Two New Potential Projects!

From the San Jose Development Forum, Posted by xThomasTroublex:


Fourth Street Apartments

First Community Housing will build 100 energy-efficient apartments (one, two and three-bedrooms) on a .79 acre site downtown located two blocks from light rail. This multifamily housing includes two stories of structured parking, with a landscaped courtyard providing open space, a seventh floor terrace and a demonstration green “living” roof.



Fisher Friedman Associates, AIA, an award-winning architectural firm, designed the nine story building.

* On-Site Manager and Maintenance Staff
* Laundry Facility
* Community Room/Lounge
* Computer Lab
* Play structure
* Picnic Tables/BBQ
* Each unit wired for Internet access
* Energy-efficient windows
* Free annual transit pass (Eco Pass)

Housing Choices Coalition (HCC) will provide Resident Services Coordination to Fourth Street residents with developmental disabilities, and facilitate communication between these residents and property management, providing one point of contact for the purposes of continuity and comprehensive communication. This includes a comprehensive marketing and screening process to ensure that appropriate services are in place before a client signs a lease. HCC will work with these special needs residents to create a sense of community and to encourage a support network among their neighbors and friends.

Second Street Studios

First Community Housing is proposing to build 134 energy-efficient studio and one-bedroom apartments at the corner of South Second Street and Keyes Street over ground-level retail. Thirty-five percent of the units will be set aside for the developmentally disabled population and those who require in-home services.



Rob Wellington Quigley, AIA is an award-winning architectural firm that designed the building. The current plan includes 11,211 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, with on-site parking for customers, employees, and residents. The building is registered in the LEED for Homes Mid-rise pilot program incorporates a living roof, and is expected to receive a LEED Gold or Platinum certification.

Second Street Studios will showcase innovative, green building materials and systems developed in Silicon Valley. The US Green Building Councils LEED certification program credits buildings that use regional materials within a 500 mile radius. The Second and Keyes building will focus more specifically on the influence and innovation of the Silicon Valley. LEED defines locally sourced materials as those building materials or products that have extracted, harvested or recovered, as well as manufactured, within proximity to the site.

Friday Flowers - Part 4

This is the final part in our weekly Spring feature showing off Kathy's work at Santana Row. If you've enjoyed the photos and are in need of a photographer, just let me know and I'll put you in touch with my wife. And of course, if you know anyone that needs a floral architect, Kathy's contact information is below. Time to unwind and enjoy the flowers!

Kathy Finley
Finley Landscape Design
(925) 785-5501
kathy@finleylandscape.com

Earth Day Idea: Bike Sharing

A few days ago I stumbled upon an article talking about a bike sharing program in Denver. Starting today, Denver residents will be able to rent a bike Zipcar-syle for $5 a day, $20 a week, $30 a month, or $65 a year. This is the part that's really cool... if a bicyclist can pick up and return a bike within 30min, it's free. Over 400 bikes will be available across multiple stations throughout, giving Denver the largest bike-share program in the US. There's a little Silicon Valley in there too... bikers each get a personal account page which tracks how many miles you've traveled, carbon offset, calories burned, money saved, etc.

Why am I telling you all this about Denver? I think this is simply a phenomenal concept. I wish we thought of it first! We have an amazing bicycling community here and you need to look no further than San Jose Bike Party as a shining example of this. Biking is a great way to reduce traffic and pollution, live healthier, and build a unique culture. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so I say we compliment Denver by shamelessly taking their concept and implementing it here as well. Perhaps we can even do a little to make it our own (electric-assisted hybrid bikes like the ones we may see at the San Pedro Square Market)?

As ground zero for green-tech innovation, we should be on top of this stuff. I would love to one day be able to walk around downtown and hop on a bike for a quick ride with friends, or spontaneously join a bike party. With billions going to BART and HSR, hopefully the city can one day also spare a million or two on a high-impact bike sharing program like our friends in Denver.

The San Jose Blog on Twitter

Just a quick post to remind you that there's a Twitter account for The San Jose Blog! Originally I had no idea what the heck to use Twitter for, but I soon realized the tool could be used for more than letting the world know what Ashton Kutcher had for lunch. Actually, it's really come in handy for pushing news that either doesn't quite merit a blog post or I don't have time to write about (usually the latter). A tweet also goes out automatically every time there is a now blog post here, pretty handy.

Click here to follow us on Twitter!

The Usuals Grand Opening!

The Usuals is a brand new San Jose-centric clothing store on the Alameda, and it's everything I could ever want in a clothing store and then some!  Let me start this off by saying I know nothing about fashion... so I'm not even going to try to give an opinion on that topic here. SJFAM (San Jose Fashion Art Music) has a great article describing the product offering at The Usuals, so for that topic I'll direct you guys over there. I will only say that my wife described the clothing here as Diesel style at H&M prices.

Honestly, I wasn't quite sure to expect when I walked in late last Friday during their grand opening. In retrospect I should have brought the big cameras instead of a point and shoot because I really liked what I saw. The first thing I noticed were the I Heart SJ shirts. That scored some major points with me immediately (btw, you can get them online here). Add to that a shirt with an awesome throwback to San Jose's history... you'll actually have to visit to see this, I'm not going to spoil it for you! Unfortunately, the 250+ visitors that came before me cleaned house on all the SJ shirts in my size!

Next, gratuitous amounts of local art. Josh Marcotte's work from Lost San Jose was all over one wall. Another wall was essentially a huge dry-erase board combined with framed art by talented local artist Dion Bello (the dry erase allows for some very dynamic art since it can be changed on the fly). Music from San Jose DJs. More points, lots of them. The Usuals clearly cares about San Jose's burgeoning art scene.

Lastly, I have never been a big fan of mall or chain stores, but I also don't want to break the bank with specialty Santana-Rowish boutiques. The Usuals carries a solid assortment of clothes that look stylish, are comfortable, AND are affordable. Add the information from the previous two paragraphs, and this is absolutely a store I will support with my dollars. Hopefully you guys will swing by and take a look as well--1020 The Alameda, across the street from Sushi Infinity and Chipotle.

Now for photos (sorry in advance for the point & shoot photos, should have brought a DSLR camera)!

Two Buck Tuesday

Great event I haven't promoted in a while. All of the details are below!

The Usuals Merc Article

I have a blog post coming up next week about a great new "San Jose-centric" clothing retailer called The Usuals that launched last Friday on the Alameda. Until then, there is a great article about them in the Merc entitled: "The Usuals will carry a line of everyday clothing that appeals to those who consider San Jose 'the city'." One negative thing that caught my eye is that they claimed a retail space downtown would be much more expensive. Also when talking to them last Friday this was confirmed as they mentioned it would have cost thousands of dollars more per month in rent to have the store located Downtown. It's a shame because while they do have a very good location now, this type of store would have been perfect in SoFA, 1st St., or 2nd St.

San Pedro Square Market - SJ21 Blog Post

Great post in SJ21 about the San Pedro Square Market with a few photos of the current space.  Click here to view!