HGST Expanding Historic South San Jose Campus

Nathan Donato-Weinstein from the Silicon Valley Business Journal nabbed an exclusive on the HGST expansion. This historic campus in South San Jose was birthed by IBM in 1956 and was the location where the "flying disk drive" was invented. Now owned by Western Digital, HGST is going to demolish about a million SQFT of outdated space, rehab the remaining structures, and build two new modern buildings. One will be a 15,000 SQFT R&D space while the other will be a 185,000 SQFT office building.

The new buildings will be relatively tall for these types of campuses. The office building will rise up to six stories and the R&D space will probably be four. The architect says there is interest in doing more than "just retaining a manufacturing-style, low-rise model." It sounds like they want to enhance the aesthetics of the overall neighborhood, which is a nice change of pace for these types of projects. I'll look forward to the first set of renders.

Next to the HGST campus, several housing projects are under construction with hundreds (if not thousands) of homes. A new retail center anchored by Target is also in the works, and the area does have access to both Light Rail and Caltrain.

Source: SVBJ

Wednesday Wishlist: Vertical Gardens

As a green-tech leader, San Jose needs to up its game when it comes to building designs. Below are photos of Clearpoint Tower in Sri Lanka, which will be the world's tallest vertical garden. It has 164 apartments across 46 floors and every units is wrapped in plants which buffer sound, heat, and help clean the air. The garden is watered using an automatic drip irrigation system and other green elements such as solar panels and natural ventilation are also incorporated into the design.

A project like this would be ideal in areas that have few tall buildings in the immediate area... such as the suburbs. It would blend into areas not used to density much nicer than a steel or glass tower. I could see projects like this replacing strip malls near public transit in East/South San Jose.

Source: Inhabitat

Hoopla Raises $8M, Plans to Expand Downtown San Jose Office!

Another hot startup is expanding in San Jose. Hoopla is a cloud-based gamification solution for motivating sales teams. Basically, they improve sales by throwing an element of fun and competition into the selling process. Gamification is a super hot space right now and Hoopla has grown by 250% last year alone, adding over 150 customers.

By raising $8M in a Series B round, they will be able to double their 25 person company by the end of the year. This also means quadrupling their space in Downtown San Jose. They are currently headquartered at 84 West Santa Clara, Suite 750--right across the street from the new One South tower.

For more information, have a look at the full release below or visit Hoopla's website.

Hoopla Raises $8 Million to Meet Demand for Sales Motivation Software

Series B Round Led by Trinity Ventures to Fund SaaS Company’s Rapid Growth

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 13, 2014—Hoopla, an award-winning provider of sales motivation software, today announced $8 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Trinity Ventures, with participation from previous investors Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), Illuminate Ventures and additional private investors. Larry Orr, general partner at Trinity, will join Hoopla’s board of directors.

Founded in 2010, Hoopla’s cloud-based Sales Motivation Platform combines modern gamification techniques with powerful data insights designed to motivate and track   sales team performance. The product’s highly engaging, animated updates are broadcast live on big-screen TVs and web pages throughout the enterprise. A mobile version will be available later this spring.

“The world of sales is changing dramatically,” said Michael Smalls, founder and CEO of Hoopla. “New business models and technologies are changing how and where we sell, and a new generation of employees is bringing a different set of ideas and expectations to the workplace. Our customers recognize this shift, and are using Hoopla to build engaged, high-energy teams that are reporting gains of 50 percent or more in their key performance metrics.”

Hoopla’s software as a service (SaaS) solution targets the 15 million sales and other business professionals worldwide who use customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and want to improve the productivity and performance of their teams. The company grew over 250 percent in 2013, adding over 150 new customers, including well-known brands such as Act-On Software, Castlight Health, Forrester Research, GM Financial, and The Sacramento Kings.

“There is a select group of software technologies that are redefining how sales organizations connect, communicate and drive performance,” said Mr. Orr. “Hoopla is a leader in this market, and is rapidly establishing itself as the must-have motivation platform for world-class sales organizations.”

Hoopla will use its new funding to expand sales, marketing and product development efforts to meet the rapidly growing demand for its software. The company is hiring aggressively and expects to double its employee base by the end of 2014.

About Hoopla®

Hoopla provides cloud-based software that helps sales organizations inspire and motivate sales team performance. Using Hoopla’s award-winning Sales Motivation Platform, industry leaders like Angie’s List, Box, Experian, Glassdoor, Marketo, Trulia, Xactly and Zillow are building high-performance cultures that deliver dramatic gains in sales productivity and customer satisfaction. Learn more at hoopla.net, on Facebook at facebook.com/hoopla, and on Twitter at @hooplasoftware.

About Trinity Ventures

Trinity Ventures is a top-tier venture capital firm combining business insight, practical expertise and a personal touch to help start-ups win big. For over eleven funds, Trinity has helped passionate entrepreneurs with breakthrough ideas transform markets and lives. Trinity's investment team takes a collaborative approach and believes in personal engagement, mutual respect and goal alignment to deliver out-sized returns to entrepreneurs and investors. The firm invests in early stage technology companies with emphases on Cloud, Digital Media, Social Commerce and Entertainment, and Software as a Service.

