- Lower construction taxes on tenant improvements citywide from 4.5% to 1% for office and R&D space
- Temporarily lower traffic impact fees on new construction in North San Jose from $12.69 per sqft to $5
- Create 21 new permanent positions related to processing planning and building permits (!!!)
- Easing the requirement of new development in North San Jose being at least 14 stories tall
Already one new developer has contacted the city to take advantage of these changes and this will no doubt create a lot of buzz around those looking to expand or locate in the valley. This is definitely the right direction to encourage more businesses to locate here, pump more dollars into our economy, and eventually balance our budget without reducing city services.
Click here for more info.
Click here for more info.
Great news...especially this:
ReplyDelete"Easing the requirement of new development in North San Jose being at least 14 stories tall"
North First, Winchester, West San Carlos/Stevens Creek, Bascom, etc. could all use some more height and density. 14 stories in North SJ sounds like a good start!
I don't think you read it correctly...they are relaxing the requirement that buildings along North 1st be 14 stories. i.e. they will permit lower buildings. Apparently, a developer (Sobrato I think) wanted very much to develop a new building along North 1st but was required by the city to make it 14 stories. They didn't want to build that high so they took their development to Santa Clara (or Sunnyvale). IT companies want campus style - 2 - 4 stories.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff Josh! Curious: I wonder if this same development tax break could be expanded later to include something like the downtown ballpark. Any idea? Heck, how about residential and retail developments citywide?
ReplyDeleteOriginally I thought they had talked about making N.First almost a second downtown.I remember seeing the article in the Merc a few years ago. But IT companies wanting to do campuses does not seem like a downtown at all. Shame heights want to be lowered. I thought this could be San Joses' chance to go bigger than what they have downtown...which isn't much.
ReplyDeleteMy initial thoughts were that this was not a good idea, because the last thing we (SJ) need is to give away (in the form of not collecting) money. However, it seems as if SJ's fee structure was way out of line compared to Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, etc. The mayor did a lot of research before this was debated in the council meeting and showed a whole bunch of new developments going on in these places (right on our doorstep) but nothing (NOTHING) being done here. It's pretty shameful actually and we are going to miss the boat if we aren't careful. The bottom line - like it not all SJ boosters - is that high tech companies want to be in SF, Palo Alto, Mountain View and the like. We just aren't that cool down here which is a shame because we have plenty to offer.
ReplyDeleteHigh-tech companies want to be in SF? Really? C'mon, they have Twitter and a couple of start ups, and that's it! Besides, you definitely can't put IT companies wanting 1-4 story campuses in Frisco.
ReplyDeleteFrisco? 14 story buildings? Meh.
ReplyDeleteHigh-tech companies want to be anywhere but San Jose it seems :(
ReplyDeleteI just read that Apple are moving 400 employees into that Sunnyvale Town Center project (which has been a debacle).
Why won't they move here!!!
Because San Jose thinks 14 story buildings are cool. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI guess Cisco, Brocade, Adobe and eBay aren't in San Jose. Didn't Flextronics just move to SJ, and what company just relocated to the America Center?
ReplyDeleteIMO, this is much better than having high-rises along first street leading to downtown a la wilshire blvd in LA. It provides an immediate solution and it seems like we're listening to the market, as opposed to holding on to a vision that isn't quite working. More housing development (high rise included) in downtown and office campuses along first street might well be the right way to go for SJ. Now lets get those parks cleaned up and get more dogs around town :)
ReplyDeleteTony D...those companies have been in SJ for a long time. Saying SF has a couple of start-ups is total nonsense. It's ground zero for this new wave of tech activity. Salesforce.com are going to be doing something on a scale that we can only dream off down here. The original statement was Mountain View, Palo Alto and SF. But I'm on your side...Polycomm is the other company that'll be going into the America Center. I'll bet part of the reason Apple went for downtown Sunnyvale is the Caltrain connection to "you know where".
ReplyDeleteSF is far from ground zero for startups. To be honest, the startup ground zero of the world is Palo Alto, followed closely by Mountain View. I would rank San Jose third (first for cleantech and maybe semiconductor) and either SF or NY fourth.
