Think Bigger San Jose: Are Lawyers the Key to Lowering Office Vacancy in Downtown?

I'm a big fan of "Think Bigger San Jose," a great blog with a mission very similar to this one. In Mark's latest post, he explores the potential for lawyers and legal services to help reduce the office vacancy rate in Downtown San Jose. The two big drivers for this are the new Family Justice Center that is currently under construction (render below) and the new US Patent Office in City Hall. It's a great post, go check it out over here.

Scope of the Santa Clara Mixed-Use Project Across from 49ers Stadium Increases by $1.5 Billion

Across the street from the 99% complete Levi's Stadium is going to be perhaps the largest development project in the history of Silicon Valley. The "City Place Santa Clara" project has expanded and is now expected to cover 8 million SQFT (The size of five Santana Rows) and cost $6.5 billion.

This epic project would include 1 million SQFT of retail (with 2-3 department stores), 30 restaurants, a 350-room hotel, 380 apartment units, a movie theater, a comedy or jazz club, a bowling alley, a performance center, a "European-style" arts district, parks, plazas, and several million SQFT of offices. For all intents and purposes, this project would become downtown Santa Clara.

This would obviously not be built out all at once. City Place would require at least seven phases of construction and take 10-20 years to fully build out. Construction is expected to start in early 2016 and the first phase would open in 2019, helping Santa Clara secure future Super Bowls.

So now the question is how will this impact San Jose, whose border is not even half-a-mile away from this project? Will this create synergy and bring increased regional attention to the South Bay or is this just more competition? The last thing we would want is a repeat of what happened with Downtown San Jose when Valley Fair came around.

I am going to stay optimistic and say that this is a good thing and can co-exist with all of the projects happening right now across San Jose. Given the increasing residential activity and urbanization Downtown, I think it will be safe. Despite the size of this Santa Clara project, it is still dwarfed by the amenities and scale currently in Downtown San Jose, not to mention what is in the pipeline for the next five years.

What do you guys think?

Source: The Merc

¡VivaFest! Announces 2014 Festival Season

Iconic artists, music and dance conference and free events;
New speaker’s series, online exhibition, Dia de los Muertos

San Jose, California, July 8, 2014 – The organizers of ¡VivaFest!, San Jose’s Latino destination festival, announced today its 2014 fall schedule. Appearances by Academy Award and Grammy Award winners Rita Moreno and Paul Williams and Grammy award nominees Jose Hernandez and Mariachi Sol de Mexico highlight the 2014 schedule which includes the festival’s annual mariachi music workshops, Gala mariachi concert, outdoor festivals, a speaker’s series and concert recitals in the folk music of Mexico. Many events, including the Gala mariachi concert, are free to the public this year.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

San Jose’s annual mariachi and ballet folklorico conference kicks off July 25, 2014 with an expanded schedule of mariachi and ballet folklorico workshops followed by a vibrant season of music and cultural events in San Jose. Mariachi workshops will be led by Jose Hernandez of Mariachi Sol de Mexico and dance workshops will be led by the award winning dance master artist Maria Luisa Colmenarez, founder of Danzantes Unidos, and master artist Jose Tena, Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet Folklorico de la Tierra del Encanto, and dance faculty at New Mexico State University and the Harvard University summer arts program. New this year to the work shop schedule is a class on the basics of coding for musicians offered by software engineer and master artist Juventino Mejia and a workshop on Jalisco harp offered by master artist William Faulkner.

July 30 - VivaFest presents “An Evening of the Music of Angels,” a concert recital by Jalisco Harp Maestro William Faulkner at the San Jose Women’s Club.

August 1, the festival annual mariachi gala event presents with Symphony Silicon Valley traditional icons Mariachi Sol de Mexico headlining “Songs in the Key of Mexico,” a free concert at San Jose State University.

September 14 the festival and Mundo Fox celebrate Mexican Independence Day at Discovery Meadow with a free day of family activities, music, food and fun.

September 16 VivaFest opens an online exhibition of “The Artistic Mestizaje,” an outdoor mural artwork by Carlos Perez in a project co-presented with the Google Art Institute. The exhibition will feature digital views of the mural taken by Google’s street team and an in-depth examination of the artistic heritage depicted by the artist in a panel discussion on the modern convergence of culture with the artist and curatorial staff from Google.

September 26, VivaFest and the Commonwealth Club of California present a conversation with Academy Award, Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner Paul Williams, at the Mayer Theatre in Santa Clara. Currently President of ASCAP, Williams’ recent work includes major Latino creative projects with Guillermo del Toro and a new book, “Gratitude and Trust: Six Affirmations That Will Change Your Life.”

October 17, 2014, VivaFest and the Commonwealth Club present a conversation with Latina icon Rita Moreno. Moreno is one of the few artists to win a Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Emmy awards and the National Medal of Honor. She continues to maintain a busy performing schedule and is the author of the recently published book, “Rita Moreno, A Memoir.“

On October 25, ¡VivaFest! and Milagro Marketing co-present Dia San Jose, three days of cultural events celebrating Mexico’s Dia de Los Muertos - a traditional celebration of heritage, family and ancestry at the San Jose City Hall Rotunda and St. James Park.

