Samsung's New San Jose HQ Shoots for the Moon!

Right now there is a lot of good news circulating related to San Jose development, but once and a while I still find a real gem that surprises and excites me, and this is one of them. While Samsung is based in Korea, their subsidiary Samsung Semiconductor is headquartered right here in San Jose. They have decided to tear down their mostly 2 story campus, and build something larger in order to expand their headcount and presence in San jose. I knew there would be two 10 story towers totaling about 650,000 sqft, but I was expecting a pretty standard box like most buildings in the golden triangle (area bound by 101, 880, and 237). Instead, Samsung designed something that simply does not exist in Silicon Valley right now, a truly iconic office building.

It purposefully looks different and will raise eyebrows as people drive down North First or Tasman. There are at least two large outdoor spaces between the three 2-story pieces that protrude from the building. However, the really interesting element is a hollowed out core! There is a substantial courtyard in the middle of at least one of the buildings, complete with terraces of its own.

From the renderings it looks like there is a camouflaged parking structure topped with solar panels and an asymmetrical five-point building as well. I'm not sure where the second tower is going to be but I imagine it will be similar to the first. Lightrail is also across the street, the 49ers stadium and the Santa Clara Convention Center are down the street, and there are thousands of dense new homes being built in walking distance.

This building in and of itself is enough to get excited about, but I'm also stoked about the implications. Samsung is setting a new bar for office developments in North San Jose. This is going to stand out like crazy, so you can bet that future developments are more likely to be radical designs to compete with this building instead of being the same boring 2-5 story buildings the area is used to. More iconic and unique buildings means a stronger identity for San Jose and Silicon Valley as a whole. The only other company taking big risks with office design right now is Apple, with quite an impressive design of their own. Hopefully these two will encourage other companies to step it up and build something to be proud of.

Source: SJBJ

Ex'pression College Opens a San Jose Campus

Ex'pression College for Digital Arts specializes in teaching students about audio and visual art. Their original 650 student campus is in Emeryville, which can be quite a commute for those living in Silicon Valley. They have decided to open a second campus in North San Jose at 1751 Fox Drive in the Ridder Park Technology Center. The 65,000 sqft and the new campus will be able to accomodate up to 550 students. Since digital, interactive, and dynamic art is defining the art scene in San Jose, this location decision could not be more appropriate.



Source: SJBJ

Saturday Stats: San Jose Has Highest % of White-Collar Jobs in California

White-collar jobs consist of management, business, and scientific occupations. If you're reading this, there is a good chance you fall into that classification since 48.49% of all jobs in the San Jose area are considered white-collar. This gives San Jose the highest percentage of white-collar jobs in California, and the 6th highest in the country. Nationally the average percentage of white collar positions is 35.3%.

Source: SJBJ

San Jose Now Has the World's Largest Recycling Plant

Republic Services has begun operations on a massive 342 acre recycling complex in Milpitas, which is actually sitting on land annexed to San Jose. The facility can process a staggering 110 tons of recyclables each hour across four different processing lines: residential single-stream materials, commercial single-stream materials, commercial dry recyclables, and commercial wet recyclables. The recovery rate is expected to be greater than 75% on the commercial lines and 95% on the residential lines.

The system is highly automated--although the video below does show people picking out specific items. There is also an area for composting and the recycling byproducts are being used to generate electricity for San Jose waste management facilities in the area. It all ties into an aggressive "Green Vision" for the city, and considering we have more greentech jobs than anywhere else, this seems entirely appropriate.

Bixby Spending $52.5M to Buy and Upgrade Office Complex

Bixby has purchased four buildings in San Jose for just under $30M. These are located off of Trimble Road at Trimble Technology Park and total nearly a quarter million square feet. They are planning to put $23M into renovations which include new lobbies, roofs, mechanical systems, exteriors, a 16,000sqft expansion, and an outdoor living room with fire pits, kitchen, and couches.

After the renovations are complete, this will become a nice spot for either a flagship tenant or four smaller companies that want to expand or relocate to San Jose.

Source: SJBJ

TurningWheels for Kids Annual Big Bike Build Produces Over 2k Bikes!

