The San Jose Downtown Association Looks Back at 2014

The SVBJ has a great photo recap of the Downtown Association's annual review of the year's business developments. 2014 was a great year for Downtown. One South Market and Centerra were both topped off and will be available for leasing next year, half a dozen other residential projects are close to moving forward, a new hotel will soon break ground, the new courthouse is moving along nicely, and the San Pedro Square Market continues to thrive and bring people to Downtown. Office vacancy plummeted and more tech companies are moving Downtown month after month.

The Association also took a look forward at 2015, where their key priorities will be St. James Park revitalization, addressing homelessness, and building up San Jose's identity. To have a look at the summary of the presentation, just hit the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

PunchPie's San Jose Restaurant Specials

PunchPie is a San Jose-based affinity program for restaurants. Instead of using a punch card (e.g. buy 10 sandwiches, get one free), you can use an app on your phone. I hate carrying around a bunch of cards in my wallet for the lunch places I frequent, so this really comes in handy.

There are over 100 restaurants using PunchPie and 57 of them are in San Jose, including some of my favorites like Spuds, On a Roll, Bibo's NY Pizza, Punjab Cafe, Beach Hut Deli, and Caspian Village. Instead of just getting a free offering after a certain number of purchases, there is also a first visit bonus at all PunchPie restaurants.

Below you can see the full list of San Jose restaurants and their promotions. There is really no downside here so download the app, support a local business, and enjoy discounts at a ton of restaurants.

You can download the app here!

152 Terraine Street Torn Down

Some bad news today--unfortunately the historic Vogliazzo house at 152 Terraine Street was not able to be saved. The plan was to move it to Little Italy, but not enough money was not raised.

The home was razed to make way for the Silvery Towers project, which is supposed to officially break ground in April. However, it would have been nice to preserve this house and move it somewhere else in San Jose.


Destruction of 152 Terraine Street from WMS media Inc. on Vimeo.

Saturday Stats: 2014 End-of-the-Year Meta Post!

Its that time of the year again where we can look back and see all of the accolades San Jose has collected in 2014. This year's list is the longest I have compiled so far. Thank you to everyone that has sent in links for these articles!

This year we have gotten everything from the smartest city, the best big city for jobs, the best city for small business, the city with the highest pay, and even the happiest city to work in. For the first time we even landed on a "coolest city" list.

Check out the impressive meta-list below and for links to the articles head over to this Google doc.

#1	Best City to Flip a House	24/7 Wall Street	2014	SF #2
#1	Smartest City in America	TODAY Show	2014
#9	City with Momentum in the World	Jones Lang LaSalle	2014	SF #1, NY #6
#2	Top Performing Rental Market in the Country	SVBJ	2014	SF #3
#9	Best City for Female Entrepreneurs	Nerdwallet	2014	SF #2
#1	Apartment Boom Town	SpareFoot	2014	SF #8
#5	Best City for Overall Well-Being	USAToday	2014	SF #9
#3	Lowest obesity rate for metros larger than 1 million people	Gallop	2014	SF #3
#11	Top City for Millennials to Live, Work, and Play	Huff Post Collecge	2014	SF #5, NY #1
#1	Best Big City for Jobs	Forbes	2014	SF #2, NY #7
#2	Safest City of Driving	NBC	2014	NY #1, SF did not rank
#1	Best City for Small Business	Biz2Credit	2014	SF #5, NY #7
#6	Healthiest City in the US	ACSM	2014	SF #5, NY #24
#3	Most Upward Mobile City in the US	The Atlantic	2014	SF #5, NY #10
#1	Happiest City to Work In	CareerBliss	2014	SF #3
#1	Best City to Work In	Glassdoor	2014	SF #2, NY did not rank
#1	Best City for STEM Graduates	NerdWallet	2014	SF #5
#16	America's Coolest City 2014	Forbes	2014	SF #5, NY #11
#1	Most Expensive Metro in the US	SocketSite	2014	SF #2
#19	Top City for Culture	PropertyShark	2014	SF #16, NY #13
#7	Top Place in the US to Cool Off Before Summer Ends	SpareFoot	2014
#2	Best Job Market in the US for Recent Grads	The Atlantic	2014	SF #1, NY #28
#7	Most Educated City in the US	WalletHub	2014	SF #14, NY #51
#5	Best City to Trick-or-treat In	Zillow	2014	SF #1
#1	Easiest City for Finding a Job	Forbes	2014	SF and NY did not rank
#1	City with the Top Median Pay	Forbes	2014	SF #2, NY #8

