Source: SVBJ
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Silver Spring Networks Moving Headquarters to San Jose
Silver Springs Networks is a company that specializes in smart grid products for energy companies as well as software to help consumers reduce their energy consumption. They have decided to move their headquarters from Redwood City to San Jose. Silver Springs will take on 191,800 SQFT of prime office space at Champion Station (210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive). The company is yet another welcome addition to North San Jose's burgeoning portfolio of tech companies.
Source: SVBJ
Source: SVBJ
Monday, November 16, 2015
Federal Realty Building 1 Million SQFT of Office Space Across from Santana Row
Federal Realty is changing their development plans for the former Winchester Theaters parking lot across from their flagship property, Santana Row. Residential has been completely removed from the project. Instead, they have decided to double-down on offices and develop a million square feet of high-end commercial space across six buildings. Each of those will range between six and nine stories, with parking taking the first three floors on the majority of the buildings. There is no surface parking, all 2,545 parking spaces will be in the garages.
There will be at least one retail component, a 29,000 SQFT grocery store that I'm sure will be popular with residents across the street at Santana Row. There is also a big question mark on what Federal Realty will do with the only Dome that was saved (which you can see on the lower left of the first render below). Speculated use has ranged from a performance arts theater to a beer garden.
This won't be the only major project in the area. Westfield is well underway with a $600 million expansion of Valley Fair. Plans have been submitted for a 12-story boutique hotel at 2850 Stevens Creek, where a gas station currently sits. There is also a proposal for 650 new apartments at 881 S. Winchester Avenue (replacing a 216 unit project), and another one for 160 residential units along with 12,000 SQFT of retail at 751 S. Winchester.
The neighborhood is certainly going to look quite a bit differently in a few years. Hopefully the new Bus Rapid Transit line will be operational by the time these projects are completed. A new Winchester Advisory Group has been meeting to great a plan with recommended transit improvements. At least the office project will not add to weekend traffic and will add much needed parking spaces to the Santana Row/Valley Fair area.
Source: SVBJ
There will be at least one retail component, a 29,000 SQFT grocery store that I'm sure will be popular with residents across the street at Santana Row. There is also a big question mark on what Federal Realty will do with the only Dome that was saved (which you can see on the lower left of the first render below). Speculated use has ranged from a performance arts theater to a beer garden.
This won't be the only major project in the area. Westfield is well underway with a $600 million expansion of Valley Fair. Plans have been submitted for a 12-story boutique hotel at 2850 Stevens Creek, where a gas station currently sits. There is also a proposal for 650 new apartments at 881 S. Winchester Avenue (replacing a 216 unit project), and another one for 160 residential units along with 12,000 SQFT of retail at 751 S. Winchester.
The neighborhood is certainly going to look quite a bit differently in a few years. Hopefully the new Bus Rapid Transit line will be operational by the time these projects are completed. A new Winchester Advisory Group has been meeting to great a plan with recommended transit improvements. At least the office project will not add to weekend traffic and will add much needed parking spaces to the Santana Row/Valley Fair area.
Source: SVBJ
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Do You Know the Way to San Jose? (From Brooklyn)
A couple years ago Glove and Boots--famous NYC puppeteers--did an epic twelve hour AMA on reddit. In a unique twist, they answered questions with videos produced on the spot. Below was their answer to "Do you know the way to San Jose?" Thanks to Kevin Zing for sending this in!
Saturday, November 14, 2015
Saturday Stats: San Jose has the Most Future-Ready Economy in the Nation
At the 2015 Strategic Innovation Summit held by Harvard University and Dell, San Jose was proclaimed as the most future-ready economy in the country. Their definition of a future-ready economy is one that has sustainable economic output and growth potential. There are three key attributes that the study looked for:
1.) Human capital, or people equipped with the right skills to drive meaningful social and economic change.
2.) Commerce from sustainable business opportunities to continue improving entire economies for year to come. This includes collaboration, such as the formation of public-private partnerships.
3.) Infrastructure prepared to support people, businesses, and technology needed to drive growth and change.
