Key Redevelopment Site Back on the Market

A key parcel across the street from City Hall is up for sale for $5.25 million. At 61,650 SQFT, this comes out to a very reasonable $85 per SQFT, especially when you consider this location. The block is zoned for a high-rise up to 285 feet tall and soon the only satellite US Patent Office on the West Coast will be located in City Hall. This corner would make an ideal office tower location, especially for corporate and patent lawyers and other support services complimentary to the Patent Office.

As for my dream scenario--I would love to see a mixed-use building here with retail on the ground floor, several floors of large floor-plate offices, and topped with hotel or residential. That would likely be the most efficient use of the space... but I would be happy with any high-density project here to be completely honest.

Source: SVBJ

Two Boeing 747s at SJC

If you have heard that San Jose International is too small to support Boeing 747s (or 777s for that matter), that information is completely false. There were two of them at the airport last week. The military charters 747s out of SJC twice a year, and in the cases of extremely bad weather at SFO they are sometimes rerouted to the airport as well.

However, just because SJC supports these planes doesn't mean we necessarily want them. They generate a lot more noise than smaller planes, especially the fancy new 787s that are being used for international flights to Tokyo and soon Beijing.

Source: The Merc, photo by LiPo Ching

Ballet San Jose Pulls Through

Ballet San Jose fortunately raised enough money to keep the doors open. The community rallied together and raised a total of $640,000, even more than the $550,000 needed for the show to go on. However, the Ballet troupe still needs to raise about $3.5 million by October in order to restructure into a more sustainable business model. For more information, visit the source link below.

Source: The Merc (Photo by LiPo Ching)

The Commons Performance Tonight at The Circle of Palms (6:45pm - 9:15pm)

The Commons is a music and performance showcase that has been doing a series of public works. Their goal is to bridge the gap between classical and contemporary performances. Their latest show called The Vernal Equinox and is tonight at the Circle of Palms in Downtown San Jose (between the San Jose Museum of Art and The Fairmont Hotel).

The show is funded by a Knight Foundation grant and is done in partnership with the San Jose Downtown Association, The San Jose Museum of Art, The Fairmont San Jose, Lazy Cocoon Sound, and Cellista Music.

For more information, check out the Facebook Page over here.

Source: Downtowner Online

2015 State of the City Address

Mayor Sam Liccardo delivered his first State of the City Address last weekend. Instead of using the City National Civic, the event was held at Independence High School. The location was appropriate since he spoke quite a bit about improving opportunities for those that live in East San Jose.

He also pledged to make safety a top priority and mentioned improving police compensation and staffing as two action items. Helping address the homeless situation and expanding after school and teen-job programs were also mentioned in the mayor's address, as was securing funding to bring BART to Alum Rock and Downtown San Jose.

Source: NBC Bay Area

Evergreen College Putting 27 Acres Up For Development

Anyone who has driven by Evergreen College or the intersection of Yerba Buena and San Felipe has likely noticed a huge empty dirt parcel. Evergreen College has decided that it will not need the land for future expansion of the college or the administrative building in the western section of the 27 acre parcel (the administrators have all moved to a building in Downtown San Jose). They are now seeking redevelopment bids for this piece of land which could include a mix of residential, retail, and office.

Evergreen College has already received one promising LOI (Letter of Intent) from Republic Urban Properties. Their proposal includes an urban/suburban project including 125-250 market rate apartments, 80-150 senior apartments, 40,000 SQFT of retail, 18,000-40,000 SQFT of office, a 45,000 SQFT gym, and an aquatics center that would be open to the public and would be used by the university. Republic Urban Properties would pay the College $1.5 million each year to lease the land.

There are some complications to the plan since the land is zoned as "quasi public" (is that an official designation?). The winning developer would need to request rezoning and would have to go through a new environmental review.

If successful, it looks like a promising development that would add value to the Evergreen community--both residents and the College.

Source: SVBJ

The Fountainhead is Officially Opening Today Just in Time For Saint Patrick's Day!

The big re-launch of the SoFA Market (387 S. 1st St.) seems to be coming along really well. The highly anticipated Fountainhead Bar and its architecture-inspired drinks is officially opening today. This looks like a great place to swing by as part of your St. Patrick's Day plans. Since it is so new it probably won't be insanely crowded like all of the other bars tonight, another plus.

In addition to Fountainhead, the new burger joint will also be open. In about a months time it will be joined by a few other eateries. I can't wait to see the final product when the SoFA Market is complete!

Source: loldawg from the San Jose Development Forum

KT Urban Planning Yet Another Tower Downtown!

Another day, another tower. KT Urban (formerly KT Properties) is the developer behind many of the best looking towers Downtown: Axis, One South, and soon Silvery Towers. In a huge vote of confidence for the Downtown residential market, they are now planning a 24-story 264 condo tower at the corner of Park Avenue and Almaden Boulevard. The ground floor would have 7,700 SQFT of retail and there would be five levels of parking (three would be underground).

The proposed tower would be situated across the street from Adobe and in the corner of Park Center Plaza, where an ugly dilapidated court building currently sits. While there is not a ton going on for residents in that block (besides Specialties), when you move out two and three blocks you have access to all of the amenities in central Downtown. San Pedro Square is a 5 minute walk in one direction and and SoFA is a 5 minute walk in the other.

While there has been a lot of debate on saving this location for an office building, I really think in order to get maximum vibrancy throughout the day and night we should try to blend residential, office, and retail as much as possible Downtown. We still have tons of parcels where we can build office projects--heck, most of Park City Plaza could be torn down and replaced with high-rise office buildings. The more projects we can push through during this boom cycle, the stronger Downtown will be years from now.

Source: SVBJ