Friday, December 30, 2016

Saturday Stats: 2016 Meta Post!

It's that time of year again to look back and see the top "Saturday Stats" of 2016. The list is yet again quite impressive. San Jose ranked as the top city for salaries, jobs, life expectancy, and economy. Even Trick-or-Treating got a shout-out this year. Below are my favorite rankings for the year.

You can also see the full list of "Saturday Stats" (including previous years) with article links over here.

RankStatSourceYearNotes

#1Longest Life Expectancy in the USSVBJ2016
#10Best Place to LiveUS News & World Report2016SF #9
#1Fastest Growing Private EconomiesHeadlight Data2016SF and NY not in top 10
#2Best City for Young ProfessionalsForbes2016SF #1
#10Best Place to LiveU.S. News2016SF #9
#3Best Places for STEM GradsNerdwallet2016SF #6
#1City for JobsGlassdoor2016SF #2
#2Best City for JobsForbes2016SF #1
#1Top City for Small BusinessCNBC2016NY #2, SF #3
#3Best Metro for Entrepreneurship GrowthKauffman2016SF #6
#2Healthiest City in America24/7 Wall St.2016SF #14
#3Most Educated City in the USWalletHub2016SF #7
#1Fastest Growing Economy in the USCNBC2016SF #5, NY #23
#1Best City to Trick-or-Treat InZillow2016SF #3
#1Best City for Web DevelopersZippia2016SF #5
#1Best Performing City in the USMilken Institute2016SF #3



Thursday, December 29, 2016

World Cup qualifying match coming to San Jose in March

On March 24th, the US Men's National Team will face off with Honduras in Avaya Stadium for a shot at the 2018 World Cup. The US lost its first two qualifying games, so it is pretty much do or die for the team. It should be a great game and it's a huge honor for San Jose to host it.

Source: SVBJ


Wednesday, December 28, 2016

San Jose is the #1 city for web developers

I'm sure this will surprise no one--San Jose is the top city in the US for web developers. A Zippia study looked at web developer salaries, available jobs, and cost of living to determine the best spot for a job. Despite our astronomical cost of living, San Jose still came in first with 2,930 available jobs, an average entry-level salary of $63,320 (#1), and an average salary of $107,500 (#1).

The runner up was Seattle followed by Framingham (?), Austin, and San Francisco.

Top 10 List
San Jose, CA
Seattle, WA
Framingham, MA
Austin, TX
San Francisco, CA
California, MD
Columbia, MO
Dallas, TX
Durham, NC
Atlanta, GA

Source: Zippia




Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Two great options in play for the Camera 12 Cinemas site

Change is always an opportunity to improve, even when the change initially seems bleak. When Camera 12 closed last September, it was a shock to the Downtown community--especially given how much livelier Downtown has become over the past several years. Now, there are two options on the table that actually would be a significant improvement to the area.

Option #1 - Luxury Movie Theater

This is exactly what Downtown needs, a destination theater that does not exist elsewhere in San Jose to draw more visitors to the area as well as provide a great local amenity for residents. It sounds like something similar to an Alamo Drafthouse is being floated as a possible suitor for the space. The theater would have luxury seating, food, and alcohol. This was the first thought that came to mind when we first heard Camera 12 was closing.




Option #2 - SJSU Student Housing Tower

San Jose State is interested in building a 20-story student housing project on the site. The building would be a mixed-use as it gets with 14 floors of housing, 4 floors of offices, a Sky Terrace, retail/restaurant space on the ground floor, and underground parking. This would bring a large number of students into the Downtown San Jose core and further intertwine the University with the community.

There is also a 3rd option, and that is to do both Option #1 and Option #2. Based on the first rendering, the tower can accommodate a luxury theater on the ground floor, which can even be used for SJSU events and classes during off-peak hours. If it comes together, it will not only fill the hole left by Camera 12's departure, but be a new amenity for all San Joseans to enjoy.

Source: The Merc, hat tip to Josh Russell for sending this in






Monday, December 26, 2016

San Jose Downtown Association 2016 Year in Review

The video below is an excellent recap of what has happened in Downtown San Jose this past year, current challenges, and what we have to look forward to in the near future. The speaker is Scott Knies, the Executive Director of the San Jose Downtown Association. While we did not have many new projects move forward in 2016, there are a large number queued up for 2017. Overall it was a great year and I highly recommend watching the video.

Scott Knies Year in review 2016 from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.





Saturday, December 24, 2016

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

We hope that you and your family enjoy the holidays this year.

For a fun little adventure, you can check out the most decked out holiday decorations in San Jose along with a map and addresses over here.

May all your holiday wishes come true!


Friday, December 23, 2016

Merry Christmas!

We hope you and your families have a very merry Christmas this year!

Below is a delightful holiday card from our friends at WMS Media featuring Christmas in the Park.


Holiday Card from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.



Thursday, December 22, 2016

San Jose is the Milken Institute's #1 pick for "Best-Performing Cities"

The San Jose metro has once again dominated a list of best-performing cities. The authors of the study mention that innovation and entrepreneurship are core to our success and that we were first in the nation when it comes to wage growth over the last five years. Note, that is wage growth. That means that in addition to having the highest wages in the US, they are also continuing to grow faster than other regions.

While it is not great to have all of our eggs in one techie basket, it is nice when that basket happens to be the hottest industry right now. San Jose accounted for 1 in 8 new tech jobs for the whole country during 2015. The average salary in the San Jose metro is $111,000. The average for the nation is $60,300.

Top 9 Cities in the Milken Study
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Provo, UT, and Austin, TX (tie)
San Francisco-Redwood City-South San Francisco, CA
Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX
Raleigh, NC
Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN
Fort Collins, CO
Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL
Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA

Source: SVBJ