San Jose scored well above average when it comes to human capital, having strong salaries, educational achievements, and by far the highest number of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations per capita. San Jose also nailed it on commerce, having a collaborative and innovation-driven economy. Where we lost some big points was with infrastructure, particularly traffic congestion and poor public transit. Despite that, we still took the top position in the study with San Francisco coming in second and Washington DC in 3rd place.
Source: Dell, SJ Economy Newsletter
Top 25 Future Ready Economies
1.) Human capital, or people equipped with the right skills to drive meaningful social and economic change.
2.) Commerce from sustainable business opportunities to continue improving entire economies for year to come. This includes collaboration, such as the formation of public-private partnerships.
3.) Infrastructure prepared to support people, businesses, and technology needed to drive growth and change.
San Jose scored well above average when it comes to human capital, having strong salaries, educational achievements, and by far the highest number of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations per capita. San Jose also nailed it on commerce, having a collaborative and innovation-driven economy. Where we lost some big points was with infrastructure, particularly traffic congestion and poor public transit. Despite that, we still took the top position in the study with San Francisco coming in second and Washington DC in 3rd place.
Source: Dell, SJ Economy Newsletter
Top 25 Future Ready Economies
- San Jose, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Washington, DC
- Boston, MA
- Austin, TX
- Raleigh, NC
- Seattle, WA
- Denver, CO
- Portland, OR
- Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
- New York, NY
- Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
- Houston, TX
- Atlanta, GA
- Charlotte, NC
- San Diego, CA
- Chicago, IL
- Louisville, KY
- Salt Lake City, UT
- Des Moines, IA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Kansas City, MO
- Columbus, OH
- Philadelphia, PA
Friday, November 13, 2015
Frontier Village Remnants Head to the New Museum of Los Gatos and Great America
Many years ago there was a theme park in San Jose called Frontier Village. It had a western theme and was inspired by Disneyland, but never gained enough traction to survive despite having a number of interesting attractions (including gunfights and a roller coaster). A San Jose resident named Shaughnessy McGehee has been collecting and recreating elements of Frontier Village over the years, but is now moving out of state. His vast collection was split among the New Museum of Los Gatos and Great America and the first showing of the collection is already on display in Los Gatos.
For more information, head over to this great write-up (with a lot more photos) at Searchlight San Jose.
For more information, head over to this great write-up (with a lot more photos) at Searchlight San Jose.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Bass Pro Shops Opens San Jose Store
There are very few retailers out there with fans that are willing to drive 50+ miles and plan their whole day around a store visit. Bass Pro Shops is on that short list. They officially opened their San Jose store on Almaden Expressway a couple weeks ago, which is the only one in the Bay Area and the fourth in all of California. About 10,000 people came for the grand opening.
The San Jose store is larger than an average Costco at 145,000 SQFT. It features a huge array of camping, hunting, fishing, boating, and general outdoor gear. If that wasn't enough, it has its own 12-lane underwater-themed bowling alley, a seafood restaurant, a full bar, an indoor archery range, and a 15,000 gallon aquarium worthy of a zoo. The store employs over 200 people.
Bass Pro Shops is located at 5160 Cherry Avenue and is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 9pm and Sunday from 10am to 8pm.
Source: SVBJ
The San Jose store is larger than an average Costco at 145,000 SQFT. It features a huge array of camping, hunting, fishing, boating, and general outdoor gear. If that wasn't enough, it has its own 12-lane underwater-themed bowling alley, a seafood restaurant, a full bar, an indoor archery range, and a 15,000 gallon aquarium worthy of a zoo. The store employs over 200 people.
Bass Pro Shops is located at 5160 Cherry Avenue and is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 9pm and Sunday from 10am to 8pm.
Source: SVBJ
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Wednesday Wishlist: Michelin Star Restaurants (2016 Edition)
Welcome to the 7th annual Wednesday Wishlist post where the topic is getting restaurants in San Jose worthy of Michelin starts. The Michelin guide is the most renowned rubric in the world for measuring culinary success. I think the foodie culture is continuing to build momentum in San Jose, especially Downtown. I'm optimistic it will only be a matter of time until we have some unique restaurants with national recognition.
