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Tuesday, March 12, 2019
March 2019 Downtown Dimension Highlights
Monday, March 11, 2019
New homes and office space coming to Steven's Creek
Fortbay has just received approval for one of the first San Jose "signature projects" at 4300 Steven's Creek. This is just a few minutes west of Valley Fair and Santana Row and near the border of Cupertino.
The plan is to build 582 residential units, 233,000 SQFT of office space, and a multi-story parking structure. There will be some retail element, but it is not clear from the article how much or where in the project it will be. The new buildings will be between six and eight stories and will wrap around a new 1.4 acre promenade and park.
It's nice to see new mixed use projects being developed outside of Downtown San Jose. The one missing component here is access to public transit, but I have a feeling most of the residents will have a short commute to the Apple campus down the street. We really need to build some sort of mass transit from Downtown all the way to De Anza since this corridor is densifying rapidly.
Source: SVBJ
The plan is to build 582 residential units, 233,000 SQFT of office space, and a multi-story parking structure. There will be some retail element, but it is not clear from the article how much or where in the project it will be. The new buildings will be between six and eight stories and will wrap around a new 1.4 acre promenade and park.
It's nice to see new mixed use projects being developed outside of Downtown San Jose. The one missing component here is access to public transit, but I have a feeling most of the residents will have a short commute to the Apple campus down the street. We really need to build some sort of mass transit from Downtown all the way to De Anza since this corridor is densifying rapidly.
Source: SVBJ
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Lights, Camera, Action: Cinequest 2019
Cinequest 2019 occurs
March 5th to March 17th in San Jose and Redwood
City (Silicon Valley) where it will showcase the work of artists from 56
countries, including 132 World and U.S. premiere films and virtual
reality. One hundred
works at Cinequest have been directed by women. Fifty-four celebrations,
performances, and special events round out the offerings—amounting to 531
screenings, events, parties and experiences.
Some of my top flick picks and screenings I'm so excited
about watching include: Freaks, Every
Time I Die, The
Public, Groupers, #Like, Undercover, The
Edge of Success, Cut
Off (Abgeschnitten), Go
Back to China and Shadow to
name a few!!!
Here’s a look at Bay
Area films, documentaries and short films worth checking out:
·
Bring Me An Avocado
·
Lucky Fifty
·
Circles
·
The Edge of Success
·
The 17
·
Hook Up 2.0
·
Your Friend
·
49 Mile Scenic Drive
·
Bones
·
Shades
·
Swan
·
When an Egg Meets a Tomato
·
My Mother, Myself and I
·
Love for Food
·
In Our Heads
·
The Fringe Class
·
Lunch Lady
·
American Muscle
Key Cinequest 2019 highlights include:
Closing Night Screening and Celebration: Sunday, March 17,
6:00pm, California Theatre
Cinequest 2019 culminates with The Man Who Killed
Don Quixote.
Maverick Spirit Award Events:
Cinequest’s highest honor, the Maverick Spirit Award, recognizes
the world’s most compelling visionary and creative forces. Cinequest 2019’s
Maverick Spirit Award recipients are:
- Legendary
star of screen and stage Bill Nighy
- Actor,
director, writer, and activist Nandita Das
- Life
of a Maverick Award Recipient, Esther Wojcicki
Television & Webisodes at Cinequest 2019:
It wasn’t that long ago when award-winning actors, directors, and producers wouldn’t dream of working in television or creating a web series. All of that has changed as the golden era of TV prevails. Cinequest is extremely proud to offer a First Look at upcoming shows, and you get to experience these dynamic stories on the big screen!!! Lineup includes:
It wasn’t that long ago when award-winning actors, directors, and producers wouldn’t dream of working in television or creating a web series. All of that has changed as the golden era of TV prevails. Cinequest is extremely proud to offer a First Look at upcoming shows, and you get to experience these dynamic stories on the big screen!!! Lineup includes:
- THE
BLACKOUT (U.S. Premiere)
- A
glorious addition to the science fiction genre, The
Blackout defies expectations and electrifies.
- JOE
ALL ALONE
- Joanna
Nadin’s bestseller about finding optimism and adventure in deprived
circumstances. Thirteen-year-old Joe Holt is left behind when his mum and
unsavory boyfriend take a week-long holiday.
- M (U.S.
