Team San Jose Promo Video

Check out this well-done video that highlights a lot of San Jose's positives for tourists:

Saturday Stats: San Jose Named One of 10 Cities That Could Run out of Water

Not all the Saturday Stats are positive. The Weather Channel highlighted 10 US cities that could run out of water, and calls San Jose "one of the most water-stressed areas anywhere in the U.S." We are at high risk of water shortages, especially on top of multi-year droughts like we had between 205 and 2007. Other cities that made the list include El Paso, Miami, Lincoln (Nebraska), Salt Lake City, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Las Vegas, and Atlanta.

Sources: The Weather Channel, Hat tip to Bel

Column of Air @ The Citadel and Motif

Column of Air is a new local musical duo consisting of David Sosa and artist Andre Hart. They just finished recording their first EP and have two shows lined up over the next few days. The first will be at The Citadel Art Gallery on January 18th, which will also be showcasing Andre's paintings (you can see a preview of these below) and feature poetry and theatrical performances.

They will also be playing at Motif in Downtown San Jose on January 20th along with an assortment of other musical acts in a show called Pixels. This event is 21+ and is all about the freedom of expression through sound.

Column of Air Facebook Page
RAW artists - Column of Air Page

Another Costco Coming to South San Jose

An empty 76-acre Edenvale site near Highway 85 and Great Oaks could become the site of another Costco. This is land that used to be part of the IBM/Hitachi campus. In addition to the massive wholesaler, there would be 260,000 SQFT of new office space, ~50,000 additional SQFT of retail, and 720 housing units. The city of San Jose plans for this to eventually become and urban village connected with mass transit.

One surprising side benefit of this development project is that $10 million would go towards the new San Jose Earthquakes Stadium. The money would be used for upgrading the stadium, including an upgraded seating system and riser, and a terra-cotta finish.

Source: SVBJ

Johnny Cash's Tribute Show is Coming to the Montgomery Theater

James Garner's critically acclaimed tribute to Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three is coming to Downtown San Jose on January 18th. In addition to performing hits like "Ring of Fire," "I Walk the Line," and "Folsom Prison Blues," Garner will recount stories about Johnny Cash and his band. So you get both the songs and the story behind the songs.

Tickets for James Garner's Tribute to Johnny Cash are available at SanJoseTheaters.org and range from $31-46.

Virident Moving from Milpitas to San Jose

Virident is a storage company that specializes in flash-based technologies that are used in data centers. They have decided to move their headquarters from a 30,000 SQFT space in Milpitas to 68,000 SQFT at 1745 Technology Drive in San Jose. The building used to be part of the old Brocade campus before they moved to @First.

Virident will bring with it over 100 employees, along with the potential to house nearly 300 in the new space. While the main reason for the move was to have room to expand, I like how a company executive also mentioned it was "closer to amenities employees may be looking for."

Source: SVBJ

Wednesday Wishlist: Retail Under Highways

In Houston, one of this issues that is currently holding back developers are the highways that bifurcate the city, especially in their downtown area. Gensler (which is a SF-based firm) suggested building retail underneath Houston highways to better connect city streets divided by highways and spur development. I have seen this concept in action when I visited Tokyo many years ago. Heck, there are even whole shopping malls built underneath streets and highways there.

Building retail underneath highways and major roads could make a lot of sense for Downtown San Jose, especially where Highway 87 crosses Santa Clara Street and San Fernando Street. Eventually we will have major art installations in both of those locations, but having retail there would take it to the next level. North Almaden and 87 (leading to Little Italy) would be another great spot. I'm sure there are several potential retail sites along 280 as well.

What do you guys think?

Source: Anonymous Poster, Houston Business Journal

Sharks Planning SAP Center and Sharks Ice Upgrades

Last month John Tortora, the COO of Sharks Sports & Entertainment, made several interesting comments about the future of the Shark Tank and Sharks Ice (the Sharks' practice facility which is also open to the public). It sounds like he is interesting in remodeling the SAP Center to keep it competitive for prestigious events, especially given the $1.3 billion stadium going up in Santa Clara. One of the specific things he mentioned is rolling out new technology like in-seat food and merchandise delivery. This is exactly what the 49ers are planning for the new stadium--a mobile app is used to have items delivered right to your seat.

Tortora also has plans to expand the Sharks Ice facility a stones-throw away from Downtown San Jose. It is already the largest ice facility west of the Mississippi, but he would like to take it from four sheets of ice to six. The total cost of that project would be in the $60 million range.

Source: SVBJ