San Jose home prices rose three times faster than US average

If you feel like housing prices are getting out of control, that is because they are. The economy has been doing quite well and US home values have risen an average over 7.1% from May 2017 to May 2018. In the San Jose metro, home prices rose a staggering 20.4%. We topped the appreciation list for all large metros in the country. This is good news for current homeowners, but bad for anyone hoping to buy a home here in the near future. Higher prices also mean more turnover for residents, which negatively impacts community building.

The average mortgage is now 51.2% of our median family income--a shocking stat that shows how unsustainable these prices are without further increases in salaries, which are already the highest in the nation. On a positive note, rents have at least stabilized.

Source: SVBJ,

August 2018 Downtown Dimension

The AUGUST 2018 Downtown Dimension is now available at:

https://sjdowntown.com/wp_2016/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/DTDAug2018_2.pdf

In this edition:

• San Jose Downtown Association Executive Editor Scott Knies reflects on 30 years of Downtown Dimension, SJDA's newsletter, which subscribers can receive by mail or digitally.
• Sharks sue over future arena parking.
• Empty storefront registry program kick-started.
• WeWork doubles downtown presence.
• Bitcoin company opens Silicon Valley office in downtown San Jose.
• Webcor also opens SV office. 
• SJDA's summer events continue through August.
• More buildings change owners.
• Another housing proposal filed with City of San Jose.
• SJDA hosts a candidates forum for Districts 7 and 9 at 8:30 a.m., Aug. 10 at San Jose Museum of Art.

Endless summer Wine Stroll at Santana Row

One of my favorite Santana Row events is back to close out the Summer. The Endless Summer Wine Stroll takes place on Thursday, August 16 from 6-9PM. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Bill Wilson Center, a local nonprofit organization that provides support to homeless runaway children and adults.

The event features tastings from Santa Cruz Mountain wineries, lite bites, DIY succulent terrariums, store discounts, live music, and perhaps a few surprises. There will also be a silent auction to benefit Bill Wilson Center located in Santana Row Park. Tickets are $40 and are available inside the Santana Row concierge or over here. 

Playful People Productions Presents: INTO THE WOODS

Playful People Productions Presents:

INTO THE WOODS

Once Upon A Time, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine wrote INTO THE WOODS, a magical musical comedy based on the fractured fairy tales of The Brothers Grimm. Sondheim and Lapines story asks the question: what would happen if all of our favorite storybook characters (and a couple of their own invention) ended up meeting one another in those magical woods? Sondheim and Lapine created a dark and funny story about a Witch's curse that condemns a Baker and his Wife to a life without children. The husband and wife so deeply want to have a child that they close up shop to embark on a quest through an enchanted forest to find the four items required by The Witch to break the spell: the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold.

There in the woods, the Baker and his wife happen upon the familiar storybook characters we all grew up reading and watching and pretending to be: Cinderella, on her way to the festival to dance with a prince; Rapunzel, held captive in a doorless tower by a wicked witch; Little Red Riding Hood, on her way to her Grandmothers house; The Wolf, who wants to eat Little Red Riding Hood for lunch; Jack and his magical beanstalk; and The Giant, who chases Jack down the beanstalk and back into the arms of his overly protective mother. We also encounter not one but two handsome princes, one mysterious man, a wicked Stepmother, two wicked stepsisters, Cinderellas indifferent father, the ghost of Cinderellas Mother, and many other magical and familiar characters you are sure to recognize. There's even an objective Narrator to help us keep all of these twisted stories straight. 

Will the Baker and his wife succeed in breaking the witch's curse? Will Cinderella marry her Prince? Will Rapunzel let down her hair? Will Little Red Riding Hood get to Granny's house in time to save her from the Wolfs belly? Will Jack slay the giant? And what happens after they all get their wish - even the Witch - and live happily ever after? Find out when Playful People Productions presents the full-length production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapines INTO THE WOODS. Two casts (Adult and Teen) are under the direction of New York-based theatre artists Gary De Mattei and Caryn Hartglass, the same team that brought our audiences FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and last seasons THE MUSIC MAN. You wont want to miss this, the final show of our summer season. With a small ensemble of professional musicians playing live onstage, and lovely costumes and scenery, INTO THE WOODS is sure to be a crowd-pleaser for audiences ages 9 years old and above. 

All Shows at the Historic Hoover Theatre, 1635 Park Ave  San Jose, CA 95126
 
Show Times:

Thursday, August 2nd - 2pm and 7pm

Friday, August  3rd - 2pm and 7pm

Saturday, August 4th - 2pm and 7pm

Sunday, August 5th - 2pm and 7pm

Tickets available at www.playfulpeople.net
$15 attendees 12 and up and  $10 children 11 and under
 
Tickets at the door (30 minutes prior to curtain)
$18 attendees 12 and up and $12 children 11 and under
 

For questions: Office.PlayfulPeople@gmail.com

July 2018 Downtown Dimension

The JULY 2018 Downtown Dimension is now available at:

https://sjdowntown.com/wp_2016/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/July2018DTD.pdf

In this edition:

• Google presents initial plans for west side of downtown, acquires more parcels and continues negotiations with City of San Jose for another nine parcels.
• Henry Coca, Jr. reflects on 61 years of family-run business as a fitness club company acquires historic building at Second and Santa Clara streets (Note: This story is extended at sjdowntown.com/sjda-news.
• Nineteen restaurants are involved in Dine Downtown Restaurant Week, starting July 13
• Buddy's San Jose Music in the Park is July 12 with Toots & The Maytals.
• SJSU President Mary Papazian reflects on growing university-downtown synchronicty.
• A second option for downtown medical care materializes.
• VTA proposes pilot program for railings along Second Street to minimize pedestrian-light-rail disruptions.
• The latest downtown high-rise proposal, this time an office tower at 200 Park Ave.
• New businesses, favored moments from the past and more.