Content Magazine Aquired by SV Creates

My favorite local publication--Content Magazine--is merging with SV Creates starting in January. I think this is great news on both sides. SV Creates will get a kick-ass magazine that is very much in tune with the arts and creative community in San Jose. Content will have access to greater resources and distribution channels.

For the offical announcement from Daniel Garcia (Content's founder), just scroll down. I wish both Content and SV Creates the best of luck and a huge congratulations!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We would like to wish all of our readers and their families a joyous Holiday Season!

To get into the spirit of the holidays, have a quick look at this great video put together by Team San Jose featuring a dozen San Jose landmarks!

Food Trucks Coming to Plaza de Cesar Chavez Downtown!

Moveable Feast is planning to expand to its birthplace, Downtown San Jose. The goal is to have a weekly food truck event at Plaza de Cesar Chavez every Friday. It would be a mid-sized gathering of 5-6 trucks along with live music. Moveable Feast still needs to final approval from the city, but they are confident their plan will be approved.

Ryan Sebastian, the founder of Moveable Feast, believes that these events are key to bringing more people to Downtown San Jose and making it a destination. He believes there are still many San Joseans that are afraid of Downtown, and events like this will help change that brand perception.

The best case scenario would place Moveable Feast in the park beginning this February.

Personally, I would love to see this taken a step further and have a permanent area dedicated to food trucks (and retail trucks) with daily events. There would have to be enough demand, but that could really become an anchor for one of the best urban parks in San Jose.

Source: SVBJ

Lou's Beach Shack Coming to San Pedro Square Market!

A direct descendant of the famous Lou's Village Restaurant, Lou's Beach Shack will offer fresh seafood in a scaled down venue. The new eatery will be in the "Garage" area of the San Pedro Square Market next to B2 Coffee and will be open from 11am-10pm, 7 days a week.

The menu looks impressive and will give the Market several food options not provided by any of the other vendors today. You'll find everything from Clam Chowder, Calamari, Oysters, Lobster Sliders, Artichoke Hearts, and Cioppino. Check out the full tentative menu below.

For more information, head over to the Lou's Beach Shack website.

REAL FAST FOOD
Served 11am-10pm 7 Days

Our Famous Deep Fried Calamari    8.95
Fish 'n Chips   8.95
Boston Style Clam Chowder 5.95  Quart 13.95
Bay Calamari Steak Sandwich 8.95
Walkaway Shrimpy    7.95
Today's Oysters on the Half 2.00 ea..
Little Lobster Sliders 14.95
Caesar Salad   8.95     With Shrimp 13.95
Top Loaded Grilled Cheese Sandwich   7.95
Oh. My. Cod Fries  7.95
Deep Fried Castroville Artichoke Hearts  7.95
Capitola Fries a la Babe   5.95
Chickie's Cold Slaw  5.95

Chocolate Dipped Frozen Banana  5.95
with nuts add .75

Snow Ball
Raspberry, Blue Berry, Egg Custard
4.95

Orange Freeze  5.95

Iced Tea, Lemonade
16 oz  3.95     32 Oz  5.95

Fridays 5PM-9PM feature oysters of the day on the half @1.75 ea
(until gone)
Sunday is Family Poor Man's Cioppino Day 15.95/person while it lasts
(no nut crackers required)
Remember Tuesday is Red's Shrimp Tamale Day 8.95 ea