Saturday Stats: San Jose One of the Top 10 Happiest Cities!

Our first Saturday Stat of 2015 is a big one. National Geographic has placed San Jose in the Top 10 Happiest Cities... not in the US but in the World! Also included in the list is the Gold Coast of Australia, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Auckland in New Zealand, and Dubai. Don't ask me what the criteria was because it was not disclosed in the article. However, it did mention two dozen community gardens in San Jose, plenty of organic produce, and lots of sunshine.

Source: National Geographic, hat-tip to Todd Horvitz!

Univision Moving from SF to San Jose

In a move that probably should have happened decades ago, Univision has decided to move its Bay Area headquarters from San Francisco to San Jose. Not only will this allow the Spanish media network to be closer to most of its audience, but it will also substantially reduce costs.

Univision will be moving its studios and radio stations to 1940 Zanker Road in North San Jose. It is expecting 60-65 people to work from the new location after the move is completed in the fall. For more info, hit the source link below.

Source: The Merc

Welcome to 2015 San Jose!

Happy New Year everyone! 2014 was a great year for San Jose and I'm optimistic that 2015 is going to be even better. Here is a look ahead to the next 12 months:

• 2nd Generation Residential High-Rises - It has been a long time since a high-rise residential project opened up in San Jose. This year both One South and Centerra will start leasing and will bring a thousand new residents to our city's urban core.
• Half-a-Dozen More Cranes Downtown - 2014 is the first year I can remember since the early 2000s where we had three cranes in the air Downtown. 2015 will have many more. Silvery Towers, the AC Hotel, Marshal Square, the Post & San Pedro Tower, Parkview Towers, Symphony Towers, and Mill Creek are all expected to start construction this year.
• Retail and Office will Thrive Downtown - We are finally building enough critical mass Downtown to make retail succeed, and just about every project mentioned above will have a retail component to help fill gaps between retail centers. Office vacancies will likely fall below 10% as more tech startups realize what a great value and experience Downtown San Jose provides.
• Stadiums Galore - Last year we have the grand opening of Levi's Stadium, which is bringing multiple world-class events a stones-throw away from North San Jose. Our hotels, restaurants, and entertainment facilities are also benefactors here. The new Earthquakes Stadium also goes live in 2015, bringing even more events and quality professional sports to San Jose (along with the largest outdoor bar in North America).
• More Great Restaurants - Last year we got First to Market, Taurinus Brazilian Steakhouse, Spuds, Garlic Bread, Seven Seas Sushi, Nick the Greek, and a lot of other great places. 2015 is going to be the year of the Urban Markets with the SoFA Market realizing its potential and a new Market going up by SJSU.
• More flights at SJC - We got Tokyo in 2013 and we're about due for at least one new international route this year. You can also expect more routes and flights and the economy continues to thrive.
• BRT Launches - We will have our first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line this year, which will run between Downtown and Eastridge. BRT combines the convenience of Light Rail with low construction costs, and may be key to dramatically improving public transit in the short term. More BRT lines and the BART extension area also on their way.
• The Completion of Santana Row - The last major development projects to complete the original vision for Santana Row should be under construction this year. Not to worry, Federal Realty will soon start working on a brand new project across next to the Winchester Mystery House.

That's a wrap, hope you all have an amazing first day of 2015!

From Lastlightbender's Instagram Page

Free New Year's Eve Party at the San Pedro Square Market!

The San Pedro Square Market is doing another special event this year for New Year's Eve. The theme for 2015 is super heroes and villains, so come dressed up as your favorite. Instead of spending big bucks to go to formal NYE events, you can pay no cover and enjoy all of the reasonably priced food offerings at the Market this New Year.

DJ Danny G will be spinning from 9pm to 1am at the Garage Bar. There is no additional link or registration, just show up and have fun!

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