March 2013 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• The VTA wants to "park" some Light Rail trains in St. James Park in order to speed up train service and create new lines in anticipation of BART coming to the South Bay. Concerns of this configuration are blocked views, safety, and congestion in this area.
• Over Groundwex's next 10 year term, they plan to help fill retail vacancies, put a greater emphasis on safety, increase efficiency with new equipment, beautify key Downtown gateways, and enhance maintenance projects.
• Vyne Bistro is now open at 110 Paseo de San Antonio [Josh: have tried it, great new addition Downtown!]
• K.zzang is a new Korean restaurants at 78 S. First.
• Nemea Greek Taverna is a new flagship Greek restaurant at 96 S. First St. (where E&O used to be). [Josh: looks phenomenal on the inside, even better than E&O with the aesthetics and it will have outdoor seating]
• EcoMonster is a new retail store bringing handcrafted and eco-conscious products to consumers at 30 N. Third St. 
• The city is extending high-rise residential incentives to 2016.
• The next HER city event will be on April 25 and features a fashion show hosted by The Usuals, Lotus Jeans, Brixton Hue, and several others. There will be food, drinks, and a few surprises.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

High Speed Rails Wins Alignment Lawsuit

A few years ago the cities of Atherton, Menlo Park, and Palo Alto filed a lawsuit to prevent California High Speed Rail trains from passing through their cities. Basically a few extremely wealthy communities are trying to block a project that will benefit millions of people. Thankfully, last week a judge dismissed the case. The high speed trains will indeed take the most efficient route in the Bay Area, which is from San Jose to San Francisco via the Penninsula (as opposed to San Jose >> Oakland >> San Francisco). Now the next step is actually funding this $40+ billion project.

Source: SJBJ

408 Race to the Row

Get fired up for the second annual 408k Race to the Row, which blasts off on March 10th. The race starts in Downtown San Jose, goes down The Alameda, and then winds its way to Santana Row. At the finish line you can earn back all of those calories by partying at the Row, hop on a free luxury bus back to Downtown, and continue partying and saving up calories for the next run!

For more information, click here. Hat tip to Joie for sending this in.
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RACE INFO
Downloadable Race Instructions (just some light reading):
2013 Race Instructions (pdf)

UPS SWEAT CHECK: The fine folks in brown will again be at the starting line to accept your sweats, gear, and unmentionables. Ensure you have time to check your goods, so show up early and look for the beautiful line of UPS trucks adjacent to the starting line.

START: The race starts at HP Pavilion in Downtown San Jose. If you don’t know where this is then just google it. You’re likely from the great Silicon Valley area and you should know all about the google.

COURSE TIME LIMIT: You will need to maintain an 18 minute/mile pace to make the course time cut-off.  All participants remaining on the course beyond this time limit will be asked to use the sidewalk, abide by traffic laws, and continue to the finish line.

FINISH: The finish line is at Santana Row (We’ve mentioned that multiple times because we view as a bit of a selling point. It’s near Stevens Creek Blvd…again try the google)

BUSING: You’re probably wondering, “if it starts downtown and ends at Santana Row then how do I get home?” First off, nice work detective. Now, three options:

(1) Get dropped off at the start and tell your mom to meet you at the Row.
(2) Cool down and run back
(3) Party at Santana Row and take the free shuttles buses back to the pavilion. Our Official Transportation Provider, Royal Coach Tours, will be ready to roll after the race.

Santana Row Adding 690,000 SQFT of Office Space

The market for office space is really heating up in Silicon Valley, and Federal Realty (owners of Santana Row) are about to make a substantial speculative investment involving three new office buildings. The first was already announced--a 220,000 sqft six-story building that would face the Winchester Mystery House. The second would be a 250,000 sqft building sitting on top of new retail that would cap the very end of Santana Row and also feature a "town square" area. The last would be a 220,000 sqft building on a brand new site that they are trying to acquire fronting Tisch Way and Dudley Avenue.

The entire project makes perfect sense. Modern companies want to be located near amenities like quality restaurants and housing. Add in retail, a hotel, movie theater, luxury gym, and various parks... well you have the ultimate destination for a corporate headquarters. The only thing missing is mass transit, and that should come very soon when a bus rapid transit (BRT) line is built from Downtown San Jose to Stevens Creek.

To add the the good news, the ginormous parking lot around Century Theaters across the street may one day be developed into a project at the same level of density as Santana Row.

Source: The Registry

San Jose Sizzles Videos

2 Minute Version

7 Minute Extended Cut

Saturday Stats: San Jose Ranks Among the 15 Happiest Cities

A team of mathematicians at the University of Vermont collect over 10 million tweets from 373 different urban areas across the US and scored both "happy" and "sad" words. Sad words included things like "hate" or "wrong" while happy words included "lol" and "funny." After aggregating all of the data they came up with the list of happiest and and saddest cities in the US based on tweets. The results are below (hat tip to Barclay).


The 15 Happiest Cities in the United States:

Napa, Calif.
Longmont, Colo.
San Clemente, Calif.
Santa Fe, N.M.
Santa Cruz, Calif.
Green Bay, Wis.
Santa Rosa, Calif.
Simi Valley, Calif.
Lafayette, Colo.
Asheville, N.C.
Spokane, Wash.
Boulder, Colo.
Fort Collins, Colo.
Santa Barbara, Calif.
San Jose, Calif.

The 15 Saddest Cities in the United States:

Beaumont, Texas
Albany, Ga.
Texas City, Texas
Shreveport, La.
Monroe, La.
Memphis, Tenn.
Battle Creek, Mich.
Flint, Mich.
Lima, Ohio
Houma, La.
Waterbury, Conn.
Alexandria, La.
Port Arthur, Texas
Montgomery, Ala.
Dothan, Ala.

Source: Live Science

South First Friday Tonight!

Busy Day Downtown Tomorrow

If you happen to be Downtown tomorrow, brace yourself for tons of activity. Rick Jensen posted the following list of events on the Downtowner Online (subscribe by emailing Rick):

• Cinequest Film Festival 23 at the California Theatre, San Jose Rep and Camera Cinemas.  Park at Second-San Carlos Garage.
• Sharks vs. Predators at the HP Pavilion.  Game starts at 7:30 pm.  Estimated attendance 16,200. Park at Market-San Pedro Garage, or at the arena.
• La Cumbre Public Dance at the Convention Center.  Event starts at 7pm.  Estimated attendance 18,000.  Park in SoFA-I-280 lot, Convention Center and lots on Almaden Boulevard and across from Children's Discovery Museum.
• Nederlander presents Aaron Lewis at the Civic Auditorium.  Event starts at 7:30 pm. Capacity 3,000. AndChildren's Musical Theatre's performance of “Godspell” next door at the Montgomery Theatre.  Three performances with the last scheduled to start at 8pm.  Civic /Montgomery attendees may want to park at the city's Third (and St. John) and Fourth Street (and San Fernando) garages and stroll downtown.
• "Red" at San Jose Stage, 8pm Park at Second and San Carlos or Under I-280 at South First.
• Carlos Mencia at The Improv at 7pm and 9 pm – best parking bet would be Fourth Street Garage or Third Street Garage.
•  Plus Live&Local music venues and Cinequest Afterparties