Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday Wishlist: For a New High-rise to Break Ground
Any of them... I'm not picky at this point. San Jose is expected to have the largest increase in real estate values for 2011 (more on that another day), now's the time to put the shovels in the ground!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Enhancements Coming to St. James Park!!
Construction Happening In St. James Park
St. James Park, one of the many famous parks in Downtown San Jose, is marked by historic buildings that surround it in every direction. In the past few weeks, there has been some changes to the park. The old buildings that sat in the Eastern portion of it are no longer there. Phase I of the Park’s newMaster Plan has commenced.
The buildings were once home for Senior Citizen activities. Those activities have since been relocated to the Roosevelt Community Center which allowed for San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services to step in and begin construction of the Master Plan.
The St. James Park Master Plan was originally adopted in 2002 but couldn’t start due to funding limitations. The entire park is intended to be remodeled but now, it will be remodeled in phases.
The first Phase is to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with turf. The project was originally budgeted at $700,000 but since was scaled back to approximately $300,000.
What changed?
Well, as we’re all heard, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency is scraping for money (once a financial contributor to the project) and the City of San Jose is in the midst of a financial crisis (another contributor to the project). St. James Park is affected as a result. But really, there’s not much to complain. The construction project will absolutely improve the park.
In an interview with Matt Cano from the San Jose Park Service he said, “I’m looking forward to more open space and better views.” By eliminating the old buildings, the park will achieve this and more. By the end of March the project will be completed.
When construction of future phases of the park’s Master Plan is still undetermined. It all boils down to funding and where these funds come from is an unknown.
Cano commented about the possibility of getting grant funding but it’s stuff competition from not only other parks in the region but locally as well. Another funding possibility is from park fees generated from new Downtown San Jose housing developments. There are many planned or entitled residential units, all of which will be subject to parks fees, but again, this is uncertain for reasons we can all image.
For the time bring though, the San Jose construction in St. James Park is a nice change and one that can be appreciated by all. Check it out next time you’re driving by on North 3rd street.
The buildings were once home for Senior Citizen activities. Those activities have since been relocated to the Roosevelt Community Center which allowed for San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services to step in and begin construction of the Master Plan.
The St. James Park Master Plan was originally adopted in 2002 but couldn’t start due to funding limitations. The entire park is intended to be remodeled but now, it will be remodeled in phases.
The first Phase is to demolish the existing buildings and replace them with turf. The project was originally budgeted at $700,000 but since was scaled back to approximately $300,000.
What changed?
Well, as we’re all heard, the San Jose Redevelopment Agency is scraping for money (once a financial contributor to the project) and the City of San Jose is in the midst of a financial crisis (another contributor to the project). St. James Park is affected as a result. But really, there’s not much to complain. The construction project will absolutely improve the park.
In an interview with Matt Cano from the San Jose Park Service he said, “I’m looking forward to more open space and better views.” By eliminating the old buildings, the park will achieve this and more. By the end of March the project will be completed.
When construction of future phases of the park’s Master Plan is still undetermined. It all boils down to funding and where these funds come from is an unknown.
Cano commented about the possibility of getting grant funding but it’s stuff competition from not only other parks in the region but locally as well. Another funding possibility is from park fees generated from new Downtown San Jose housing developments. There are many planned or entitled residential units, all of which will be subject to parks fees, but again, this is uncertain for reasons we can all image.
For the time bring though, the San Jose construction in St. James Park is a nice change and one that can be appreciated by all. Check it out next time you’re driving by on North 3rd street.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Downtown San Jose Restaurant List Updates
Here are the latest batch of updates to our Downtown San Jose Restaurant List:
- Added every website, phone number, and operating hours that I could find online
- La Pinata in San Pedro Square expanded their hours to Sun-Wed 9am-11pm, Thu-Sat 9am-12am... and plan to be open until 2am when the late night permit is approved (FYI, this place is excellent)
- Added Pho Lan on Santa Clara and 6th
- Unfortunately added Bayonne to the Closed DTSJ Retaurants tab
- Added a Chains Originating in Downtown San Jose tab
If you haven't bookmarked it yet, here's the link to the spreadsheet!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Furries Invade Downtown
Last weekend was a little more interesting than most thanks to the Furry Convention happening at the Fairmont. Downtown was overrun by giant fuzzy animals, and we got a few snaps to prove it =)
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Urban Land Institute South Bay Night FREE EVENT 2011
from The Bay Area Real Estate Blog
This is going to be a great event - we hope to see you there!
Please join us for the 2nd Annual South Bay MyULI Nite, a special evening designed to connect you with the District Council leadership of the South Bay for the Urban Land Institute. (www.ulisf.org)
- WHEN: Thursday, January 27, 2011; 5:30pm - 7:30pm
- WHERE: Moffett Towers Club, 1080 Enterprise Way, Sunnyvale, CA
- COST: FREE to all members and prospective members
- ** Cocktails & Appetizers Provided
- Register @ www.ULISF.org or call 800.321.5011
- Matt Lituchy, Managing Director, Jay Paul Company
- Drew Hudacek, Senior Vice President, Sares-Regis Group
- Nevena Vidic, UBS Realty Investors
Hosted & sponsored by Jay Paul Company and Barry Swenson Builder
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