therethere Opening First Retail Location in Downtown San Jose!

therethere is a civic pride apparel and lifestyle brand (check out the Electric Light Tower in their San Jose logo below). The company hopes to help create a hub for innovation and community for San Jose that showcases local artists and nonprovies as well as augmenting the entrepreneurial spirit already growing in San Jose. They sell apparel for several different cities across the US, but they are opening their very first retail location at 15 N 2nd Street in Downtown. Each week they will be open from Wednesday through Saturday from 11am to 7pm.

Their grand opening is today and they have a reception from 5pm to 10pm! Drinks will be provided by Cafe Stritch and there will be performances by Tara Alesia, Bascom, Boboso, and Pete Munoz.

A portion of the proceeds from the grand opening will be donated to the Downtown Streets Team, which works to end homelessness by restoring dignity and rebuilding the lives of unhoused men and women. In addition, therethere gives 10% of each month's proceeds to a nonprofit (the San Jose Public Library Foundation was a benefactor of this already).

Sounds like a great addition to Downtown San Jose's slowly but surely growing retail scene. For more information, check out the therethere website over here.

Okay, cat’s out of the bag — we’re opening a store in San Jose! It’s our very first retail location and we couldn’t be more excited. Here are some of the details:

Opening: Friday, October 24th

Location: 15 N 2nd Street, Downtown San Jose

Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11am to 7pm

With therethere X SJ, we’re hoping to create a hub for innovation and community for San Jose that showcases local artists and nonprofits, and boosts the entrepreneurial spirit already growing in SJ. We’re also super proud to be a founding member of the San Jose Popup project, spearheaded by the San Jose Downtown Association. This popup microhood will activate the downtown corridor with a mix of retail, tech, and community spaces, and work collaboratively to support independent businesses, encourage people to explore downtown, and shop locally.

Also, we’re having a party. I mean, celebration…I mean, celebratory party!

Friday, October 24th, from 5pm to 10pm, come down to the shop to check out the new space and hear some live music. Stay tuned for artist info, coming to you soon!

Santana Row Welcoming Two New Stores: Letarte Swimwear and Pressed Juicery

Two new premium stores are coming to Santana Row before the end of the year. Letarte Swimwear is a Maui-based premium swimwear line and Santana Row will be their first Northern California location. The 1,080 SQFT store will be next to Guicci and opens this month.

Pressed Juicery features fresh fruit, vegetable, and nut-based juices made using a hydrolic press. This will be their first San Jose location and the 893 SQFT store will be near Urban Outfitters. The opening is slated for December.

For all the details, scroll down to the press release below.

San Jose, CA – Fresh, new-to-the-area stores are coming to Santana Row in the coming weeks. Letarte Swimwear, based in Hawaii, offers stylish bathing suits and cover-ups perfect for tropical travel as we head into resort season. For those searching for healthy hydration, Pressed Juicery just might be the pick up needed to get through holiday shopping sprees or counteract a cookie binge.

 Letarte Swimwear, opening October 2014
The Maui-based brand, created by sisters Lisa Letarte Cabrinha and Michele Letarte Ross, is opening a 1,080-square-foot store on Santana Row, next to Gucci. The label, started in 2000, includes swimwear, coordinating cover-ups and sportswear.
The Hawaiian authenticity and exclusivity of the Letarte label blends a bohemian island essence with chic global aesthetics that the duo have made recognizable around the globe. Lisa is the sister who designs and lives in Maui. She infuses her jet-setting island lifestyle and the spirit of Aloha into Letarte's signature trademarked prints, intricate adornments and lavish detail.
 
Pressed Juicery, opening December 2014
Offering juice cleanses and cold-pressed juices, Pressed Juicery opens its first San Jose location on Olin Avenue, near Urban Outfitters. The 893-square-foot store features drinks that are blended daily and personalized to your lifestyle. The juices are made with a hydraulic press, a machine that squeezes an entire fruit or vegetable into a pulp, extracting three to four times more than an average juicer. Founded in Southern California, its top juices include Greens 2 (a blend of kale, spinach, romaine, parsley, cucumber, celery, apple and lemon); Detox 2 (pineapple, green apple and mint) and Almond Milk (almonds, dates, vanilla bean, sea salt and filtered water).



About Santana Row

Santana Row, a 647,000 square foot mixed-use development in San Jose, CA, is Silicon Valley’s premier destination for shopping, dining, living and working. Santana Row features over 70 shops, 20 restaurants, a boutique hotel and movie theatre. In addition to the dynamic retail & restaurant collection, Santana Row offers 615 luxury rental homes, 219 privately owned condos and 65,000 square feet of Class A office space. Santana Row is a property of www.federalrealty.com (NYSE:FRT), headquartered in Rockville, Maryland. For more information, please visit www.santanarow.com.