Artists for Fiestas Patrias and Dia San Jose will be announced later this summer.

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About Mexican Heritage Corporation: 
The mission of the Mexican Heritage Corporation is to celebrate and preserve the rich cultural heritage of Mexico in the U.S. and showcase multicultural arts in the region. MHC achieves its mission by providing heritage arts education programs and presenting VivaFest, Silicon Valley's annual festival of Latino heritage arts and education. Visit us online at www.vivafest.org.

Silicon Valley Bikes: Passion, Innovation & Politics Since 1880 Exhibit Public Opening

Garden City Wheelmen, photographed at the 1919 San José relay vs. the Sanson Wheelmen of Stockton
(History San Jose Collection)

Starts: Sunday, July 27th 2014 at 12:00 pm
Ends: Sunday, July 27th 2014 at 4:30 pm

Location: Arbuckle Gallery at the Pacific Hotel, History Park
Admission: Free
Exhibit Sponsors: Garden City Construction, Wheel Away Cycle Center, Bicycle Express
San Jose Bicycle Club, Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club Inc., Ampersand Ellipsis Jones LLC, Hellyer Velodrome

Bicycles have provided both affordable transportation and a social outlet around San José for over a century. The growth of clubs and organizations such as the Garden City Wheelmen led to a distinctive cycling culture within the community. Throughout the 20th century, racing events have been held at local velodromes, including the present track at Hellyer Park. Local innovations have enhanced the bicycling industry. In recent decades, community activism efforts, such as support for bike lanes and dedicated paths, have re-introduced cycling as a sustainable transportation method for the future.

Supplemented by objects from private individuals and organizations, Silicon Valley Bikes: Passion, Innovation & Politics Since 1880 will feature selected images and artifacts from History San José’s collection, including the 1842 Lefebvre velocipede, the world’s oldest human-powered vehicle.

The CineBrew Mart 2014 on Sat, July 26th!

SJMADE, Camera Cinemas, and San Jose's own Hermitage Brewing have come together for an amazing event next week. How does all-you-can-watch movies and unlimited beer tastings for $25 sound?

The beer selections should be fantastic. You can sample from from Hermitage (San Jose), Strike (San Jose), Santa Clara Valley Brewing (San Jose), Tied House (Mountain View), Faultline (Sunnyvale), and Uncommon Brewers (Santa Cruz). The tastings run from 1pm to 4pm.

After the tastings you can head over to the theater to watch Transformers, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Hercules, Lucy, Sex Tape, or The Purge. The movies included in your pass run from 11am to 11pm.

Last but definitely not least, SJMADE will be representing local shopping along Paseo de San Antoio and the first floor of Camera 12 from 11am-7pm. Admission is not required to shop and they always have a great selection of everything. This is well worth checking out everyone!

You can buy tickets and get more information at the CineBrew Mart 2014 Website.

Frontier Village Remembered

Frontier Village was slightly before my time, but based on the two videos below I wish I had the opportunity to visit it. This was a 39-acre theme park that operated from 1961 to 1980 in what is now Edenvale Garden Park. There was everything from a roller-coaster, fishing, stunt shows, canoeing, and even a mule-ride (real mules). The first video below features former employees reminiscing about the park. A slideshow starts around 12:30 in the video. The second clip is home video footage from 1979.

To learn more about the park and see tons of photos, visit the "Remembering Frontier Village" website over here.

Summer in St. James Park

I really have to hand it to the Downtown Association for upping their efforts this summer to activate St. James Park. On top of the world cup viewings, Startlight Cinemas, and Music in the Park, several other regular events are being planned. Every Wednesday in July there will be food trucks from 11am to 1:30pm, pick-up soccer games from 11:30am to 1:30pm, and free drop-in yoga from noon to 1pm.

To see the full list of events just head over to www.sjdowntown.com/summerinstjames.

July 2014 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• VTA's focus for the year include providing better service to the Convention Center, SAP Center, and Levi's Stadium, as well as securing funding for Phase II of the Silicon Valley BART expansion and rolling out Bus Rapid Transit.
• 1,200 smart parking meters have been installed throughout Downtown. They now accept credit and debit cards, but the rate has gone up from $1/hour to $2/hour. The extra revenue (after paying for the meters themselves) will be used for Downtown projects.
• Dozens of homeless are now working side-by-side with Groundwerx staff to learn skills in cleaning and maintenance to help clean Downtown in exchange for food/basic needs vouchers.
• The Mercury News is officially coming back Downtown, with offices at 4 N. Second.
• Spanner design consultants are bringing their studyio to 5,500 SQFT on the second floor above Billy Berks's and Mezcal (15 W. San Fernando).
• Music in the Park is coming back for two shows this year: The English Beat on July 17th at St. James Park and Pete Escovedo on August 21 at Plaza de Cesar Chavez.
• Based on new regulations approved by the City Council, medical marijuana facilities will be prohibited from remaining Downtown.

To read the full newsletter, click here!