It appears that this KT Properties project is now being called "Silvery Towers." Also worth mentioning, there is a three-story retail pavilion that is separate from the two towers. An outdoor dining terrace will be part of the top retail pavilion floor featuring a nice view of the San Pedro Square Market. The main building will have tons of retail and two large bike-parking rooms on the ground floor. On the podium there is an infinity-edge pool, bocce ball courts, and common areas for residents.
My hat goes off to KT Properties on this project. If you are still on the fence on whether Downtown San Jose is on a positive trajectory or not... the renders below should help sway you in the right direction.
Source: mjmcalister from the San Jose Development Forum
VERY nice.
ReplyDeleteCool. Sure seems like a lot of retail... in a neighborhood without a good success in retail.
ReplyDeleteAnon, the building is located right next door to the San Pedro Square Market of Downtown. The Market is a VERY SUCCESSFUL restaurant/bar outlet, so hopefully this would translate into better-than-average retails for that specific area. It'll probably just be a lot of restaurants crammed in there, and they should do quite well.
ReplyDeleteThe goal is to cluster retails/restaurants together into these high-density, urban dwellings so they can feed off the synergy of one another. The Market did its things, now let's see if the rest could follow in its coattails!
I think Downtown should drop the retail shtick for everything other than food and entertainment (is there anything else to begin with?). Have never been, will never be, enthusiastic about those towers. They're destined for turnover populations, not building a strong city core. And, incidentally, why do people love San Pedro Square and downtown? Because it's quaint and personable, not a clamped up, alienating tower the blocks the sun and gives you a cold, institutional feel (like the IRS building). Umm...Santana Row, for instance. What gleaming tower there? None. People love to visit thriving places with an "old town" feel.
ReplyDeleteI love Downtown, and it is certainly not because I think it's quaint. I think you might be one of the few people that enjoy Downtown but do not want to see it become more dense and urban. Sidenote, the next Santana Row building will be the equivalent height of a ~10 story building. Expect to see taller structures everywhere going forward, not just in Downtown.
DeleteDensity does not mean living quality, necessarily. There are ways of building more rooted, core residential areas that could bring in a critical mass people COMMITTED to building a life in downtown–not just renting or buying for five years and moving out to the 'burbs. I agree that bringing in a greater number of people is important, but a comparable less but MORE committed people is better than turnover masses. I don't want a McD city and this is what projects like the towers achieve. Oh. And tons of money for the developers which, let me guess, live in a less dense residential area with much green and "willow glen–y" type streets. I know you know who I am and I'm glad your blog gives me this space...thank you. :)
DeleteWho cares if people are here for one year or twenty...as long they live and spend money in downtown it will be for the better.
DeleteI say convert the Fallon House into something useful, maybe a 19th century style restaurant, saloon?
ReplyDeleteIts a historic landmark. No.
DeleteThe basement of the Fallon House was a famous restaurant/bar for many years. I don't see any reason not to use that small piece of it for a restaurant. Right now I think they are using that section for office space.
DeleteWhen will these towers break ground?!!! Not rendering and fantasizing, the actual groundbreaking what counts,
ReplyDeletewill these towers be done in two phases or in one phase?
ReplyDeleteballer, the towers need to have renders first so everyone can look and have inputs. Slow down your horses. One South and Centerra are going up right now already, and they have to go through the same process of rendering.
ReplyDeleteThis is not fantasizing, this is an actual process that all developers need to go through. Have some patience!
Last we heard was they were shooting for late 2014 groundbreaking. We'll probably learn more at the community meeting on the 16th.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad anything gets off the ground downtown. That said, I think they should refine the top of these towers. They look oddly chopped off at the roofline. I'm glad they are extending the retail further up San Pedro. That will give the restaurant row some more growth.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Vancouver, BC and saw the drastic changes that happened to the city from 1999 to 2009, I can't help but feel that San Jose will be doing the same thing. Everywhere there's a surface parking lot or series of small retail buildings, we'll see towers go in. What Vancouver failed to do was get the office space/residential mix right. In some places it was too much residential and no planning that the families moving in would need schools and parks. If it's done right, we can have a thriving downtown where people can live and work. I'd love to see more green design and bring greenery up into the higher levels of the city.
