New Year Predictions for 2013

2012 has been a good year for San Jose. The San Pedro Square Market has exploded, showing everyone that it is possible to have a successful new project in Downtown San Jose. The 49ers stadium and Earthquakes stadiums broke ground, both of which will contribute heavily to expanding our entertainment options and attract more tourism dollars into Silicon Valley. A flagship retailer, Muji, announced plans to come Downtown. The overall economy improved, unemployment fell, and millions of square feet of new office space are in the pipeline.

So what will 2013 bring? I think it's only going to get better, regardless of what happens with the fiscal cliff. Specifically, here are my predictions for the new year:

1.) More than two high-rise buildings will break ground in Downtown San Jose. We know about the Carlyle and One South Market, but I think we will see at least one more.

2.) A major transportation project will be greenlit: be it a BRT line, a Lightrail Expansion, or funding for the subway portion of the BART expansion to San Jose. The number of transit riders and bicyclists will rise.

3.) San Jose will have a stronger brand and identity by the end of the year. Many new cultural and art projects will happen Downtown, helping San Jose feel and look like the Capital of Silicon Valley.

4.) The Sharks will be back with a vengeance for the 2013-2014 Season.

5.) Downtown San Jose Office Vacancies will fall below 10%.

6.) The number of restaurants in Downtown San Jose will break 250 for the first time in history.

7.) We still have no decision on the A's stadium. However, you can expect a decision in 2014 before Bud Selig retires.

8.) San Jose will continue to dominate national rankings in salaries and quality of life.

9.) We will maintain our status as the safest US city with over 500,000 residents.

10.) The Golden Triangle and North First Street developments will accelerate, and we will attract at least one massive tech company to relocate to San Jose to compliment what is the largest cluster of tech companies in the world by a huge margin.

San Jose Marketing Consultant Launches Online Reality Show

15 "solopreneurs" are about to compete for $10,000 in an online reality show lead by Tea Silvestre, a San Jose Marketing Consultant. They will have to compete in weekly marketing challenges and are being mentored by a dozen industry experts. To learn more, have a look at the press release below or click here. The show premiers at the end of January.

BIGSTOCK signs on as Presenting Sponsor for Local Business Woman's Online Reality Show

If you've seen "The Amazing Race" or "Hell's Kitchen" then you're aware of how popular these reality TV competitions have become.

Welcome to "Prosperity’s Kitchen" -- a 12-week online marketing course structured like a reality TV show. Fifteen contestants will compete to win a $10,000 prize package. And BIGSTOCK, one of the world's leading royalty-free image companies, is the presenting sponsor.

PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN premieres this January and will feature 15 solopreneurs learning and competing for a $10,000 prize package. The contestants will be taught by 

Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef, a San Jose-based Marketing Consultant who will also be joined by 12 guest mentors including several authors and other influencers.

It is the first reality web sponsorship for BIGSTOCK, one of the leading royalty-free stock image companies serving the small biz community online.

“To have BIGSTOCK choose Prosperity’s Kitchen as their first reality web series sponsorship is an incredible tribute to our program,” said executive producer Tea Silvestre. “Their support will help us maintain the high quality mix of instruction and entertainment for the small biz audience that drew them to PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN in the first place."

“The PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN audience of solopreneurs and freelancers makes up a significant portion of the BIGSTOCK community – from the person who submits images to the designer or blogger who uses them,” says BIGSTOCK General Manager Ben Pfeifer. “Sponsoring this innovative program allows us to support both sides of this model, and encourage independent creativity through licensed visual media.”

As part of the partnership, BIGSTOCK will provide stock images to Prosperity’s Kitchen for their use in developing the series as well as prize packages of image assets for the program’s winners.

BIGSTOCK’s first “on-air” web sponsorship messages will begin on January 21st, with the broadcast of the first episode of “Prosperity’s Kitchen.” The company will also be part of an episode mid-season that talks about content creation and how to best-use stock images in marketing materials.

Funding for the Prosperity’s Kitchen series also is provided by Play-at-Home viewers, with additional support from BLUE HOST web hosting and ANYMEETING web meeting services.