Premiere)
- An
exhilarating horror-thriller from Argentina, M follows Diane
and Tim, a young American couple who travel to Patagonia to search for
Tim's father, a biologist who disappeared 10 years earlier.
- OVER
WATER (U.S. Premiere)
- Over
Water is a captivating psychological drama set against the raw
background of a sea port. Former television star John Beckers is given
one last chance to get his life back on track.
- TABOO (U.S.
Premiere)
- Called
“The comedy show you shouldn’t laugh with,” Taboo examines that
which we often take for granted and forget to cherish.
- UNDERCOVER (U.S.
Premiere)
- One
of the largest ecstasy producers in the world, Ferry Bouman, lives a
charmed life in his villa, but things start to change when two undercover
agents move into his territory.
Regular Screening
Prices:
·
General Admission: $12
·
Regular screening tickets are not valid for
special events. Opening and Closing Night films are special events.
·
Matinee: $8 All weekday (Monday – Friday)
screenings before 5 pm.
·
Students: $6 Valid Student ID required at Box
Office.
Complete lineup with ticket and pass sales information at www.cinequest.org
Tuesday, March 5, 2019
KT Urban planning a 27-story co-living tower
KT Urban has re-unveiled "Garden Gate" tower, destined for 600 S. First Street which is close to highway 280 in the SoFA part of Downtown San Jose. The 27-story tower will be our second proposal a co-living project--think fancy dorms for adults. Residents would pay slightly lower then average rents (for new construction Downtown) and get a private bedroom adjacent to common areas like living rooms and kitchens.
Generally, buildings like this are filled to the brim with amenities. From the renders below, it even looks like they are even planning a rooftop pool and a penthouse deck/lounge.
As housing prices continue to balloon out of control, we need to think a bit outside the box. Solutions such as co-living will help diversify the housing products available and hopefully bring a little bit more affordability to San Jose. From a development perspective, bringing 1,000 residents to SoFA would be icing on the cake.
Source: SVBJ
Generally, buildings like this are filled to the brim with amenities. From the renders below, it even looks like they are even planning a rooftop pool and a penthouse deck/lounge.
As housing prices continue to balloon out of control, we need to think a bit outside the box. Solutions such as co-living will help diversify the housing products available and hopefully bring a little bit more affordability to San Jose. From a development perspective, bringing 1,000 residents to SoFA would be icing on the cake.
Source: SVBJ
Monday, March 4, 2019
Boring Company tunnel from Downtown San Jose to SJC
Last month there was a surprise announcement that Sam Liccardo has been in talks with The Boring Company for the past 18 months about a project that would connect Diridon to the airport via a 4-mile tunnel. The Boring Company is a disruptor in the tunneling space using hybrid-electric boring machines and several other innovations to reduce the cost of tunneling by a factor of 10. A two-way tunnel to the airport could cost less than $100 million versus the $800+ million a traditional people-mover would cost to build.
Now is really the perfect opportunity to start looking at next generation transportation options. As we have witnessed with California High-Speed Rail, paying for something that is both the most expensive and slowest high-speed train in the world makes little sense. Same goes for spending almost a billion dollars for a 4 mile people mover shuttling people at 25-35 MPH. If we can lay the foundation for a network that will reduce traffic and move people faster and do it at a far lower cost, that is worth exploring. Kudos for Sam for taking the initiative so long ago. Silicon Valley deserve a transit system that makes our innovative heritage proud.
Source: Teslarati, SVBJ
Now is really the perfect opportunity to start looking at next generation transportation options. As we have witnessed with California High-Speed Rail, paying for something that is both the most expensive and slowest high-speed train in the world makes little sense. Same goes for spending almost a billion dollars for a 4 mile people mover shuttling people at 25-35 MPH. If we can lay the foundation for a network that will reduce traffic and move people faster and do it at a far lower cost, that is worth exploring. Kudos for Sam for taking the initiative so long ago. Silicon Valley deserve a transit system that makes our innovative heritage proud.
Source: Teslarati, SVBJ
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
San Jose receives an Oscar-winner shout out
Last Sunday when John Ottman won an Oscar for best film editing on Bohemian Rhapsody, he also delivered a nice little surprise for San Joseans in his speech:
“Lastly, this goes to my parents on their fireplace mantle because they encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do when I was a kid whether it was writing music, which was a mystery to them, or making films in their garage on Normington Way in San Jose, California,”
Normington Way is between Pinehurst and Thousand Oaks, just north of Oakridge. Apparently his first film was a spooky ghost movie which he made while attending Gunderson High School. Thanks for the shout out John!
