (175 rooms). The building will be located on the corner of Airport and North First and should be ready for prime time by summer 2014. I'm hoping they'll add at least a restaurant that is easily accessible from the street.

The market for hotel financing is brutal right now, so that fact that this project is a go bodes well for the San Jose region. For more info, click here.

Happy New Year!

Hope you all have a very happy and prosperous 2012!

Saturday Stats: Google's Fastest-Rising Searches

Every year Google publishes the fastest rising searches in a site called Google Zeitgeist. The top 5 searches in 2011 for the Bay Area were:

1.) Santa Cruz
2.) Golden Gate Park
3.) Santana Row
4.) Sfgate
5.) Contra Costa Times

We made the list at least =). Thanks to Dan for finding this one.

Free VTA Rides New Year's Eve

You just got one more reason to party hard in San Jose this New Year's Eve... free VTA rides.  Between 7pm on Dec 31 and 4am on Jan 1, light rail and bus service will be free of charge!

EnVerv Raises $12M

San Jose's EnVerv has just closed a $12M round of Series B funding. The company is a fabless semiconductor company that is making SoC (System on a Chip) solutions for smart grid and metering applications. In other words, they make chips that would go in smart meters like the ones PG&E is now using.

For more info, click here.

Wednesday Wishlist: High-rises Outside of Downtown

As the population in San Jose continues to grow, we will inevitably need to increase density throughout the city, not just Downtown. The intermediate solution is to build medium density buildings (4-5 stories), which is what is happening right now for both residential and commercial buildings. The long term solution is really opening up high-rise development in areas that are traditionally much less dense, even suburban. The ideal location for these developments would be in places near retail and public transit (Vendome Towers on First pictured below). There is plenty of immediate potential around Eastridge Mall, Oakridge Mall, and Alum Rock shopping centers. In the end this would let us grow in an efficient and sustainable way... not to mention pretty up the skyline.

San Jose Gets $27M For Environmental Center

The city of San Jose is about to receive a substantial chunk of cash in order to build an Environmental Innovation Center that will focus on showing off emerging clean technologies as well as selling sustainable construction materials. San Jose will be the first municipality to receive state tax credits for this type  initiative.

Construction of the Environmental Center is expected to be completed December 2012. For more info, click here.

San Jose's Stion Raises $130M

Stion is a San Jose green-tech company that makes high-efficiency, thing-film solar modules. They just finished a $130M equity round which will no doubt help them grow. If you want to check out their product, they are part of the green showcase across the street from city hall. For more info, click here.