Caltrain is officially running electric trains from San Jose to SF

Caltrain hosted a launch party at the Palo Alto station over the weekend for their new electrified trains. The trains are much fasters, allowing for more stops while still cutting travel times significantly. They are also much smoother and quieter and it seems like the interiors are quite a bit of an upgrade as well. You can experience this for yourself immediately on Caltrain stations between San Jose and San Francisco. Only South County stations (Morgan Hill and Gilroy) will stay on diesel.

Source: homebucket from Skyscraper City

More details on proposed Diridon Station improvements in Downtown San Jose

Diridon Station is planning a major transformation in the coming years (and perhaps decades) as it become the Grand Central Station of the West Coast and boy is there a lot to unpack here. First let's start with the good news. Service will be expanded across the board. Caltrain will triple their service from 4 trains an hour during peak times to 12 in each direction. Capitol Corridor will go from 6 trains a day to 11. ACE is planning one extra train. VTA Light Rail will increase service by 50% and buses by 12%. TAMC will add 4 trains a day to/from Salinas. Last but very much not least, High Speed Rail will have 4 trains per hour in both directions.

So far so good. There are three proposed alignments for the future station improvements. Elevated tracks, at-grade, and stacked. Below are some of the key comparisons and a few renders.

And now the bad news... the cost. Transportation transformation does not come cheap. These improvements are estimated to cost between $2.5 and $13 BILLION dollars. Those are today's dollars, not 2040 dollars factoring for inflation. Also, this doesn't even include BART which is a separate project.

To put the ridiculousness of those costs into perspective, the entire cost of San Jose Mineta International Airport's Terminal B is $1.8 billion in 2023 dollars. The cheapest proposal is more expensive than half of our airport!

The most expensive proposal for one station would build an airport two times the size of SJC. That one station would cost more than the entire four-station BART subway from Berryessa to Santa Clara. It is a completely stunning cost, and not in a good way.

Source: Diridon Join Policy Advisory Board

RIP Apollo tower, site of proposed San Jose high-rise sold to VTA

The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) has purchased two parcels of land that were meant to meant to become a 20-story, Las Vegas-style, 472-unit tower at the corner of Stockton Avenue and Santa Clara Street. The design was quite striking as you can see below.

The VTA is going to use this parcel for the first phase of California High Speed Rail, which might actually beat BART to Downtown San Jose. If the tower was built, the costs to complete Diridon would rise exponentially.

Hopefully this design could be reused on another Urban Catalyst project in Downtown San Jose.

Source: SVBJ

Urban Catalyst proposes a residential mid-rise by Diridon

Urban Catalyst does not seem to be slowing down one bit when it comes to new development proposals. Their latest endeavor is Madera @ Downtown West, a 157-unit apartment complex near where Google plans to build their San Jose megacampus of up to 8 million SQFT.

Madera will have 49 studios, 14 one-bedroom, 14 two-bedroom, 26 three-bedroom, and 54 four-bedroom apartments. I'm happy to see a large number of studios and 3-4 bedroom units as theses are rare products in the San Jose apartment and condo markets. In fact, I'm quite shocked at there being 54 four-bedroom apartments as there are typically only a couple of these in each Downtown San Jose high-rise building and they are extremely expensive penthouses. This building might actually be family-friendly.

While it is only eight-stories, it is located in a medium density area that still has a large number of single family homes. This will certainly be an upgrade for the block, especially with ground-floor retail. The project is bound by 486-498 W. San Carlos St. and 332-338 Josefa St and it will replace a few small commercial buildings and a vacant house.

Construction could start as early as July 2021 and take two years to complete.

Source: SVBJ

Diridon-SJC People Mover concepts

Last year, Mayor Sam Liccardo started collecting innovative ideas for connecting Diridon to both SJC and Stevens Creek (Santana Row, Valley Fair, Apple HQ, etc.). He received several interesting proposals ranging from autonomous pods, monorails, handing trains, and hyperloops. The goal would be to use a system with significantly lower costs than the current mass transit options and a shorter deployment time.

The only option that I think is truly feasible at a low cost would be a loop (not hyperloop), which the Boring Company is currently building in Las Vegas to connect various parts of their sprawling convention center. It might be possible for a couple hundred million (including stations) and everything would be underground, minimizing conflicts with other modes of transportation and completely taking weather out of the equation. It would also be scaleable to other parts of San Jose with much additional effort.

Our current transit options are failing us, so I have to applaud the city for thinking outside the box to make these two transit hubs together as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

Source: SVBJ

Massive residential project proposed near Diridon Station

Miramar Capital and Pinion Property Company are proposing 762 new residences between McEvoy St. and Dupont Street. This is just a little south from Diridon Station, which will eventually become Northern California's transit center.

The exact height and massing are still under consideration, but it will include one or more midrise buildings with courtyards like the rendering below. The housing would replace one and two-story commercial and industrial buildings.