Prosperity’s Kitchen is a Word Chef Enterprises production.

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ABOUT PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN

Prosperity’s Kitchen is a 12-week reality web edutainment series that aims to teach solopreneurs and micro business owners how to market themselves effectively online. Structured like a reality TV competition, 15 contestants will tackle weekly marketing missions in order to showcase what they’ve learned. The contestants are divided into teams of three and will be advised and mentored by Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef, as well as 12 other high profile marketing experts. The contestant who outperforms their cohorts will take home the $10,000 prize package (a mix of cash and prizes). Learn more at prosperityskitchen.com

ABOUT WORD CHEF ENTERPRISES

WCE is wholly owned and operated by Tea Silvestre of San Jose, CA. Tea is widely regarded as one of the top marketers in the world of small business. She’s the author of “Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd: How Thinking Like a Chef Can Help You Build a Solid Business,” as well as the founding producer of the ground-breaking web series, “Prosperity’s Kitchen.”

Tea’s writing is often seen on some of the biggest blogs on the Internet, including Copyblogger, Problogger and MarketingProfs. She’s also a frequent speaker at entrepreneurial events across the globe. Learn more at thewordchef.com

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 2nd Best City for Men

San Jose has been ranked the 2nd best city for men by Men's Health Magazine. Over 38 different criteria were used such as air quality, unemployment, cost of living, death rates, commute hours, property crime, and even the ratio of single men to women (which we did not do well in). After all was said and done, we got the silver medal with SF a step below at 3rd place. One other notable comment, out of all 100 cities evaluated San Jose had the lowest percentage of smokers.

Top 10 List

1 Boise, ID 
2 San Jose, CA 
3 San Francisco, CA 
4 Plano, TX 
5 Seattle, WA 
6 Burlington, VT 
7 Austin, TX 
8 Salt Lake City, UT 
9 Madison, WI 
10 Portland, OR

Read more at Men's Health: http://www.menshealth.com/best-life/best-cities-men/page/3#ixzz2Fp7z0mtI

Samsung Expanding New San Jose HQ to 1,100,000 SQFT?

Unless there is a typo in Samsung's press release below, it sounds like they have expanded their plans for a flagship campus in North San Jose! Instead of clocking in at 650,000 sqft, they are now aiming for over a million square feet. I'm not sure if all of that will arrive in the first phase or if they are planning to do another building in the future, but reading this sure was a nice surprise today.

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SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media, digital convergence technologies and advanced semiconductor solutions, continues to expand its operations in Silicon Valley by investing more resources in its existing R&D centers and establishing new innovation centers.

Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. (SSI) announced plans to build a 1.1 million square foot sales and R&D headquarters on the current site of its semiconductor and display panel businesses, north of downtown San Jose. The building, designed by global architecture firm NBBJ, will be comprised of a 10-story tower, an amenity pavilion and parking garage. The design seeks to encourage interaction among staff, foster connections with the community and provide a space to attract employment in the highly competitive tech market, which is growing at a faster pace than overall employment.

Source: Engadget

Trumark is Building 94 Townhomes in East San Jose

Trumark and Resmark are building out 4.4 acres of land at 1328 North Capital Avenue. The project is called Centered on Capital and will feature 94 townhomes. The overall density is 21 homes per acre, which is pretty high. The project sits right between the North Capital and Berryessa Lightrail stations, both of which are less than a 5min walk away. The Berryessa Corners Shopping Center is also within walking distance.

