SJSU Animation/Illustration Showcase

This Friday, SJSU's Animation/Illustration graduating class will be launching their senior gallery at The Citadel (199 Martha Street). The opening reception will run from 6:30pm to 11pm, but the artwork will be up through May 23rd. Hours for the gallery are on the banner below.

"Mystery tenant" Still Alive

I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that there is still a tenant for the "Peery-Arrillaga" project in North San Jose--the largest new office project in San Jose in a very long time. The bad news is that the project is being cut down in half from 2 million to 1 million SQFT (974,000 SQFT of office and 24,000 SQFT of space for an activity center).

The project was first proposed two years ago with a secret tenant and received city approval last year. The massive office complex will still have the same curved glass-wall design, but the buildings will be much shorter. Instead of rising eight stories, most buildings will only be four stories and the parking will be in three giant structures along 101 as opposed to being underground. It is still an epic amount of premium office space that will bring thousands of new jobs (and tax dollars) to San Jose.

The developer is expected to pull building permits by the end of this year, with tenant occupancy in 2017. If this moves forward, it also means that Bay 101 will need to be moved--likely across the street to the San Jose Airport Garden Hotel property.

Source: SVBJ

The Silicon Valley Sign Project

I'm really excited to hear about a grassroots campaign to give Silicon Valley a new landmark. It's called The Silicon Valley Sign Project, and is being championed by Hafid Alfonso who helped build a walking tour company based in San Jose.

Here is the premise:

What if Silicon Valley had a distinguished landmark? What if we placed it somewhere everyone could see it and be reminded of the wonderful valley we live in? What if Silicon Valley thought even bigger? How would someone start such a project?

The draft proposal--which you can find here (PDF)--envisions a sign that is 200 feet wide with each letter standing 45 feet tall. LED bulbs would be use to illuminate the sign at night, potentially in a variety of colors as you can see in some of the renderings below. The sign would be visible throughout most of Silicon Valley, and help provide a sense of place for residents and visitors alike. So what do you guys think about this concept?

For all of the details and to show your support, please head over to The Silicon Valley Sign Project webpage.

Draft Rendering

Aerial View

Rendering view from Milpitas on Highway 880
 

Rendering view from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara

Sign lit up at night in San Jose Sharks Teal

Sign lit up at night in San Jose Earthquakes Blue

Great Downtown Photo

There is a ton of construction right now at SJSU. Check out the shot below showing one of the cranes on campus as well as the Downtown skyline in the background.

Source: Jawz from the San Jose Development Forum, SJSU Twitter Account

Saturday Stats: Rents Are Still Sky-High in San Jose

While there was some talk last year about rents starting to stabilize, the numbers in Zillow's latest studies show otherwise. In fact, there was a painful 13.4% increase in rents year-over-year from January 2014 to January 2015. Here are some other tidbits regarding the San Jose rental market:

• In San Jose, the median rent is $3,179 and rent is expected to increase 11.79 percent annually. 
• San Jose renters pay 39.4 percent of their income on rent each month, assuming the median San Jose income. 
• San Jose permitted just 294 new units for every 1,000 new residents from 2012 to 2013, according to Zillow.
• The Breakeven Horizon shows renters should consider buying in San Jose if they plan to live there for 2.7 or more years. 

For more info, head over to the Zillow article entitled: The Rent is Still Too Damn High -- And Getting Higher

The CineBrew Mart 2015!

Tomorrow is the second annual CineBrew Mart hosted by Camera Cinemas, Hermitage Brewing, and SJMADE. The event is a mixture of local craft beer tasting, unlimited movie watching, and hyperlocal shopping. I attended last year and this was one of my favorite new events for 2014! Some of the beer vendors even had snacks to compliment the beers such as bacon flavored cotton candy. New to the event this year will be a theater dedicated to showing local films from a variety of filmmakers and organization.

The event is a steal at $25 per person ($15 per person for designated drivers and $12 for kids). That includes both unlimited beer tasting from 1-5pm and unlimited movie watching from 11am to 11pm. There are also lots of great snacks and crafts to peruse through in the SJMADE vendor section.

Get your tickets before they are all gone over here!

The CineBrew Mart

Camera 12 Cinemas

201 South Second Street

Downtown San Jose

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Access to Movies: 11a - 11p

Local Beer and Treats: 1p - 5p

Escape from The Werewolf Village

A new "Escape" game is coming to San Jose! If you haven't done one of these yet, they're a blast. Its basically a live game where your team has an hour to figure out how to escape a room by solving a series of puzzles. It's a unique and challenging experience and I'm stoked to another escape game coming to San Jose.

This particular event is only taking place from May 21st-24th at the San Jose Woman's Club (75 S 11th Street, San Jose). I normally would not post this far in advance, but I have a feeling these tickets will sell out. You can find out more about this great event and get tickets over here.

There is also "Escape from the Mysterious Room" on North First Street, which is exceptionally well done. That event is ongoing and you can get tickets here.

San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival Voted Best in Nation!!

A recent USA Today poll has named Cinequest as the best film festival in the country. The competition was steep with the likes of the Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest Film Festival in the running as well.

Currently serving over 100,000 movie lovers, Cinequest continues to grow both its attendance and its brand year after year. The team behind the festival has already vowed to make Cinequest 26 in 2016 the best one yet!

Check out the full Top 10 US Film Festival list at USA Today.