Breeze of Innovation chosen as San Jose's new Light Tower

Out of 963 submissions from 72 countries, Urban Confluence has a winner for their contest to design San Jose's next landmark. The submissions had to be inspired by the San Jose Light Tower, which was one of San Jose's most innovative achievements at the time. 

The lucky winner was Breeze of Innovation by Fernando Jerez and Belén Pérez de Juan of SMAR Architecture Studio. The design symbolizes people standing and working together and each of the rods in the images below are designed to sway in the wind to create a dynamic visual effect. The rods will also generate the power to illuminate the 200 foot-tall tower.

While it is difficult to see in the images below, there will be a conical void inside of the tower (in a shape similar to the original San Jose Light Tower) that will include multiple levels of walkways, a viewing platform at the top, exhibition space, and space for a café.

For more information on the ~$100 million project, head over here!

Gyu-Kaku and Serious Dumplings are coming to San Pedro Square

Two major restaurants are coming are coming to San Pedro Square that will compliment the rest of Dowtown San Jose's "restaurant row." Both Gyu-Kaku and Serious Dumplings will be added to the recently finished Modera residential project in a former parking lot between The Old Spaghetti Factory and O'Flaherty's Pub.

Gyu-Kaku is a Japanese BBQ (Izakaya I believe) place that already has a loyal following in Cupertino. It will be one of the higher-end places Downtown and is likely to be a popular spot for parties and events.

Serious Dumplings will be a new kind of restaurant for Downtown San Jose. I don't believe we have ever had a dumpling restaurant. I imagine it will be similar to the Michelin recommended Din Tai Fung in Valley Fair, but more low key and less expensive. Come to think of it, I'm not sure we have had a Japanese BBQ place either.

I think it's safe to say the combination of these two places is a big upgrade from Peggy Sue's (while I did enjoy their burgers as well). I'm excited about having an even more diverse array of restaurants to choose from in San Pedro Square. The selection is expected to grow even further as there are three more retail pads to lease at Modera and additional retail spots are opening soon in and around the ground floor of 188 St. James (Silvery Towers). 

If our remaining restaurants can hang on a bit longer, 2021 could end up becoming the best year ever for Downtown San Jose dining.

Source: San Jose Development Forum

April 2021 Downtown Dimension Highlights

The latest addition of Downtown Dimension is now live. Below is a summary of the content this month.

Happy New Year - Welcome to 2021!

The APRIL Downtown Dimension is now available for download.
 
On the Front Page:  

• After 21 years, the Friday Downtown San Jose Farmers' Market is moving to the block of South First Street between San Salvador and William streets. Fresh produce and artisan items will be available each Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. starting May 7.  The article explains why the changing is happening and enthusiastic reactions from SoFA businesses.
• SJDA Board President Katia McClain, an architect at Steinberg Hart, offers her professional perspective of the Future of Downtown San Jose.  With all the multiple high-rises being built and proposed, the action -- or interaction -- should be at street level.  And construction along Park Avenue will be the prototype, McClain says.
• Thanks to Federal stimulus funds likely available for Fiscal Year 2021-22, Mayor Sam Liccardo has requested City staff followup on a number of initiatives with downtown ramifications.  

Also this month:

• SJDA interviews a recent new downtown resident making the move from Miami to our city.  He gives his first impressions.
• We'll all enjoy a cleaner Guadalupe River Park.
• Looking forward to the re-opening of the former Fairmont, with new name, this summer.
• New lineup of retailers at MOMENT shops at San Pedro Square.

SJDA's next public meeting will be Friday, April 9 at 8:15 a.m. via Zoom.  The agenda includes a review of the Downtown West development agreement with Google followed by guest speaker Zulma Maciel, director of the city's Office of Racial Equity.
 
Register at https://tinyurl.com/apr9mtg.

Speaking of MOMENT at San Pedro Square:  The Knight Foundation, which provided the funding to clear the way for an innovative project to activate ground-floor garage space into retail shops for entrepreneurs, has studied a number of projects nationwide, including MOMENT, and has identified what makes the project successful.  To read about it, start with this blog from Chris Thompson, Knight Foundation's program director for San Jose.r.

South FIRST FRIDAY is today!

South FIRST FRIDAYs are coming back! The weather is amazing, COVID rates are dropping, and slowly but surely we are going to get back to normal--perhaps better than normal as we will appreciate what we have more.

This month participating galleries are Anno Domini (366 South First), Art Ark (1035 South Sixth), KALEID (320 South First), MACHU PICCHU (199 Martha -- new gallery?), San Jose Jazz (300 South First), MACLA (510 South First), and the SoFA Market (387 South First). 