TWO BUCK Tuesday Tomorrow at Kaleid

The best value in the Silicon Valley art world has to be Two Buck Tuesdays at Kaleid on 4th Street. Get hand-made artwork for $2, watch artists create new art, and of course listen to live music. The event itself is free and runs from 7-10pm tomorrow.

~~~

From Phantom Galleries:

Join us for our monthly creative get together! Art demos, live painting, lots of live music plus $2 ART!

Tuesday, Feb. 18th, 7-10pm, FREE


Amy Street will be teaching us how to create celebrity portraits in glitter! “Because glitter is the new medium.”

LIVE ARTISTS:

Monstark Studios

Thomas Morrow photography

Kori Thompson

Jesse Cupp

Al Preciado

John Hageman

Luis Rivas

Nik Caesar

David Mejia will draw your portrait while you wait!

Ryan & Natalie McBride

MUSIC:

Avery Burke

Jared Padovani: jaredpadovani.bandcamp.com

A Million Creatures/Molly Murphy


88 South Fourth Street (@ San Fernando)
San Jose, CA 95112
info@KALEIDGallery.com
408-947-1785
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, noon -7pm
Free admission

Vietnam Town Expanding By 186,000 SQFT

Even though there are 51 unsold retail condos in the 120-unit first phase of Vietnam Town, the owners have decided to go through with a second phase. The project will include an additional 186,000 SQFT with 141 more retail condos. These would be distributed across a total of five buildings with the average retail condo size being around 1,000 SQFT.

Part of Vietnam Town phase two will be a single 40,000 SQFT pad that could easily accommodate a grocery store. 99 Ranch Market or Lion Market have already been identified as potential candidates. There are also plans to build a parking structure on the site.

This seems like an ideal place in the middle of Little Saigon for a mixed-use village, so I'm a bit disappointing that a housing component was not included in the project. This could have become a Vietnamese Santana Row. At least doubling down on the project will increase the chances for success and turning it into a regional draw.

Source: SVBJ

Feathers of Fury 4: San Jose Pillow Fight Today!

If you have ever wanted to run around Downtown hitting total strangers with pillows, boy do we have the event for you. The fourth annual Feather of Fury pillow fight is going down today at high noon. The location is going to be the plaza outside the Rep. Below is a photo from last year's event.

Scroll down for more details and the rules. It should be a lot of fun!

EVENT PAGES:
Main Event Page
https://www.facebook.com/events/452235801572555

Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pillowfightsj

HOW:

An AIRHORN or WHISTLE or TOWER will signal the beginning of the event. We will proceed to charge a la Braveheart and let the flailing of laughter ensue. How long will it last? Well, that all depends on you.

THE RULES:

-Tell everyone about the Pillow Fight.
-Wait until the whistle/airhorn signal to begin.
-Soft pillows only!
-NEVER swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
-Tell EVERYONE about the Pillow Fight.
-Remove glasses beforehand!
-Don't hit people with a pillow unless they want it.
-Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
-This is not a little kids event.
-If you don't like it ... just walk across the street.
-TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THE PILLOW FIGHT!

(Feathers are fantastic!) But it might be a good idea to wear a bandana to keep yourself from swallowing some Feathers of FURY. AGGGHHH!

Latex gloves and Garbage Bags will be brought out so that we may attempt to leave the park/area just as we found it ... which is impossible cause after we leave it will be AWESOME.

tweet. blog. FB. space. email. morse code. GET IT OUT THERE.

FB: /PillowFightSJ
Twitter: @pillowfightsj
Instagram#: #pillowfightsj

Saturday Stats: San Jose Ranks #4 for Political Giving

The political campaign season has already begun despite there being over nine months left before the 2014 midterm elections. Nerdwallet has taken the campaign contribution data from the Center for Responsive Politics and ranked the 50 largest US metropolitan areas in terms of political contributions. San Jose came in at #4. I have to say that I am a little bit surprised to see San Jose rank so high on the list, but am not surprised to see that 75% of party-specific contributions went towards the Democratic Party. Check out the full article and more analytics at the source link below.

Source: Nerdwallet

Happy Valentine's Day! After Tonight's Festivities, Help Plant Roses Tomorrow =)

Saint James Park is about to get some grass-roots beatification. Tomorrow, the San Jose Downtown Residents Association is planting 25 rose bushes in the often neglected park. The roses were donated by the Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden. They are gathering from 9am-12pm and are looking for 25 volunteers. More info below if you are interested (or check out the SJDRA Facebook page here).

I really appreciate that there are people willing to get together to help make Downtown a better place. This is a great and much needed initiative.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!

We just received word that the irrigation system at St. James Park is now fixed and we are cleared to proceed with the planting of 25 rose bushes graciously donated to us by the Friends of the San Jose Rose Garden. We have locked in Saturday, February 15 from 9:00 am - 12:00 pm and need up to 25 volunteers to help with this grass-roots beautification project. Please send an email to kymberli@sanjosestock.com if you would like to participate, either by planting or providing refreshments. It will be a great way to work together and bring some color to this great park. If successful, more roses will be donated for future plantings so let's make this happen and show the city what a few dedicated residents can do!