February 2014 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• A Downtown San Jose Street Life Plan is being developed to guide PBID investments over the next 10 years. The plan encourages social interaction, is pedestrian friendly, will enhance the image and brand of Downtown, and will amplify pride in the community. 
• Business licenses taken out within the Downtown Business Improvement District increased from 2,050 to 2,112, showing that more businesses are locating Downtown.
• The San Jose Museum of Art has launched an online database of its permanent collection of more than 2,400 works of art. You can access these at collection.sjmusart.org.
• The Downtown First United Methodist Church across from City Hall held an open house and its first worship celebration on Jan. 12th.
• Koji has remodeled and reinvented itself as Nomikai on 48 S. First St.
• CREAM opened on Feb 1st at 27 Post St.
• Ozu Sushi is now open at 86 S. First St. in the former Smile Sushi location.
• The Louisina Bistro is open at 19 N. Market.
• Curry Pundits is open at 30 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 130.
• MUJI has started carrying a variety of Japanese snacks such as cookies, chips, crackers, candy, chocolates, teas, and coffees.
• The City Department of Transportation intends to install 1,200 Smart Meters in the Downtown core by the end of March. Eventually users will be able to pay using their phones or download an app that will direct them to unused spaces.

To read the full newsletter, click here!

On The Cusp Pop-up Shop @ Black & Brown

Shona Sanzgiri is a writer/editor from San Jose that has been commuting between New York and here for the last six months. He's trying to bring some elements from New York over here in a variety of projects. His latest one is a pop-up shop at Black & Brown on the Alameda  featuring the work of clothing designers, artists, photographers, and writers from both NYC and SJ.

Some of the items will include limited prints, photographs, clothing, accessories, and random curios & tchotchkes from places like Bombay's Thieves Bazaar, a photo-book by Diane Keaton, a napkin Harmony Korine once drew on, etc.

The pop-up shop will be open for two weeks starting March 22nd. The opening reception will run from 5pm to 8pm tomorrow and feature food & refreshments by Dena Cooks (Tunisian Table, America's Test Kitchen). For more info you can check out the On The Cusp website.

Affordable Housing Project Opening in East San Jose

Mayfair Court features 93 units of affordable housing across a 1.44-acre site at 65 McCreery Avenue. It has a surprising amount of amenities for this kind of project as you can see below. The total cost is going to be $23 million and it will include 56 two bedroom units that will rent from $663-1,129 and 37 three bedroom units that will go for $763-$1,301. Rents are based on family income, and you need to make less than $50,650 a year to even qualify. Needless to say the waiting list is already completely full.

UNIT AMENITIES
Sleek interior finishes with floor to ceiling windows
Modern kitchens with energy efficient appliances and espresso cabinetry
Private patios and balconies
Energy efficiencies, including dual pane windows
Central heat and air conditioning
Spacious master suites with plush carpeting
Ceiling fans
Designer tile flooring
Wheelchair accessible

COMMUNITY AMENITIES
Gated Community
Fitness center with cardio equipment
Covered gated parking
Public Wi-Fi area
Fully furnished clubhouse
Computer center
On-site laundry facilities
Children’s playground area
Beautifully landscaped courtyard
Walking distance to shopping and restaurants
Easy access to public transportation
On-site maintenance
Recycling initiatives
Non-smoking community

Source: SVBJ

Licks Screening at Camera 12 Tomorrow

LICKS is filmed on location in the Bay Area with a cast and crew that was born and raised here. It was a first time experience for everyone involved, yet the movie has received quite a bit of attention after its premiere last year at SXSW. It is coming to San Jose for a one night screening at Camera 12 tomorrow. You can find out more about the movie over here.

LICKS follows the story of a young man, D, as he returns to his Oakland neighborhood after serving two years in prison for a robbery gone wrong. In the days after his release, we are taken into D’s world while he navigates the harsh realities that plague his inner city community. His judgment is tested by the insidious influences around him, forcing D to decide what direction to take his life.

Another Apartment Project Proposed for Midtown

Fairfield Residential is proposing yet another dense project for midtown over at 800 W. San Carlos where the Cheim Lumber Yard used to be. Unfortunately there has not been much movement on previous projects such as the Ohlone (with 800 units). This new proposal is still in the very early stages, but they are shooting for 315 apartment units. You can't make out too much from black and white drawing below, but it does look like the design will be more eye catching than many of the apartment projects that have been recently built. It kind of reminds me of The Pierce which will go up in Downtown's SoFA District.

The plans also include a respectable and appreciated 23,500 SQFT of retail/restaurant/office space on the ground floors oriented along West San Carlos. Lightrail will also be nearby, providing plenty of transit options thanks to a quick connection to Diridon. I really hope to see this come to fruition soon instead of linger like some of the other midtown projects.

Source: SVBJ

Virgin American Leaving SJC

Some bad news today. Virgin America is leaving SJC.  I was really excited when they announced that they were coming to our airport, but was always worried they would be destined for failure from the start. Instead of adding a new route that would be a huge value add to Silicon Valley residents, they chose instead to go with four daily flights to LAX. Guess what, San Jose already had two dozen flights to LA each day.

If they went with a new route instead of a highly competitive one, they would have been much better off. ANA is doing really will with over 80% occupancy on their route to Japan. Hopefully future new carriers will be more like ANA and less like Virgin.

Saturday Stats: #1 Apartment Boom Town

SpareFoot ranked the top apartment boom towns in the US, and San Jose took the pole position on the list with San Francisco coming in 8th. The analysis looked at the total apartments per person, population growth, the percentage of people spending more than 35% of their income on rent (lower numbers are better), per-capita personal income growth, per-capita GDP growth, and growth in per-capita construction permits for new apartments. The article is an interesting read (especially on how Detroit made the list) and you can access it here.

The Way to San Jose
Here is SpareFoot’s ranking of America’s Top 15 Apartment Boom Towns, in descending order.

1. San Jose, CA
2. Austin, TX
3. Houston, TX
4. Grand Rapids, MI
5. Nashville, TN
6. Dayton, OH
7. Portland, OR
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
10. Oklahoma City, OK
11. Seattle, WA
12. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
13. San Antonio, TX
14. Des Moines, IA
15. Detroit, MI

San Jose’s continued job growth, along with its shortage of affordable entry-level homes, encourages younger workers to look for apartments, said Matthew Mahood, president and CEO of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.

“The apartment housing market has responded to this increased demand and has built and will continue to build new projects. In fact, there are two high-rise projects being built simultaneously in downtown San Jose that will provide for nearly 700 for-rent units in the next two years,” Mahood said.

Source: The SpareFoot Blog

2014 State of the City Address

Below is a video of Mayor Chuck Reed's final State of the City Address. His speaking points included SJC, connecting BART to Downtown San Jose, the A's, community reforms, green-tech, budget deficits, homelessness, taxes, and public safety.