San Jose Public Market Updates

Last week a few more details were revealed regarding the San Jose Public market. The first 2 tenants have been announced! Taking the anchor spot on San Pedro St. will be Barefoot Coffee. Specializing in fresh organic coffee and based in San Jose (with only a single retail location in Santa Clara off of Stevens Creek), I'm sure this will be a perfect fit for the Public Market. High-end restaurants like Manresa and Parcel 104 choose Barefoot Coffee to serve, as does Zanatto's Markets.

The second tenant, Veggielution, is just as interesting. These guys started on a mission to bring sustainable food to San Jose. They began growing fresh produce in the backyards of homes in Downtown San Jose and now have a one acre urban farm in Emma Prusch Farm Park (less than 2 miles away from Downtown). The only way to get produce more locally grown than Veggielution would be to have a farm on the roof of the Public Market itself.

So far, I think we're off to a great start. Both of these vendors will help create a unique experience that you won't be able to find anywhere else, and I think they'll draw people from outside the immediate area Downtown as well.

Zipcar Comes to the South Bay!

Yesterday we hit a huge milestone. The largest car sharing program in the world finally comes to the south bay!  Why is this important? Well for starters, it helps reduce the need to own a car in Silicon Valley. Our public transportation system needs a tremendous amount of improvement, and car sharing allows public transit users to have quick and easy access to use a car to get to places inaccessible via transit. Zipcar users also don't have to worry about all of the pains that come along with car ownership like insurance, car maintenance, gas, etc. I know plenty of people in SF that live perfectly fine (and less expensively) without owning a car thanks to Zipcar and similar companies.

The first Zipcar location is going to be in the Bannon parking log at my alma matter, Santa Clara University. While not technically in San Jose, it's sure close enough. I'm sure students will be using the cars primarily to go party Downtown and shop at Santana Row/Valley Fair. Success is a certainty, and hopefully it will mean more Zipcar locations in South Bay. I'm going to go ahead and suggest the garage below The 88 Downtown as an awesome location for this (The 88 residents + Safeway + central downtown location + easy access).

Anyway, I think it's time to meet the first 2 Zipcars in the South Bay:

January 2010 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The 2009 Jim Fox Golden Nail Award goes to the developers of the Wilcox building (Billy Birks & Mezcal)
• Plans for the future high-speed rail station in downtown San Jose call for walls as high as 87 feet, which some fear will create a "Berlin Wall" between midtown and downtown. The SJDA is pushing to reconsider an underground station.
• Steve Borkenhagen will deliver a presentation on the San Jose Public Market Jan 13. at the Theatre on San Pedro Square, 2:30pm.
• SLG Publishing is starting a new series of comic festivals. The next one will be Jan 16 at 577 S. Market St.
• Fremont Bank is opening on 160 W. Santa Clara.
• Cafe One changed owners and should have some new menu options.
• Plans to improve St. James Park have been delayed due to budget cuts.
• The last "Destination Downtown" event brought in over 500 potential high-rise condo purchasers, resulting in at least 3 sales and several reservations. (This event coincided with both a South First Friday and Christmas in the Park, great choice in timing).

To read the full newsletters, click here!

Little Italy San Jose

Another very interesting project that seems to be progressing nicely is Little Italy San Jose in the River Street area of San Jose (first settlement of Italian Americans to San Jose during the late 19th century). You can see this location in the first image below. Highway 87 is just to the right of that photo and the area is bound by Almaden Blvd to the east and St. John St. to the south.

The idea is to fill the lease-able areas in this district with Italian businesses, to have 3 welcome arches into the area, and to utilize the 87 underpass to connect the Little Italy with the proposed Italian Cultural Center off Notre Dame Ave (second image below), San Pedro Square, and the new San Jose Public Market. This new district will be minutes away from Axis by foot.

I've been reading up on the Little Italy San Jose Blog and Facebook page, and it looks like they have already leased out 2 spaces. The first is to the Sabatino Memorial Family Resource Center, basically an after-school program where kids can learn the Italian language along with Italian culture. I attended something similar when I was a kid for Portuguese language and culture, and I have to say it was worthwhile. The second business is a restaurant currently located in redwood city called Siciliano Ristorante. I always get excited when any new restaurant comes to downtown, so I'll definitely be there opening month.