Also available:

• Live and Local SJ to live music in the center city.
• Traffic alerts keep up with lane and road closures and openings.
• Groundwerx 10-year anniversary report covers the past decade of activities to improve the look and feel of downtown.
• Boom City: SJDA continues to update the roundup of new downtown building proposals and west side acquisitions.

Downtown Dimension is a leading source for information about downtown San Jose news, events and businesses.  Subscribe with a simple email to sjda@sjdowntown.com, subject line: Subscribe

Triple tower and new theater proposed in SoFA!

The latest high-rise proposal in Downtown San Jose is easily one of the most ambitious. Invicta Towers would consist of three (!) high-rise buildings between South Second and First Street Downtown. This is the heart of the SoFA district with several museums and theaters within a one block radius. The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, and MACLA would all practically be inside of the project (they are buildings between the towers in the first image).

Invicta would include 667 residential units and 41,500 SQFT of tail and public arts exhibition space. Part of that space would be a 12,000 SQFT theater for live performances. Tower A would be 295 feet tall and 27 stories, making it the 2nd-tallest tower Downtown.

Each tower would have at least one restaurant on the ground floor, but the project will support a total of 4-10 dining options. Parking would be in a 4-story below-grade parking structure.

While not mentioned in the article, the renders have a swimming pool on top of each of the towers, one covered and two uncovered. It looks like the amenity space will be on the penthouse floors, which is a great idea given the views from this location and our weather.

Hats off to developers, which are stepping up and continuing to raise the bar on Downtown proposals. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we'll get so see some more projects break ground before the end of the year.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose International overtakes Oakland as the Bay Area's 2nd busiest airport

After 17 years trailing Oakland International in terms of passenger numbers, SJC's incredible growth rate has brought the airport back to 2nd place. SFO still retains 68.3% of the passenger market while SJC's slice of the pie is 15.9% and Oakland is now at 15.8%.

San Jose International had by far the highest growth rate year-over-year among Bay Area airports. Between May 2017 to May 2018, passenger growth was up 17.1%. SFO was up 7% and Oakland was up 4.1%. This means all three airports are doing better than 2017, but ours is fairing particularly well.

The growth creates both direct and indirect benefits to San Joseans. The most obvious benefit is more flights and routes, which also tend to drive prices down as competition increases. Since the airport is owned by the city of San Jose, this increases tax dollars going into our coffers. Spending from visitors also bolsters our economy and is especially significant on international routes--which now make up over 8% of passenger traffic.

Source: SVBJ

Electric car company grows in San Jose

NIO, a Chinese EV startup, is doubling down in North San Jose. They are moving into a 100,362 SQFT building at 3100 N. First Street, which was previously home to Broadcom and Hitachi. NIO already employs 520 people in San Jose, so this is a positive sign that more high-tech jobs will be opening up soon.

NIO currently only manufactures a single car, the EP9. It's a $1.2M supercar with 1,341 horsepower that currently holds the electric car record for the Nurburgring and for the fastest autonomous lap at the Circuit of the Americas. Like Tesla they decided to start with a halo car and work their way down to cars the masses can afford. Their next car will be a 7-seat SUV called the ES8 that will compete with Tesla's Model X.

NIO has already raised $1 billion and are rumored to be gearing up for a US IPO that could raise another $2 billion. It's clear that the auto industry is going to look a lot different in 5-10 years than it does today. If NIO turns out to be another disruptor like Tesla, then San Jose has a lot to gain as the brand grows.

Source: SVBJ

Topgolf breaking ground in Alviso

Later this year, Topgolf will begin construction on their first Bay Area location. Topgolf is the Dave&Busters of driving ranges and has 41 locations nationwide (only one in California). The San Jose venue will have a three-story driving range with 120 hitting bays, each of which can accommodate six people. Each golf ball has a microchip that can score each golfer--turning it into more of a video game than a traditional range. 

Most Topgolfs are open until midnight during the week and 2am on the weekend. This would provide another much-needed late-night entertainment option for North San Jose and Aliviso. Of course there will be a high-end lounge, one or more restaurants, and several bars onsite. To put the size of the project in perspective, it will employ about 500 people and entertain 450,000+ guests each year.

In addition to the Topgolf, the overall development site will also have a 200-room hotel and 119,000 SQFT of retail. The project is being proposed without subsidies and would bring even more tax dollars to San Jose coffers. It's not clear how long it will take to build, but an opening by the end of 2020 would be a safe bet if there are no roadblocks.

Source: SVBJ

Viva Calle 2018 - Sep 23rd

One of my favorite events of the year returns in just couple of months. During Viva Calle SJ, miles of city streets will be completely shut down to let people walk, run, bike, or skateboard down the streets of San Jose.

Viva Calle features multiple activity hubs which are basically festivals-within-a-festival that highlight the local area. This year they will be located in SoFA, the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, and Martial Cottle Park. You can expect live music, vendors, food, activities, bike parking, and good times at all three hubs. In between the activity hubs you will still find all sorts of interesting stops, hydration stations, and stores.

Similar to last year, the route has been streamlined to just a single line without branching out. The route runs from SoFA all the way to Martial Cottle Park, which will showcase San Jose neighborhoods not featured in previous events.

Last year 130,000 people attended the event, which is up from 100,000 the year before. It's not clear if PokemonGo will be incorporated into Viva Calle like last year, but I would say the odds are good.

Viva Calle 2018 takes place on Sunday, September 23rd from 10am to 3pm (streets are closed until 4pm). It is completely free and has no designated beginning or end as it's not a race. You can use the handy map below to locate the routes and festivities. For more info, head over here. Hope to see you there!