Source: ABC 7 News
“Lastly, this goes to my parents on their fireplace mantle because they encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do when I was a kid whether it was writing music, which was a mystery to them, or making films in their garage on Normington Way in San Jose, California,”
Normington Way is between Pinehurst and Thousand Oaks, just north of Oakridge. Apparently his first film was a spooky ghost movie which he made while attending Gunderson High School. Thanks for the shout out John!
Source: ABC 7 News
Monday, February 25, 2019
Boston Properties proposing massive office high-rise
Last week we talked about Adobe's 4th tower, which at 700,000 SQFT is essentially three San Jose high-rises put together side-by-side. Apparently, that is only the beginning of the mega-projects proposed for Downtown. Boston Properties has a proposal that dwarfs Adobe's new building.
Many years ago Boston Properties proposed three office towers are the corner of South Almaden and Woz Way. It would have been one of the most significant projects Downtown, but the economy killed the project. Now they are resurrecting it at double the original size. Instead of three towers, they want to build one single 17-story tower with 1.8 million SQFT of office space!
To put that in perspective, in terms of square footage that would be like building five new "Knight Ridder" (now KQED) office towers or three new convention centers. This one building would have more office space than the entire Salesforce tower in San Francisco. To really put it in perspective, it would be the second largest office building on the West Coast (second to Apple Park) and the 27th largest in the world.
If this moves forward, it would turn a surface parking lot into an amazing piece of real estate that would bring something like 10,000 jobs to San Jose. Check out the photos below. All I've got left to say is, wow...
Source: SVBJ
Many years ago Boston Properties proposed three office towers are the corner of South Almaden and Woz Way. It would have been one of the most significant projects Downtown, but the economy killed the project. Now they are resurrecting it at double the original size. Instead of three towers, they want to build one single 17-story tower with 1.8 million SQFT of office space!
To put that in perspective, in terms of square footage that would be like building five new "Knight Ridder" (now KQED) office towers or three new convention centers. This one building would have more office space than the entire Salesforce tower in San Francisco. To really put it in perspective, it would be the second largest office building on the West Coast (second to Apple Park) and the 27th largest in the world.
If this moves forward, it would turn a surface parking lot into an amazing piece of real estate that would bring something like 10,000 jobs to San Jose. Check out the photos below. All I've got left to say is, wow...
Source: SVBJ
Thursday, February 21, 2019
San Jose Spotlight - Our first nonprofit news organization for politics & business
For those looking for news and insight about San Jose and surrounding areas, there are a few existing publications. The most commonly known of these is The Mercury News, which covers all topics. Then there are more specialized sites like Silicon Valley Business Journal, which focuses on--you guessed it--business and development. Then there is San Jose Inside, which provides deep dives into political topics. The rest is covered by Bay Area regional news sites such as SF Chronicle, The Registry, KRON4, CBS Local, etc.
Enter San Jose Spotlight, the first nonprofit news organization focusing on politics and business in San Jose. As it is donation-driven, the organization may be in a unique position to tackle controversial topics within San Jose. As newspaper circulation and ad revenue declines (print and digital) across the world, it is exciting to see a local organization try a new model to survive and to take destiny into their own hands.
Their mission can be found on their website:
San Jose Spotlight is co-founded by former Mercury News political reporter Ramona Giwargis, who leads a still growing but active team of journalists. You can subscribe to the newsletter, donate to the site, or explore all published content without a paywall on the website.
Enter San Jose Spotlight, the first nonprofit news organization focusing on politics and business in San Jose. As it is donation-driven, the organization may be in a unique position to tackle controversial topics within San Jose. As newspaper circulation and ad revenue declines (print and digital) across the world, it is exciting to see a local organization try a new model to survive and to take destiny into their own hands.
Their mission can be found on their website:
"Our community needs another voice, an alternate source for high-quality, independent local news. Our stories will search for truth, shed light on wrongdoing and hold the powerful accountable. We are the community’s newsroom and we’re powered by your support and donations."
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