Affordable homes proposed for Monterery Road in Central San Jose

240 homes will be built built on an empty lot on Monterey Road near Senter Road, 237 of which would be designated as "affordable" one-bedroom units. Amenities would include a clubhouse, laundry rooms on each level, bicycle storage, a basketball court, dog park, picnic area, and a BBQ area. The color scheme looks a lot more interesting than many affordable projects, which tend to just be beige or gray boxes.

$70.9 million of construction financing has been closed, funding a good chunk of the $119 million proposal.

Construction is expected to begin this year at 4300 Monterery Road and it will take about two years to complete the project. 

Source: The Mercury News

Spartan Keyes neighborhood getting new townhomes in place of industrial building

Valley Oak Partners has plans to redevelop a single-story industrial building on a 3.87-acre site into 68 townhomes. The three-story townhomes would be split into 12 two-bedroom 2.5-bath units, 28 three-bedroom 3-bath units, and 28 three-bedroom 2.5-bath units with an optional 4th bedroom. Sizes range between 1,428 SQFT to 2,030 SQFT.

This project is worth mentioning as there are very few new options with a family-friendly four-bedroom configuration, and there will be up to 28 of those units here. 

The location is very central, close to Downtown San Jose and blocks away from amenities like Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, Kelley Park, History San Jose, and Sharks Ice. An action park is also being planned nearby. At the same time, the neighborhood is an odd mix of both residential and industrial uses. This leads me to believe the townhomes will be reasonably priced relative to other projects of similar size in Silicon Valley.

Source: SVBJ

372 apartments move forward at a former San Jose DMV site

A former DMV in central San Jose near History Park and the intersection of Senter and Tully is going to be transformed into a 372-unit apartment complex called "The Place." The apartments would be split across three seven-story buildings with a more interesting design then you would expect from your typical midrise.

The apartments themselves would range from studios to two-bedroom units with two bathrooms. 112 of the apartments will be studios, 200 are one-bedroom, and 60 are two-bedroom units.

The one-story office building that housed the DMV would be demolished to make way from this project. The neighborhood is mostly office and industrial with a Costco across the street. The best escape-games in San Jose are a couple blocks away at OMESCAPE and you also have Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, History Park, the Japanese Friendship Gardens, Kelly Park, Sharks Ice, and the San Jose Giants less than a mile away. It's actually a pretty decent area to start building dense housing.

The next step is a series of city reviews this month.

Source: The Mercury News

Communications Hill expanding again with Phases 3 and 4

Communications Hill is a large master planned neighborhood in Central San Jose. It already has thousands of single family and multi-family homes and is famous for "the stairs," a unique urban hike with 252 stepps. (last two images below).

New development permits are seeking the construction of an additional 800+ multi-family units and commercial space in a site bound by Altino Boulevard, Hillsdale, and the Union Pacific railroad. KB Home South Bay would be the developer and it would span 140 acres.

Phases 3 and 4 of Communications Hill are supposed to include a mix of single-family detached homes, townhouses, and flats. The current scope of the project would include 505 homes, hundreds of apartment's across several five and six-story buildings, up to 32,873 of commercial/retail space, and 16,215 SQFT of amenity space.

There is already quite a bit of traffic along 87 due to Communication Hill so it will be interesting to see how well the expansion can be accommodated.

Source: SF YIMBY

La Ca Phe now open on 740 Story Road in San Jose near Vietnam Town

La Ca Phe is a Vietnamese Coffee shop specializing in a variety of specialties that are not easy to find in the Bay Area. Their Eggspresso Hanoi is a special egg-based coffee drink that I last tried in Vietnam and it blew my mind. They also have Ube Coffee and a wide variety of other Vietnamese and Southeast Asian-style drinks.

They have been working on this coffee shop for three years and opened to huge demand. La Ca Phe is at 740 Story Road. Instead of doing your typical Starbucks routine, come try out some unique and truly delicious coffee someplace new!

Source: Insta

San Jose's Vietnam Town getting major upgrades

Vietnam Town is a 20-acre commercial and retail development near Happy Hollow and Kelly Park. The project has had ups and downs including multiple sales and bankruptcies, but it does feature several great shops, Vietnamese restaurants, and cafes.

The next phase for Vietnam Town is called District One, a 100,000+ SQFT project with dozens of retail condos (store owners will buy part of the building as opposed to leasing) and another parking garage. The new development is inspired by Santana Row and will feature entertainment/programming centered around Asian holidays and celebrations. Instead of just more shopping and restaurants, the focus will be on creating a lively atmosphere.

The Vietnam Town owner is working on final city approvals and hopes to open District One by 2019.

