Think Bigger San Jose: "Retail... in Downtown San Jose?"

Think Bigger San Jose has a great post about creating a continuous retail district in central Downtown San Jose. Commercial vacancy is below 10% and several high-density housing projects are about to come online... is now the time to turn Downtown into a retail destination? Mark proposes creating a retail paseo in the area outlined below where parking spaces could be turned into unique retail parklets, perhaps using shipping containers. It's a must-read for visitors of this blog, so please check out the post over here.

On a slightly related note, we may soon have drawings for a temporary retail project consisting of multiple shipping containers that is being proposed for Downtown.

Check Out Avaya Stadium!

The new Quakes stadium is coming along quite nicely. I really like the blue pattern that they chose for the seats and of course that massive bar below the scoreboard. Oh, and the team also signed a new sponsor: BMW. The club at Avaya Stadium will be branded the BMW Club and cars from the Bay Area BMW Centers will be displayed at each MLS game. The sponsorship is worth $2 million over the next 5 years.

Check out the great photos below by Vicki Thompson. There are a bunch more at the Silicon Valley Business Journal article over here.

Apigee Preparing for an IPO!

We really scored big-time when Apigee decided to move from Palo Alto to Downtown San Jose. The rapidly expanding software company is reportedly in talks with bankers to file for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) valuing the company at $700 million.

What would this mean for San Jose? The IPO would mint many new local millionaires that would be working Downtown. Perhaps some of them will decide to move closer to work, or invest in the area. At minimum, they will be more likely to drop some bucks at local restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues and accelerate our economy. Of course, having another public company headquartered Downtown does nothing but help the area's brand and will attract even more emerging companies.

Source: Siliconbeat

Symphony Silicon Valley Performing Fantasia for Valentine's Day

Live Symphony Orchestra with Huge Movie Screen

San Jose, CA – There is a chill in the air, but the hottest ticket in town is the Valentine love story between Symphony Silicon Valley and Disney’s Fantasia.  The weekend of love, February 14 and 15 at San Jose’s Center for Performing Arts, Symphony Silicon Valley will be performing live on stage the classic music from the original 1940 Walt Disney film and Disney’s Fantasia 2000 update while the movie is projected in high definition on a huge screen.

“This performance is also a love story between the magic of film and the love of music,” said Andrew Bales, President of Symphony Silicon Valley.  “This is the perfect Valentine for everyone: friends, lovers, families, music lovers old and young.”

Disney shares one of its crown jewels of feature animation with Symphony Silicon Valley, accompanying scenes from both the 1940 original version by Walt Disney, as well as Disney Fantasia 2000, highlighting selections from each, including Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite.

Other iconic moments include Mickey Mouse as he dabbles in magic in Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the mythical unicorns and winged horses that accompany Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. The greatest hits in Fantasia include Debussy’s Claire de Lune, Stravinsky’s Suite from The Firebird, and who doesn’t recognize Pomp and Circumstance by Sir Edward Elgar with Donald Duck as an assistant in The Noah’s Ark story. But the most memorable of all are the dancing hippos and elephants in Amilcare Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda.

The screening and concert of Fantasia will be on Saturday, February 14 at 8 PM and Sunday, February 15 at 2:30 PM at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, located at 255 S. Almaden Blvd, San Jose, CA 95113. Advance tickets are from $44 to $80 and available by calling the box office Monday – Friday 10 AM to 5 PM at 408 286 2600 or visit  www.fantasiassv.org

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About Symphony Silicon Valley

Symphony Silicon Valley is the professional symphony orchestra of San Jose.  Founded in 2002, the nonprofit company has progressed from a daring idea to rapidly become the greater South Bay's premiere orchestra and a notable community success story.  The Symphony's artists, nationally recruited, locally resident, with an average performance tenure in San Jose of over 20 years, are recognized as among the best in the greater Bay Area.  Led by an exciting roster of distinguished guest conductors on the European model, the Symphony is an anchor tenant of San Jose's magnificently restored downtown California Theatre, one of Northern California's most outstanding music halls.  Symphony Silicon Valley is setting an example of an innovative business model in the arts -- market driven and financially conservative, with low overhead and the flexibility to match its programming to its support base.  Besides the Symphony's core Classics concerts, other programs include Target Summer Pops free music festival, five diverse concerts produced outdoors on the lawn and annually bringing nearly 20,000 people out to enjoy totally free and family-friendly music; and ArtSPARK, the county-wide arts education program for all elementary students in grades 3-5. This school year the program will serve 19,000 students.

BART to San Jose Update Video

Below is a quick update on the progress of the Milpitas BART station.

Source: Usedmedia on the San Jose Development Forum

Saturday Stats: San Jose is One of the Healthiest Places in America

NerdWallet has put together a list of the healthiest cities in America. In order to determine which cities made the cut, the study looked at the American Fitness Index, % of residents that are a healthy weight, % of residents who engage in physical activity, % of residents with health insurance, and the number of physicians and surgeons per 100,000 residents.

San Jose came in a respectable 7th place. SF came in 2nd (due mostly to a high number of physicians per capita), and NY made it to 15th place.

Source: NerdWallet

"Slide The City" Coming to San Jose!

A 1,000 foot slip-and-slide is coming to a very lucky street somewhere in San Jose this June. This is exactly what is sounds like... an inflated water slide three football fields long. To get an idea of the sheer scale of this, have a look at the photos below from the inaugural Salt Lake City event.

The exact date and location have not yet been set. I'm hoping for a spot somewhere around Downtown San Jose, but I'm not sure if we have a hill steep enough in the area. Where do you guys think this will go?

The pricing will range from $15 to $60 depending on how many times you want to go down the slide (one, three times, or unlimited) and the kind of swag you'd like to take home. All passes come with a water gun.

To get on the mailing list and be the first to know when early registration becomes available, just head over here.

Hat-tip to Payge Lyn for sending this in!

Donner Lofts Affordable Housing Community Breaks Ground

MidPen Housing recently broke ground on a 102-unit housing complex at 156 E. St. John Street. The six-story project is on the former site of the Donner-Houghton estate, which was the home of a Donner Party survivor. Unfortunately, the home was destroyed in a 2007 fire.

The apartment complex includes 2,500 SQFT of retail on the ground floor as well as a community gathering space, computer lab, and exercise facilities. In order to lease an apartment, you cannot earn more than $37,700 as the units are designed for low-income workers and formerly homeless people in the Downtown area. The total cost of the project will be $30.8 million and it is expected to be completed by Summer 2016.

Source: SVBJ