Like the Public Market, I'll be keeping close tabs on this project and will post short blurbs whenever I get news or find out about new retail. Couple images below, again the first is the Little Italy region and the second is the proposed Italian Cultural Center.

Welcome to 2010!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to an exciting and prosperous 2010!

"Fireworks over Downtown San Jose" by Jeff Henderson

Photos From Morocco's Distance

As described in a previous post, Morocco's restaurant in Downtown San Jose hosted an amazing dinner theater experience called Distance earlier in December. Now that the event has ended, I can post a few photos from the performance. I'm hoping they will bring this show back (or something similar) at some point in the future!

San Jose Public Market Vision

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Maida and Steve Borkenhagen from the San Jose Public Market. Both Mike and Steve actually live, work, and play in downtown San Jose (Steve's family also owns and operates Eulipia). They are both extremely passionate and invested in the future success of Downtown San Jose, and I was honored to receive from them one of the first behind-the-scenes tours of what will soon become the Public Market.

This will just be the first post of many related to the Public Market, as it has become my #1 favorite project in Downtown San Jose that I feel confident will be completed in 2010. When I first heard about this, I thought: what an amazing concept... A ferry building-style market in San Pedro Square? No way it's going to built anytime soon, and if it every does come to fruition it'll be a radical departure from the initial vision. Well folks, I have good news. This is going to happen as originally planned, and the doors are scheduled to open THIS summer. The financing has been acquired, permits have been received, and buildings are being retrofitted and built as we speak.

What I would really like to talk about today, is about the vision for the Public Market. After meeting with Steve and Mike, I didn't get the impression at all that this is going to be a cookie-cutter mini-replica of San Francisco's Ferry Building or Seattle's Pike Place. This is going to be an innovative new concept that both integrates with and enhances the burgeoning San Jose culture. This won't just be a place to buy fresh produce or grab a snack, you will be entertained and immersed in art as well as San Jose history.

I like to categorize things, so I'm going to put the art and entertainment plan for the SJPM into 3 different categories:
1.) Live music and performances. There will be a central stage surrounded by Public Market stores which will feature live entertainment on a daily basis. This aspect is perhaps akin to Park Valencia in Santana Row 
2.) Dynamic art. The first major installation of dynamic art in Downtown San Jose that blew me away was at The 88. Anyone can dial a phone number and completely change the color patterns of the 4-story LED display on the side of a high-rise condo building (FYI the number is 408-287-0128, put in 3 digits then 0 to change the color pattern). The Public Market is going to take this concept of dynamic art to another level with a project should be more dynamic and encompass a larger area.
3.) Spontaneous/Viral Art. This is where it should get really fun. The plan is to make the Public Market a place where every time you visit, you will never know what to expect. This is where the SJ art community can really get involved and come up with some creative ideas. I think the best way to describe this type of viral art is by showing you this video.

Next up in future posts will be information on the retail mix the Public Market is going for as well as some photos comparing what currently exists with the the future plan. Also if you have ideas on what you would like to see in the Public Market, please post them in the comments. Thanks!

A Little San Jose Holiday Spirit

If you want to see the most impressive holiday setups outside of Christmas in the Park, look no further than Lights of the Valley (www.lightsofthevalley.com). San Jose has a number of homeowners that went all out this year. Some of these even have a light show synchronized to music accessible through an FM radio station when you drive next to the home. Nothing beats some free enterntainment to put you in the holiday mood. The San Jose homes mentioned in Lights of the Valley are:

• 1401 AND 1405 Glacier Dr. (first 2 photos below)
• 1370 Vallejo Dr.
• 1664 Pinkstone Ct.
• 1785 Patio Dr (4th photo below)
• 1851 Cherry Ave
• 1925 E. Campbell Ave
• 2056 Cirone Way
• 2102 Peachtree Lane
• 546 Atlanta Ave (3rd photo below)
• 6226 Hancock Ave
• 6379 Nueva Ave
• 6408 San Anselmo Way (last photo below)
• 6470 Mojave Dr.

To see photos and videos of each home click here or perhaps you can do some quick Google mapping and jump in the car with your friends, family, or both. (Quick update: the Google mapping has been done for you by an Anonymous Santa's Helper below, click here to see where all of the home are!)