About Federal Realty

Federal Realty Investment Trust is an equity real estate investment trust specializing in the ownership, management, development, and redevelopment of high quality retail assets. Federal Realty's portfolio (excluding joint venture properties) contains approximately 20 million square feet located primarily in strategically selected metropolitan markets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and California. In addition, the Trust has an ownership interest in approximately 1.0 million square feet of retail space through a joint venture in which the Trust has a 30% interest. Our operating portfolio (excluding joint venture properties) was 95.3% leased to national, regional, and local retailers as of June 30, 2014, with no single tenant accounting for more than approximately 3.2% of annualized base rent. Federal Realty has paid quarterly dividends to its shareholders continuously since its founding in 1962, and has increased its dividend rate for 47 consecutive years, the longest record in the REIT industry. Federal Realty is an S&P MidCap 400 company and its shares are traded on the NYSE under the symbol FRT.

Wednesday Wishlist: Mass Transit Upgrades From London

While it was just recently that I posted about the planned upgrades to BART that will come just in time for BART's expansion to San Jose, there are already some other great ideas out there that would be nice to have in our mass transit system. London is going to start getting next generation trains for several of its lines in 2022, and there are three great ideas that I would love to see incorporated into BART.

1.) Autonomous Trains - Improved safety, reliability, and a permanent end to BART strikes.
2.) Continuous Trains - Instead of having a series of connected cars, the new tube trains will be one single super-long cabin that can bend. This substantially increases capacity and access.
3.) Safety Doors - There will be no chance of falling onto the tracks since there will be a second set of door that are synced with the trains and only open when there is a train parked at the station.

See the video below for a sneak peak at what is coming next decade to London. Note several elements of the new London trains are incorporated into the new BART trains like more doors and digital signage.

Beer-and-Food Pairing Dinner at Scott's Seafood in Downtown San Jose

I'm spreading the word on an upcoming five-course dinner featuring tasty brews from Lagunitas Brewing Company because it's going to be a good one.

The beer dinner will take place on Thursday, Oct. 23, at Scott's Seafood and promises to be a great treat for those both experienced with beer dinners already and those new to the delights of such events.

The dinner will take also place on the sixth-floor rooftop, providing a unique setting with great views of downtown.

Here's the menu:

Check-In: Smoked salmon crostini and calamari with lemongrass beurre blanc. Paired with Lagunitas Daytime Session IPA.

Getting Started: Marscapone stuffed dates. Paired with Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Double IPA.

Round Two: Spinach salad with Mandarin oranges, toasted almonds, goat cheese tossed with a poppy seed dressing. Paired with Lagunitas Censored Copper Ale.

Main Course: Mahi Mahi with pineapple relish served with coconut rice and bok choy. Paired with Lagunitas Little Sumpin’ Sumpin’ Pale Wheat Ale.

Sweet Finale: Pumpkin cheesecake. Paired with Lagunitas Imperial Red Ale.

The dinner is $45, and tickets are available for purchase online.

I've written a bit more about the dinner on Examiner.com.

Axis Residents Helping to Clean Up the Neighborhood

A bunch of Axis residents have gotten together to help clean a vacant lot next to the newly restored 7up sign between Notre Dame Ave and North Almaden. They cleared out most of the weeds and added some nice landscaping on the perimeter of the lot. It's really nice to see Downtown residents taking pride in where they live!

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

Kickstarter: Monopoly in the Park Picnic Tables

The largest Monopoly board in the world needs your help! There are four tables with checkerboard centerpieces that have to be replaced due to wear and tear over the last 10 years and some vandalism. Since Monopoly in the Park does not receive any funding from the city, they are looking to the community to help fund these new tables that will be available for all to enjoy (and this time they will be coated with anti-graffiti sealer to protect and preserve this investment).

To contribute, please head over to the Kickstarter page over here. Hat tip to Karl Schramm for alerting me to this.

Saturday Stats: Best Cities to Trick or Treat 2014

San Jose has again made the list of Best Cities to Trick or Treat! Zillow creates this list using four equally weighted variables: the Zillow Home Value Index, population density, Walk Score, and local crime data. This should theoretically provide the cities that provide "the most candy, in the least amount of time, with the fewest safety risks."

For 2014, San Jose ranked #5 on the list. This is one slot below last year; however, I could see us easily moving up again next year based on the criteria. Within San Jose the top neighborhoods for trick-or-treating were Willow Glen, Cambrian, Almaden Valley, Rose Garden, and Blossom Valley--in that order.

To see the other cities that made the list, just scroll down or hit the source link.

Source: Zillow