Source: SJBJ

Joint Venture Index of Silicon Valley 2012

It turns out I never posted stats from the 2012 Joint Venture report evaluating the current status of our region. Here are a few of my favorite bits from the report:

• 42,000 jobs were added in the past year (2011)
• Silicon Valley employment increased 3.8% in 2011, versus 1.1% nationwide
• All major areas of economic activity experienced growth from 2010-2011, except for the "Other Manufacturing" category which includes space and defense manufacturing
• Patent registrations increased by 30%. Silicon Valley accounts for 49% of statewide patents and 12% of all patents in the country
• Venture investment in cleantech doubled over the previous year. Silicon Valley has 34% of the total California investment in cleantech
• 46% of 2011 IPOs were from Silicon Valley
• Half of the SV population speaks a language other than English at home.
• Between 2010 and 2011, Silicon Valley population increased by 1% (it was 0.7% for California)
• High school graduation rates increased by 1% to 88% (versus 81% in California)
• 43% of all Silicon Valley households now have household income over $100k (compared to 26% in California and 20% in the US)
• The regions solar capacity increased by 41% from 2010 to 2011 (versus 21% statewide)
• Transit ridership per capita increased 4.9% in 2011

Click here to read the entire report (Warning: PDF link).

Downtown San Jose is Getting Illuminated!

Here is a nice little Christmas present for all those that live, work, or play in Downtown San Jose. Two highway underpasses are about to get painted in LED artwork, which you can see below. The first is the main gateway to the Downtown San Jose core--where 87 passes over Santa Clara Street. This important area connects the HP Pavilion and Diridon Station with the rest of Downtown. Right now, it's pretty gloomy and can feel less than inviting if you are walking by yourself. However, that is about to change. Tons of LED lights donated by San Jose-based Philips Lumileds are going under the overpass along with colorful paint that will pop when hit by the lights.

The second underpass is the where 87 passes over San Fernando Street. This project is a bit more modest but the effect is the same. Artists are taking a gloomy overpass and turning it into an attraction. The photo shows blue and green lights, but with LEDs there is always a possibility of making the lighting dynamic.

All of this is made possible by a program called Illuminating Downtown, which received a $600k grant from ArtPlace America and other contributions from the SJDA. These first two lighting projects should be complete by fall 2013. I believe there will be two other areas that are getting lit as well, but am not 100% certain about that. In addition, they are also talking to high-rise residential apartment owners that are looking to illuminate their buildings (The 88 did a GREAT job with this and Axis isn't too shabby either).

I think this is a big step towards making San Jose look like the capital of Silicon Valley. Personally, I can't wait to see these two projects completed. This is showing that Downtown San Jose is moving in the right direction when it comes to public art and creating a more inviting atmosphere. Growdwerx is also doing a great job when it comes to lighting up parts of Downtown.

2013 is going to be a great year!

Source: SVBJ

Highway 87 & Santa Clara Street


Highway 87 & San Fernando Street

Merry Christmas!

Everyone at The San Jose Blog warmly wishes you and your family a great Holiday Season! Don't forget to check out our tree at Christmas in the Park =)

The VTA Holly Trolly is Back!

From the VTA Website

Feel it all over again on VTA's Holly Trolley! VTA will roll-out its Holly Trolley uniting the nostalgia of the past with the young and young at heart! Whether your plan is to visit Christmas in the Park, ice skate under the palms or dine in downtown San Jose's many restaurants, the Trolley will get you there and...the ride is FREE!

Operating between the Civic Center and San Jose Diridon light rail stations, the Trolley will surely get you and your family into the spirit of the season. The Holly Trolley will make its magical journey only during the holiday season, so be sure to Hop Onboard Today!

You can catch VTA's Free Holly Trolley every weekend*, from November 30 through December 30; Fridays from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and weekends from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

To get on board, stop by a Holly Trolley light rail station nearest you!  The Holly Trolley will travel through downtown San Jose with stops at the Civic Center Station through the San Jose Dirdon Transit Center. For a complete schedule, click on Schedule Information or call 408-321-2300.

VTA Holly Trolley Service Hours*

Fridays                             6:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Saturdays & Sundays       2:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Look for more details on VTA's Facebook page and celebrate the season with VTA!

*Weather permitting.

Top San Jose Christmas Decorations 2012

This holiday season, be sure to check out Lights of the Valley to see the most decked out homes in San Jose. These are really something to visit in person and many even have light shows synchronized to music. The website has a handy map that lets you check which ones you want to see and prints out directions hitting all of those spots. Again, the Lights of the Valley website is right over here.

Happy Holidays!