The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and Works San Jose will have online exhibitions. This looks like it will be the most significant art event in San Jose in over a year. For more information, head over here.

I will also remind everyone that many restaurants have resumed indoor dining. The SoFA Market is now open indoors with 25% capacity while Petiscos and many other traditional restaurants are open at 50%. Haberdasher and other bars in SoFA can also sell drinks outdoors without customers having to buy food. The newest gastrolounge in SoFA--the Good Spot--has a soft opening this Saturday starting at 11am. I can't wait to see what SoFA will look like a month from now.

Silicon Valley Annual Check-up

In the video below Joint Venture CEO Russel Hancock summarizes the key learnings from the 2021 Silicon Valley Index. This year, special attention was paid to the impacts of the Coronavirus on our local economy. Other topics include income inequality, racial demographics, housing imbalances, patent registrations, and venture capital funding. The presentation provides an objective look at how our region is doing compared to previous years as well as the rest of the country.

If you find the content interesting, you can also read the whole 150-page study over here.

St. Patty's Day in Downtown San Jose

Downtown San Jose will be illuminated in green until March 17th for St. Patrick's Day. If you are in the area, these are the places you should pay special attention to:

• Security and Leticia Buildings at 70 S. First St.
• Twohy Building at 210 S. First St.
• The Pavilion at 150 S. First St.
• Circle of Palms on S. Market Street.
• Post Street between S. Market and S First streets
• San Pedro Square
• Fairmont Anex
• Bamboo Panda Mural on S. First St.

"Lucky the Leprechaun" will also be making an appearance at more than 30 different Downtown businesses. If you find him, take a photo and share it on social media with #DTSJlucky or #DTSJlove to be entered in a drawing for gift cards.

If you're looking for themed events, Ludwig's German Table will have a St. Patty's Day stand up comedy show featuring 5 local comics, Mezcal will be serving up Green Margarita's, and Plant Lush is discounting their Oxalis "shamrock" plants by 17% this week (if you find one with a 4-leaf clover it's free).

We could use a bit of luck right now, as could our local businesses so let's support them!

March 2021 Downtown Dimension Highlights

The latest addition of Downtown Dimension is now live. Below is a summary of the content this month.

The MARCH Downtown Dimension is now available for download.
 
On the Front Page:  

• Learn about what international developer Westbank and local developer Urban Community have planned for downtown San Jose.  Five large projects designed by some of the world's best architects.  The Orchard. Energy Hub. Park Habitat. Arbor. And the renovation of the Bank of Italy.  We explain why Westbank has chosen San Jose to be be its fifth city of major investment, joining Vancouver, Toronto, Tokyo and Seattle.
• San Jose police have a plan to curb robberies, burglaries and quality-of-life crimes and Dimension has the details.

Also this month:

• SJDA opens a dog park in SoFA District.
• Natural Sweet Delight opens in SoFA Market.  The co-owners are among several new downtown businesses that chose to open during the pandemic, investing in the future of downtown.
• The Chef's Market came up with positive results.  Five downtown eateries gave a meal to a person in need for every meal sold to customers.

SJDA's next public meeting will be Friday, April 9 at 8:15 a.m. via Zoom.  Te agenda includes a presentation on the Westbank / Urban Community projects and guest speaker is Zulma Maciel, director of the city'sOffice of Racial Equity.
 
RSVP through SJDArsvp@sjdowntown.com to receive a link and PIN code to the meeting.

We're back in the Red Tier, indoor dining is back!

This week we officially went from a Covid tier status of purple to red, which means indoor dining is open for business again! Hopefully restaurants will never close like this again (everyone please get your vaccine as soon as you can). As a reminder the scale goes from purple, to red, to orange, and finally to yellow which has the fewest restrictions.

Restaurants will be able to open their indoor dining rooms again effective immediately. However, they will be limited to 25% of their maximum capacity or 100 guests, whichever number is lower. 

What else can we look forward to in the red tier? Movie theaters can reopen at 25% as can museums, zoos, and aquariums. Stores can now operate at 50% capacity. Even indoor gyms can finally reopen, albeit at a meager 10% capacity.

California is also planning to ease the requirements to get into less restrictive tiers when we hit two different milestone. The first is when we distribute 2 million vaccines in the most disadvantaged zip codes, and then when we hit 4 million vaccines in those same areas.

The stats have been looking very promising in the Bay Area--let's hope this nightmare ends soon and the post-covid era will be another Roarin' 20s.