Michelin has three different star categories:
I created a Google doc listing all of the star recipients for 2016, along with tabs for all previous years and some general statistics. Below is an image capture from the doc. This year there were a total of 50 restaurants that were awarded Michelin stars, which is up 10 from last year and an all-time high for the Bay Area. 62% of the restaurants are locating in SF, 20% in Wine Country, 16% in Silicon Valley (split evenly between the South Bay and the Peninsula), and 2% in the East Bay. There are 14 new restaurants on the list this year (see image below), as well as one significant upgrade. Manresa (Los Gatos) achieved the elusive three star rating. Manresa is not only the first restaurant in the South Bay to ever get this rating, but it is only the fifth restaurant ever to get a three star rating anywhere in the Bay Area. Several restaurants from 2015 did not make the cut, including Madera, Maruya, La Folie, Boulevard, and the All Spice in San Mateo.
There are also restaurants in the Michelin guide that do not get a star, but are considered "Michelin Recommended." This is already a significant honor. Within this category San Jose scored a total of 13 restaurants, an all-time high for our city. Here are the lucky restaurants:
Swaad (Indian), Walia (Ethiopian), and Lau Mai San (Vietnamese) are all welcome additions and represent how amazing our ethnic cuisines are. All 10 San Jose restaurants that were Michelin recommended in the 2015 guide held on to that status in 2016. If you haven't been to the restaurants above, I can vouch that all of them are well worth visiting.
Source: Michelin Guide
Michelin has three different star categories:
- One Star - A very good restaurant in its category with cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey.
- Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality. Worth a detour.
- Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine with distinctive dishes and superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.
I created a Google doc listing all of the star recipients for 2016, along with tabs for all previous years and some general statistics. Below is an image capture from the doc. This year there were a total of 50 restaurants that were awarded Michelin stars, which is up 10 from last year and an all-time high for the Bay Area. 62% of the restaurants are locating in SF, 20% in Wine Country, 16% in Silicon Valley (split evenly between the South Bay and the Peninsula), and 2% in the East Bay. There are 14 new restaurants on the list this year (see image below), as well as one significant upgrade. Manresa (Los Gatos) achieved the elusive three star rating. Manresa is not only the first restaurant in the South Bay to ever get this rating, but it is only the fifth restaurant ever to get a three star rating anywhere in the Bay Area. Several restaurants from 2015 did not make the cut, including Madera, Maruya, La Folie, Boulevard, and the All Spice in San Mateo.
There are also restaurants in the Michelin guide that do not get a star, but are considered "Michelin Recommended." This is already a significant honor. Within this category San Jose scored a total of 13 restaurants, an all-time high for our city. Here are the lucky restaurants:
- Downtown
- Vung Tau
- Back A Yard
- Swaad (NEW)
- The Alameda
- Zona Rosa
- Midtown
- Walia (NEW)
- North San Jose
- Smoking Pig BBQ
- South San Jose
- Bun Bo Hue An Nam
- Thien Long
- Lau Hai San (NEW)
- Willow Glen
- The Table
- Fratello
- Camden
- Rangoli
- Zeni
Swaad (Indian), Walia (Ethiopian), and Lau Mai San (Vietnamese) are all welcome additions and represent how amazing our ethnic cuisines are. All 10 San Jose restaurants that were Michelin recommended in the 2015 guide held on to that status in 2016. If you haven't been to the restaurants above, I can vouch that all of them are well worth visiting.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Broadcom Buys North San Jose Business Park
Broadcom is dropping $207 million for 26 acres in North San Jose that is already approved for up to 1.1 million SQFT in office space. They are purchasing the land from Boston Properties, which hopefully will reinvest those funds in San Jose (They have three proposed office towers in Downtown San Jose).
The location is a vacant business park at 3200 Zanker Road, next to Crescent Village. Apple now owns 80 acres of land not far away and supposedly other large deals are in the works. The North First district went from having the highest vacancy rate in San Jose to being in huge demand over the course of just five years!
Source: SVBJ
The location is a vacant business park at 3200 Zanker Road, next to Crescent Village. Apple now owns 80 acres of land not far away and supposedly other large deals are in the works. The North First district went from having the highest vacancy rate in San Jose to being in huge demand over the course of just five years!
Source: SVBJ
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