DeleteThe golden triangle alone has the largest cluster of tech companies in the world by far (3x greater than any other location). Cisco and Brocade are there, so's Cadence, KLA, Samsung, Canon and many, many more). The two big tech wins for SF are Twitter and Salesforce. There are also a smattering of startups that may be bought out by larger companies, but nothing too exciting (no future Facebooks, Googles, Ciscos, or eBays).
The most interesting companies right now are emerging from Palo Alto or Mountain View, but San Jose also has a ton of incubators (more than SF) and will be getting more in the spotlight over the next 5 years or so.
Forgot to mention Oracle moving into the old Sobrato Tower. I'll take Cisco, Brocade, eBay, Adobe, Polycom, Electronics and expanded Oracle any day over salesforce.com. But that's just me ;)
ReplyDeleteMeant Flextronics not electronics.
ReplyDeleteWho cares...Palo Alto or SF. It's not here!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/real-estate/2012/02/apples-sunnyvale-plans-go-beyond-town.html
Apple leasing huge chunks in Sunnyvale.
Hopefully this pro-development effort can lure these types of companies into our empty space.
Why are you closing your eyes to Flextronics, Polycom and Oracle moving into SJ? Just focusing on Apple expanding into Sunnyvale and claiming no one wants to be in SJ is completely ridiculous.
DeleteLet's be honest here. Why would any company *want* to move to San Jose? What are the incentives (besides city subsidies if any)? The city is a big bore and farther away from SF than Palo Alto or Mountain View. If anyone had the choice to pick to work for a company in SF or SJ, guess which one would be picked? I want a place that is fun to WORK and PLAY.
ReplyDeleteGreat; a cancerous, pro-SF troll has infested this blog. Why don't you take your wine and cheese and go somewhere else!
DeleteIt's sad that you're posting this and you read this blog. You might want to find a SF blog instead.
DeleteOh come on. We know that only naively exaggerated pro-San Jose commenting is allowed. Dude above is spot on about San Jose being dull. Maybe because our government leadership is entirely out of touch - does the mayor even live or frequent downtown after dark? Creepy. And our longing for taller buildings, I just don't get. Signed, New, but Decidely Short Term Downtown Resident.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I'm a wine drinking, cheese eating San Jose (yes, SJ) resident. Anon (9:59am)...you don't need to be so sensitive! Let's get behind our city council here. I particularly like points 1 & 3 because they address the issue of filling up all the millions & millions of square feet of empty space here. Aren't you guys tired of seeing all the "For Lease" signs???
DeleteI agree with Jake regarding "our longing for taller buildings". I don't think we necessarily need tall buildings...I think we need ICONIC buildings. I remembered the thinkbigger sanjose blog did mention this "ICONIC building" issue once.
ReplyDeleteTotally off-topic, does anyone know what happened to Think Bigger? I haven't seen any updates there for months!
That's a great question, I loved that blog. Mark, any comments? =)
DeleteMore info and proof SJ is being left in the dust:
ReplyDeletehttp://theregistrysf.com/RTRE_sior_sobrato_cassidy_turley_seven_hills_properties_cbre_harvest_lba_realty_1.html
This is exactly why now is the time to act and attract as much new development as possible.
DeleteI read that same article. Pretty sobering reading :( There was also an article in the Mercury News last week where they listed a whole bunch of projects that are under construction and not one was in our fair city.
DeleteAgree with Joshua...we gotta applaud the council for taking these steps.
Nice to see this today...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theregistrysf.com/RTRE_sobrato_microsemi_north_san_jose.html
I've been wondering what was going on at these buildings lately...they have been empty since "forever" (4 years according to the landlord).
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/real-estate/2012/03/apple-eyes-20-acre-site-in-north-san.html
ReplyDeleteApple looking at a site in our fair city. I know this area...it's right next to the 24 Hr Fitness, just off 101. How good would this be!
That would be amazing!
Delete