Source: SVBJ

Omescape San Jose adds a 5th escape game: Sorcerer's Sanctum!

Escape games are now all the rage in the Bay Area, but some rooms are far better than others. The concept is similar for all escape games: you are locked in and have an hour to solve a series of puzzles in order to unlock the door and escape. So far I have done all of the Omescape rooms in San Jose, and they have been by far my favorites. 

Omescape uses a lot of special effects, tactile challenges (as opposed to solving lots of math problems), and utilizes multiple rooms/secret doors for each escape. Some challenges can feature as many as 6 rooms to explore.

Omescape San Jose has recently added a 5th room called Sorcerer's Sanctum, and that officially makes it the largest venue for escape games games in California. There are very few locations in the world with more than 3 rooms. Omescape kindly invited the San Jose Blog team to come to Central San Jose and try out the new room.

Sorcerer's Sanctum has a brilliant set design that sets a new benchmark for these types of game. We were not allowed to take photos in the room, but have provided a few stock photographs below. The theme is magic--there were magical wands, potions, hidden doors, and so many other surprises that you might expect from a Sorcerer's laboratory. Some of the clues and pieces had RFID chips in them so that they would electronically unlock the next challenge when placed in the right spot. It was as high-tech as escape rooms get. Here is the official description:

Sorcerer's Sanctum
You and your friends have accidentally stepped into a house occupied by great magicians. Your team work will be crucial in helping you pass through a series of magical puzzles in order to escape from the spell in time!

I will say that the 4/5 difficulty rating is way off. This room only has a 2% escape rate so far, which is the lowest of any of their games. They are thinking about making some of the challenges easier or bumping up the rating to 5/5 difficulty. We did get out, but it took 72 minutes. If you go over 60, that means you do not win. The brilliant thing about the room is that we had so much fun even though we were not able to get out in time. Most of our team had never done an escape game before, but they all had a blast and are eager to do more! If you are a beginner, I recommend doing Kingdom of Cats to start.

Omescape San Jose is located at 625 Wool Creek Dr, Ste E, San Jose 95112. Check out their Facebook page over here and book tickets here.

Stike Brewing Co. "Cheers to 2 Years" anniversary party on October 8th

One of San Jose's first craft breweries is celebrating two years at their S. 10th street location! To honor the occasion, Strike Brewing is throwing a huge party with killer beer, food trucks, live music, and a silent auction.

Tickets to the event cost $20 in advance or $25 at the door. That includes a special glass that's yours to keep and 3 pints of your choosing (everything is a pint that day).

To help absorb some of the delicious beer, the Gow Chow food truck will be on site from 1-5pm, followed by Kushi Yaki at 5-9pm. It all goes down on October 8th at 2099 S. 10th St. #30, San Jose, CA 95112.

Tickets are on sale now right over here. For more info, check out Strike's Facebook page.

Omescape San Jose adds a 4th escape game - Pandemic Zero

Escape games are continuing to become more and more popular in the Bay Area. I love them, even thought I lost the first three rooms I attempted. They are not easy (only 15-33% of teams escape), but even if you lose it is a great experience.

The concept is similar for all of these rooms: you are locked in and have an hour to solve a series of puzzles in order to unlock the door and escape. Some companies create rooms that are better and more interesting than others. So far I have done three of the Omescape rooms and they have been among my favorites. Omescape uses a lot of special effects, tactile challenges (as opposed to solving lots of math problems), and utilizes multiple rooms/secret doors for each escape.

Omescape San Jose launched with three rooms: Kingdom of Cats (easiest, 2-6 players), Dark Altar (medium difficulty, 4-6 players), and Joker's Asylum (very hard, 6-10 players). Their fourth room is called Pandemic Zero and is medium difficulty (3-6 players). Here is a description of their latest challenge:

Pandemic Zero
A super virus has infected 95% of the world's population.
You have discovered the location of a top-secret lab. However, the entrance to it has been locked because of a citywide quarantine.
Can you find the hidden entrance underneath the city in the sewers and finish work on the cure before you become infected too?

I'm really stoked to try it out next weekend. They are also working on a fifth room that is still 2-3 months away, which will make it the largest escape room facility in the Bay Area and perhaps California. If you have yet to do an escape room, try Kingdom of Cats and you'll be hooked.

Omescape San Jose is located at 625 Wool Creek Dr, Ste E, San Jose 95112. Check out their Facebook page over here and book tickets here.

Gree opening commercial flagship store in san jose

Gree Electric is the largest air conditioning firm in the world. With the opening of their flagship store in San Jose, it will mark the very first time that Gree's commercial products will be available in California. While these are not the types of products you and I would buy for our homes, it will benefit Silicon Valley businesses that are looking to reduce HVAC costs and be more "green."