Last Saturday in downtown San Jose, many (MANY) volunteers got together for the annual TurningWheels for Kids Big Bike Build.

If you're not familiar with TurningWheels for Kids, it is an organization born from the mind of Susan Runsvold, a nurse at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. She wanted to make sure that every child had the opportunity to receive a cool, exciting gift at Christmas - an experience she wasn't always sure she'd have as a child growing up. She came to the realization that receiving a bike all your own, a brand new one, is one of those memories every child should have the opportunity to have.

You can read more about the history of TurningWheels, but the bottom line - their mission, is to continue to provide underprivileged children with bicycles year-round. So each year just before Christmas, volunteers and groups from all over the South Bay come together and assemble donated bikes.

At my previous job, I had the privilege to work with Sue and her team on promoting TWFK. I absolutely love what they do so I wanted to make sure to stop by the Big Bike Build to take some photos and see everyone. It's such an amazing scene! It's like watching a bunch of elves getting the toys ready for Santa!

Some facts from this year's work:

• 2,650 bikes were built on Saturday (plus 493 a week before in Livermore)
• Distributed over 300 bikes this year to two pediatric clinics
• 2012 has had the highest distribution yet - 3,443 bikes!
• TWFK provides bikes to organizations for distribution such as: City Team, EMQ, Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Bay Area Rescue Mission, Richmond Fire Department, Santa Cruz County sheriffs, Sacred Heart and many others!

The last few years, in the middle of the build, CEOs and local celebrities and supporters make their way to the main stage to participate in the Great Trike Race! They hop on adult-sized tricycles and race around a track in the middle of the convention center. It's great fun to watch and no doubt, fun to race! You need to watch out for Sharkie though, he's a sneaky one!

Sharkie and Valley Medical Center Foundation's Executive Director, Chris Wilder make the first turn during the Great Trike Race!

This year's winner was Barry Arata, a local fireman who won the title in 2010 but lost it to Josh Thomson of Strikeforce in 2011.

Many thanks to this year's title sponsor, DPR, for their generous donation of $60,000! Other wonderful sponsors like the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, Cisco, Therma and many more helped support TurningWheels for Kids.

If TurningWheels for Kids sounds interesting to you, they could use your help. This year, 4,700 bikes were requested (via organizations, groups, etc) but there were only 2,600+ to give. Donations are how they're able to purchase bikes and helmets for the kids. If you'd like to read more, please check out their website and their 'What You Do Matters' Campaign for more information.

~ Jennifer Bullock OwYoung

December 2012 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• Starting Dec. 15th, Downtown Ice is expanding its daily hours to 11am - Midnight.
• The inaugural Santa Run Silicon Valley is Dec. 16th and is limited to 2,000 runners (only a few hundred spots left). Proceeds will benefit Downtown Ice and Christmas in the Park.
• The Mexican state of Jalisco is opening a business incubator, school, cultural center, and art gallery at 320 S. First St. in a 9,000sqft retail space. Entrepreneurs setting up their businesses in the US and Mexico will be able to utilize part of this space.
• At the corner of 3rd and Santa Clara, Freddie J's is getting a facade improvement. Next door Grub Shack--an Asian Fusion / Hawaiian restaurant--is doing its soft opening.
• San Jose Rock Shop now has a retail store selling musical instruments at 30 N. Third St.
• Flowers by KLEE Design opened at 28 N. First St. #702
• Agave Mexican Grill replaces El Sabroso at 17 S. Fourth St.
• Groundwerx installed two rows of decorative LED lights totaling 8,100 feet on South First and South Second streets [Josh: saw these, they look great!]

To read the full newsletter, click here!

SJDRA 2012 Holiday Party

Happy 12/12/12 =) Tomorrow is the annual San Jose Downtown Residents Association party. This event is a great way to meet people committed to Downtown and learn how you can help to make it a better place. You do not need to live in Downtown San Jose to join and the cost is only $15 for a year membership. This grants you free access to the Holiday Party and various other perks throughout the year. For tomorrow, there will be music, free parking, a raffle, and delicacies from Little Chef, 19 Market, Mezcal, Crepe Paris, Muchos, Robee's Falafel, and On a Roll. For more info check out the flyer below or click here to sign up.