Source: SVBJ

Google's vision for Diridon takes shape

We are getting closer and closer to the most significant mixed use project in Downtown San Jose history. Last month, the Station Area Advisory Group (SAAG) provided the first public viewing for the initial Diridon Station plan. The key principles for the project are locating jobs and housing near transit, connecting people to nature, creating partnerships, and making sure the San Jose brand is represented.

The numbers being thrown around for this project are surreal. 5.5 million SQFT of new office space followed by another million SQFT on the San Jose Water building site, 3,000-5,000 new housing units, 500,000 SQFT of retail/arts/hotel space, and 15 acres of green spaces.

It will take many years if not decades for this to all come together, but the direction is both promising and exciting.

Source: SJ Economy Blog

VTA calling for innovative transit ideas to connect SJC

The VTA as well as the cities of San Jose, Santa Clara, and Cupertino are looking for ideas on how to quickly move people between SJC and various parts of Silicon Valley. They want these ideas by September 30th.

Specifically, this consortium is looking for grade-separated mass transit at a significantly lower cost than traditional projects in two segments. The first is integrating SJC and Diridon such that they are viewed as a single facility--which would be amazing! I remember being completely shocked when visiting Hong Kong and realizing there was a special Airport train line where you can check your suitcases at the train station, hop on the train, and walk straight to security. Something that well integrated might not be part of the plan, but there are many airports in the US with people movers between terminals. How cool would it be if Diridon felt like it was just a quick terminal transfer away from the airport?

The second route would link the airport to three urban villages along Steven's Creek (I'm sure Santana Row is one of them), Santa Clara, Cupertino, and DeAnza College. This is a high-traffic route and extending BART or Light Rail down this way would cost billions of dollars.

It sounds like this RFI (request for ideas) is a way to legally satisfy the common government requirement of getting multiple bidders for each project. There is literally only one company right now that might be able to pull off something like this at a low cost, and it is The Boring Company. They are already designing an underground loop for the new Las Vegas Convention Center Expansion at a cost of about $10 million a mile. For less than the cost of the two-stop Eastridge light rail extension, we could connect SJC, Downtown San Jose, Santana Row, Santa Clara, and Cupertino with a fast and direct point-to-point transit system.

This could be the beginning of a whole new era in transportation that blends public and personal transportation together. San Jose should be leading the charge, innovation is our middle name!

Source: SVBJ

Diridon Community Engagement Event: May 4 at SJ Museum of Art

The SJSU Master of Urban Planning Program is hosting an open house along with CommUniverCity to discuss how Diridon can be better connected to the rest of Downtown San Jose. In addition to some thoughtful discussion, the event has free food, activities, and entertainment and will take place this Saturday, May 4th from 10am to 2pm at the San Jose Museum of Art (also worth checking out).

You can RSVP over here.

What's Going on, Diridon?

The SJSU Urban Planning Department and CommUniverCity are hosting a community event to educate San Joseans about the Diridon Integrated Station Concept. As many of you know, Diridon will become one of the busiest transit hubs in the country over the coming decade--especially when the BART and High Speed Rail connections are complete. This event will provide some insights on what is already being planning and give you the opportunity to share your two cents.

There will also be free food, games, and raffles! The event takes place at the Poor House Bistro (87 South Autumn St., San Jose) on Saturday, December 1st, from 11am to 1:30pm.

750 unit "co-living" project proposed Downtown

You may have heard of co-working, which is multiple companies and entrepreneurs sharing a collective space... but how about co-living? It is exactly what you think it is, dorm rooms for adults.

With rents hitting astronomical levels, we need to start providing some creative options so that more people can afford to live in San Jose. Co-living can triple the number of people that can live in an acre, while proving far more affordable rents.

Starcity wants to build a 750-unit building near Diridon at 199 Bassett Street. The 0.77 acre site would feature a building as tall as 18-stories with private rooms and shared spaces such as living rooms and kitchens. Residents do typically have their own micro-kitchen and restroom.

It's an innovative approach that could help us ramp up supply quickly and drive housing prices and rents down, or at least maintain them where they are today.

Source: SVBJ

New renders of "DIRIDON" project

Trammell Crow's iconic mixed-use project at Diridon station has a slightly updated look and a name change. Now it is called "DIRIDON" instead of #Diridon. This is a critical project in Downtown San Jose as it is next to what will eventually become the busiest transit station on the West Coast. DIRIDON is of commensurate scale--it clocks in at a whopping 940,000 SQFT of office space, 325 apartments, and 35,000 SQFT of retail.

The office space will be built across two massive (wide not tall) towers with giant floor plates and tall ceilings. A tech company would be able to nab about 80,000 SQFT of contiguous floor space thanks to connectors between the towers. The ground floor of the towers will have the retail, restaurants, and gathering spaces. The historic Water Company building will probably be turned into a restaurant as well.

The 325 apartments will reside in a 10-story tower next to the office buildings. There will be about 4,500 SQFT of retail on the ground floor of this tower. A cycling shop was mentioned in the article as a potential use of that space given the proximity of the Guadalupe River Trail. Parking for all three towers will primarily be underground.