San Jose, CA -- Gree, the world's largest air conditioning manufacturer and a leading Chinese manufacturer of innovative, green, heating and cooling solutions is opening its first showroom for commercial products in California on August 9, 2016. The grand opening reception is scheduled for 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM on Tuesday at ECS Design, Inc. 502 Auzerais Avenue, San Jose, CA 95126. A special ribbon cutting and ceremonial lion dance will take place at 10:00 AM.

ECS Design has been a general contractor and HVAC specialist in San Jose for more than a decade and a strong advocate for green building construction for sustainable growth. According to Richard Wong, President of ECS, "the significance of Gree coming to San Jose is about green energy movement in the US. They are a leader in VRF* air conditioning systems which are emerging in importance everywhere around the world. It is time that we employ these energy-saving systems in the US.”

ECS Design (ecsdesign.net) will serve a role in training for commercial installation of Gree systems and expanding awareness of the company in California. Wong explains "We hope to begin installing Gree commercial systems and will be looking at larger distribution warehouses as we ramp up."

For more information contact ecs@ecsdesign.net.

About Gree
Gree (www.global.gree.com) is a multinational electric company focused on heating and air conditioning in the international market. In China it also manufactures electric appliances. It has a long history of supporting the Chinese government push toward a cleaner environment and green technology solutions. It had sales of (US) $22.9 billion in 2015. Gree is one of the largest female-led companies, operating under the leadership of President Dong Mingzhu since 2001. (http://www.makers.com/china/dong-mingzhu).

* Variable refrigerant flow is an HVAC technology that was invented in Japan by Daikin company in 1982. It uses refrigerant as both the cooling and heating medium and has gained popularity in many parts of the world, but has been slower to catch on in the US.

Omescape has brought three awesome escape games to San Jose with more to come

Escape games have become all the rage in the Bay Area, and for good reason--they are a lot of fun! The concept is simple, you are locked in a room and have an hour to solve a series of puzzles in order to get the key and escape. The puzzles are often very creative and require out-of-the-box thinking to solve.

Usually these games are very challenging (only 15-33% of teams escape). I have now done four of them and and have only escaped once, and I can tell you that every single time has been a blast including the three losses. You'll be thinking and talking about the game for days after it ends. I have to warn you that these can be very addicting.

Omescape was kind enough to invite me to try a game in their San Jose location. In 2014, the company opened its first Bay Area location in Richmond. They then opened the San Jose location late last year at 625 Wool Creek Dr, Ste E, San Jose 95112. Over 3,500 groups had already played in Richmond and 6,000+ individuals have played in San Jose. Omescape chose to open a location in San Jose since their target customers are smart, young professionals that are passionate about trying new things.

Currently Omescape San Jose has three rooms: Kingdom of Cats (easiest, 2-6 players), Dark Altar (medium difficulty, 4-6 players), and Joker's Asylum (very hard, 6-10 players). Since I have done a few escape rooms already, I asked to try Joker's Asylum which only has a 13% escape rate. It was by far the toughest room I have done, but we had an awesome team and managed to escape! There is not much I can tell you about the room without spoilers, but I will say the puzzles were very creative and the room(s) were well designed. They also heavily used technology to enhance the whole experience.

Two additional rooms are under construction right now. One will open next month (ToxiNation) and the last one will take another three months. After those are completed, Omescape San Jose will be the largest complex for escape games in the Bay Area.

As a special treat for everyone reading this right now, they have provided me with a coupon code good for 10% off any game. Head over here to check out their games and redeem the code!


Coupon Code: THESANJOSEBLOG
10% off

To redeem: Go to https://omescape.us/sanjose/book/ --> Pick the desired room by clicking "Book Now" -->  Choose a time and date --> Select the number of participants then click "Continue" --> Enter the code on the right column --> 10% discount will apply to the entire room rate.

Please note: The group must meet the minimum number of players required for the game room to make a booking, and once the booking is made, the room is exclusive to the group. If the group wants to add additional player(s) after the booking has been made, and the group is under the maximum number allowed for the room, they can just pay at Omescape once they arrive for the extra player(s).

Bentek Expanding San Jose Manufacturing Facilities

Bentek is a true homegrown San Jose Company that builds electrical products for a variety of industries. They were founded here in 1985 and still remain headquartered in San Jose (2350 Harris Way). They are adding 100,000 SQFT of manufacturing space at 1991 Senter Road in Central San Jose. The space will be used to build AC/DC power products for both the solar and semiconductor industries. Over the past three years alone, the company has grown from 100 to 240 employees, and they are expecting to continue growing in the near future.

Source: San Jose Economy Newsletter