ReplyDeleteThe good thing about downtown is that most of the major development lots have already been snatched up by developers who will be playing by ear in terms of what they decide to build. For example: Boston Properties has the huge lot across from the the convention center tentatively set for a large office development, Sobrato has 3 prime lots of which two could be office or mixed use, the City and Terry Rose are selling the property at Park/Almaden and would consider mixed use, office, or rise. The city's zoning is pretty open in this regard and it's a good thing.
DeleteAs a neighbor I'm hopping for a good supermarket and a good pharmacy. Happy to have more people living around, but not looking forward for all the cars new neighbors will bring.
ReplyDeleteNone of these space are big enough for those things and with Grocery Outlet, Safeway, Trader Joe's, Target and soon Whole Foods....I doubt you see another supermarket in the area. Same with pharmacy's (the existing Walgreen's and CVS are too close)
DeleteWe have a Whole Foods' by Caltrain coming up and a Trader Joe's a mile from the heart of downtown. C'mon. That's pretty good. Close enough to walk to (which I do). When I take the car, it's great because I get the convenience of a supermarket that's a stone's throw from home without having masses of cars outside my window. Plus, that empty Zanotto's supermarket COULD be replaced. The space is there.
DeleteAs for the Walgreen's downtown, I agree with Ben (below). That place is horrifying and I don't understand why it isn't fixed up.
And, as usual, this all brings us to the conundrum: what to do about the homeless issue. It is really heartbreaking to see this social issue but it also hinders the development of downtown life. Walking along 2nd and 1st streets, and along the santa clara intersection, is an odyssey that reeks of piss and having to see human beings living like rats. It's a real issue–for them and us lucky enough not to be them. And, the other perennial issue: St. James Park. I'd do anything to reclaim that as a real civic space.
I'm not sure if it was meant to provoke a response, but if you have serious concerns about other cars, traffic, and parking, you might want to re-think your decision to move to the center of one of the largest cities in the United States...
DeleteThe Walgreens downtown sucks so bad. I mean, REAL BAD.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for SPSM to expand into that parking lot next to the Fallon House. This area is going to be really awesome.
ReplyDeleteDidn't the last set of renderings show the project working around a house on Terraine Street? It appears that this set of renderings shows the towers with a larger footprint that includes the house. Or am I imagining things?
ReplyDeleteYou are not imagining things, that house is staying (and will probably be worth a fortune after this project is done).
DeleteThe house on Terraine inst staying... so much misinformation here sometimes. http://www.sanjoseca.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=1852
DeleteIt's NOT staying. Latest document shows that it is not up for any kind of Historic Landmark consideration, and thus will be demo'd.
DeleteOnly the Fallon House will be kept.
KT bought the house already. It's getting demo'd (like Bob says), here's the language from the Site Development permit:
Delete"Site Development Permit to demolish a single-famly residence (152 Terraine Street), remove 5 ordinance sized trees, and to allow a mixed-use development consisting of a 6-level parking garage (three levels below grade), up to 20,000-square-feet of retail, and up to 643 multi-family residential units within two towers (20-stories and 22-stories), on a 1.8 gross acre site. "
Sorry guys, I was misinformed. The last render I remember involved building around that property. I guess KT gave them a deal they couldn't refuse.
DeleteYou can see the house on Terraine Street in the old rendering here: http://www.thesanjoseblog.com/search?updated-max=2013-11-12T06:00:00-08:00&max-results=8&start=80&by-date=false
ReplyDeleteOops, the link I posted was incorrect, here's the correct link: http://www.thesanjoseblog.com/2013/11/kt-properties-towers-alternate-concept.html
ReplyDeleteHmm...say, what about closing closing off street access between KT and the Market? Basically paving over the St. John Street section between these two parcels? And make it an small open grassy plaza?
ReplyDeleteNever going to happen and frankly, it makes no sense.
DeleteI've seen them close down this street temporarily for several events like farmer's markets and Food Truck gatherings.
Delete