Trammel Crow is planning to build this speculatively without a confirmed tenant and construction could happen as soon as the second half of 2016 (yup, this year!).

Source: SVBJ

New Tech Campus Coming to Downtown San Jose!!!

Downtown San Jose is growing by leaps and bounds when it comes to residential development and retail, but has not been getting a lot of love from commercial developers. That is going to change with a very exciting project on Santa Clara street near Diridon station and the SAP Center.

Trammel Crow is a developer that acquired an 8.5 acre plot of land from Adobe for $58.5 million. Adobe was planning to build an expansion of their headquarters in this area, but instead reconfigured their existing three towers to support a larger number of employees (no more private offices for every employee). I think it was actually for the better. While I'm a huge fan of Adobe and believe they play a vital role Downtown, if they were to build out their expansion it would likely not have been very inclusive to the whole community. Trammel Crow on the other hand is planning the exact opposite.

I'm going to start with the quote from the developer that Nathan ended his SVBJ article with:

"We’ve committed ourselves to making it iconic," he said. "We think it will be a landmark in the South Bay."

Iconic sounds right. Trammel Crow want to build 800,000 SQFT of office space across two buildings 10-12 stories tall. This would be a 10% expansion of all the office space currently in Downtown San Jose today and the first major office project to break ground since 2010. 400,000 SQFT of the project would be built speculatively without requiring a signed tenant. This would also be Class A++ premium office space with huge 40,000 SQFT floor plates and soaring ceilings popular with tech companies.

There would be 325 apartment units in a separate nine-story building. The whole site would be sprinkled with shops and restaurants and even feature a large public plaza along West Santa Clara Street. The beautiful and historic San Jose Water Company building would be renovated and repurposed. 2,400 parking spaces would be built to support the whole project, mostly underground... but hopefully most people won't be driving here.

A big attraction to this spot for the developer is the access to transit at Diridon Station. They are even tentatively calling the project #Diridon. With Caltrain, Light Rail, Capital Corridor, ACE, and a VTA bus hub, this is already one of the most important transit hubs in California. In the future Diridon will also be getting multiple Bus Rapid Transit lines, BART, and California High-Speed Rail. Even the $2 billion Transbay Terminal will not be as well connected as Diridon.

Trammel is expecting to get their building permits in Q1 2016, start construction in the summer, and have the first office building ready for occupancy by the end of 2017. The apartments are slated for 2018. They are also promising a signature look that will make the project a South Bay landmark. I cant's wait to see the first drawings for this!

Source: SVBJ, Hat tip to Josh Russell for sending this in!

New Residential Project Near Whole Foods Downtown!

Developer Dan Hudson has his eye on 138 Stockton Ave, which is in an ideal location near the new Whole Foods, Diridon Station, the SAP Center, and the Downtown Core. A couple weeks ago Hudson Companies turned in a plan for seven-story residential project on a 1.7-acre parcel that would have 166 units and almost 9,000 SQFT of retail space. You can see a preliminary drawing of the proposed project below.

Unfortunately, there is no commercial space being included as part of this project. With such great proximity to public transit (Caltrain, Bus Rapid Transit, Light Rail, and eventually BART and HSR), this site would be ideal to have some at least one floor of offices. Don't get me wrong, I'm still thrilled to see this proposal in the area. However, we do need to increase the balance of office space versus residential in the Downtown area at some point this decade to make sure the local economy is balanced and we don't remain the largest city in the US that has a larger population at night than during the daytime.

Source: SVBJ, Hat-tip to Andy Wasklewicz for sending this in.

Diridon Station Plan Moves Forward

The master plan for the Diridon area was approved by the San Jose City Council last week. The vision includes up to 5 million SQFT of office/R&D--which is not far away from what all of Downtown San Jose has today (8 million SQFT)--as well as 2,600 residential units, 900 hotel rooms, and 424,000 SQFT of retail.

It is ambitious, but after BART, Bus Rapid Transit, and High Speed Rail connect to Diridon it will be far and away the best connected station in the Bay Area. For more info or to get involved in the planning from the community side, head over to the Diridon Station Area Plan website.

Source: SVBJ

Grand Plans for the Diridon Station

Some very exciting changes are in store for the Diridon area. It's a key transit hub in the bay area that connects Caltrain, Light Rail, Ace, Capital Corridor, Amtrak, and multiple Bus lines. By the end of 2012 it will also be home to a bike sharing station and by the end of the decade it should also house BART and High Speed Rail. It very well may become one of the busiest transportation depots in the US someday. Add to that a potential ballpark across the street, and you have an area with a lot of potential.

Below are some images from the planning department showing 3 planned "zones" the Diridon area is being divided into.  The innovation zone is going to be focused around housing emerging companies, the central zone will feature retail and entertainment, and the southern zone will be primarily residential. A lot of thought has also been put into an art plan that will blanket all three zones. Have a look at some of the images below for more on the overall vision!