21-Story Residential High-Rise Will Break Ground in Downtown San Jose!!!

This is news I have been eagerly anticipating for years. Finally, there will be cranes in the air and the next generation of residential towers will rise Downtown!

KT Properties (Axis) and Essex Property Trust have filed a site permit for 285 apartment units in a quarter million sqft, 21 floor tower. There will be 6,000 sqft of retail on the ground floor and potentially more on the second floor. Amenities include a swimming pool and Jacuzzi on the 4th floor, a fitness room, community kitchen, and terraces on the 4th and 17th floors. The building will have 420 parking spaces, half of which will be underground.

Location wise, it could not be more central in Downtown. The tower will be on the corner of Santa Clara Street and Market Street, right across from San Pedro Square, 5-7 minutes from the HP Pavilion and Diridon Station, and a couple blocks away from Plaza de Cesar Chavez. The future BART station will be no more than a few blocks away. This is an uber-prime location that has been a parking lot for way too long. The impact will be dramatic.

If our rental market continues to stay hot over the next two years, you can expect the entire building to be leased within 3 months of opening. We all saw what the last 4 residential towers did for Downtown, imagine what these next ones will do. And yes, I did say ones with an s.

Barry Swenson Builder is also working on a 21-story tower of their own called The Carlysle. This building will be across the street from the San Pedro Square Market and be even larger at 347 units. In fact, I just saw an advertisement last week from Barry Swenson that featured the Carlysle with the caption "First downtown San Jose tower out of the ground since the great recession." They haven't filed their site permit yet, but that quote is definitely a good sign that it is going to happen soon.

As soon as either of these break ground, we'll have to have a celebratory meet-up at The SPSM.



Sources: SJBJ, The Registry

San Jose's SoloPower Holdings Raises $12M

SoloPower manufactures lightweight and flexible solar sheets. Their product looks pretty similar to Nanosolar, which is another San Jose-based company.

They have just raised a $12M round and are hiring, so if you're interested check out their website over here.

Source: SJBJ

Saturday Stats: Best Cities to Trick or Treat

Zillow's ranking of the top cities for Trick-or-Treaters has been updated with 2012 results, and San Jose fared pretty well. These results are based on four equally weighted factors: the Zillow Home Value Index, Walk Score, population density, and crime data. For 2012, San Jose ranked a respectable 5th place. This is up one level from 2011 where we ranked 6th. If the criteria remain the same next year, I think we'll continue to do quite well.

Zillow also released the rankings for the top 5 Trick-or-Treating neighborhoods in San Jose:

1. Cambrian
2. Rose Garden
3. Willow Glen
4. Santa Teresa
5. Evergreen Valley

Variations Exhibit at The Usuals

from Phantom Galleries by Cherri Lakey

Variations
New Works by James Vidal and Junior Sanchez
Opening Reception
Friday, October 26, 2012, 7–10pm
Music by DJ Basura
On view through November 19, 2012

The Usuals
1020 The Alameda
San Jose, CA 95126

Halloween Fundraiser @ Loft Bar & Bistro

The Asian American Donor Program (AADP) is a non-profit that helps blood cancer patients find marrow donors. The event below will raise money for adding additional donors (it costs $100 to register a single donor).

There will be free treats, appetizers, and a raffle. The event starts at 6pm and tickets cost $20 per person. For more information check out the Facebook event page over here.

Axis Howl-O-Ween Event

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to live with a pet in Downtown San Jose, this may be the event for you. You will be able to tour the Axis residential high-rise with man's best friend, learn which services such as dog walking and training are available locally, and then explore Downtown with your companion. There's even a Doggie costume contest. To participate, just head over to 38 N. Almaden Boulevard on Saturday, October 27th between 11am and 1pm. More details below.

Die Hard Co.

It has been a pretty damn good year for Bay Area sports. The A's had a great run, the Giants need no mention, and the 49ers are 5-2 right now. There is also a chance the Sharks will be back in business this November (keeping fingers crossed) and the Earthquakes are currently at the top of their game, not to mention they just broke ground on a new stadium.

While most of the Bay Area pro teams are not in San Jose (yet), there is a way you can support a local San Jose business while brandishing support for your favorite team. The site is Die Hard Co. and is well worth checking out. They have shirts and hoodies for the Sharks, Giants, A's, Warriors, 49ers, and the Raiders. I'm a fan of their "Hella" collection, most of which you can see below.

We're going to be doing a contest with Die Hard soon, probably around the end of the NHL lockout, so keep an eye out for that. To visit the Die Hard website and check out their full selection, just click here.

      

Apple Has a Little More to Show You in San Jose

Apple is making a major new product announcement today, likely a less expensive 7 inch iPad. They may also announce a retina version of the 13 inch Macbook Pro. Why is this significant? Well for me it is not so much the products they are planning to launch, but the location of the announcement. It's happening right here, in the California Theater in Downtown San Jose.

Traditionally Apple has made product announcements from the Moscone Center in SF. With the remodel and expansion of the San Jose Convention Center, perhaps we can land future product announcements as well that require a larger space. Regardless of what happens going forward, today is a very good day for San Jose.

The event starts at 10:00am, and many tech sites such as Engadget will be live-blogging it.