Monday, February 23, 2015

Joint Venture 2015 Silicon Valley Index

Every year Join Venture puts out a Silicon Valley Index that discusses a variety of topics from the economy to governance and challenges that our region faces. There are always tons of interesting stats in these publications.

Lynn Peithman Stock from the SVBJ has a nice breakdown of how some Silicon Valley stats compare to San Francisco over the last year:

Silicon Valley new jobs: 57,591 (11k up from the previous year)
San Francisco new jobs: 18,499 (4k down from the previous year)

Silicon Valley new patents: 17,000
San Francisco new patents: 1,900

Silicon Valley IPOs: 23
San Francisco IPOs: 5

Silicon Valley startups: 8,600
San Francisco startups: 7,400

Click here to read the entire report (or scroll down for highlights). You can also watch the video briefing below.


Highlights of the 2015 Index include:
Jobs – The number of new jobs grew by 4.1 percent, bringing the region’s job total to nearly 1.5 million. Silicon Valley added 57,951 new jobs between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014; San Francisco added another 18,499 for a total of 76,450 in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.
Investment– Venture capital investments in Silicon Valley and San Francisco shot up, reaching $14.5 billion in the first three quarters of 2014 alone – more than in any other year since 2000. San Francisco’s share was $7.1 billion, a 68 percent spike over 2013. Cleantech venture capital investments increased dramatically as well in 2014, reaching an all-time high of nearly $3.3 billion.
IPOs/M&A – 23 of the 275 U.S. Initial Public Offerings in 2014 were by Silicon Valley companies, three more than the prior year. As of Q3 2014, Silicon Valley was on pace to reach 2013 merger and acquisition activity levels, while San Francisco exceeded the number of deals in 2013 in the first three quarters of 2014 alone. During that time period, there were 560 M&A deals involving Silicon Valley companies, and 403 involving San Francisco companies.
Innovation – The number of Silicon Valley patent registrations continued to rise, reaching 16,975 in 2013 (1,910 more than the previous year). The largest share (40 percent) of the patents was in Computers, Data Processing and Information Storage, with another 24 percent in Communications.
Population – The entire Silicon Valley region (including Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, Fremont, Union City, Newark and Scotts Valley) grew by nearly 42,000 people between January 2013 and January 2014. During that period of time, Santa Clara County was the fastest growing county in the state at 1.5 percent – nearly twice the growth rate of the state as a whole (0.9 percent) – and a few Silicon Valley cities (Campbell, Milpitas, Foster City and Morgan Hill) grew three to four times faster than the state.
Income – Average annual earnings (including wages and supplements) in Silicon Valley and San Francisco as of Q2 2014 were $116,033 and $104,881, respectively, compared to $96,663 in the nine-County Bay Area, $70,847 in California and $61,489 in the United States. Median household income in 2013 in Silicon Valley was $94,534 and $79,778 in San Francisco.
Housing – Home prices and rental rates continued to rise in 2014, with a median home sale price of $757,585 (7.5 percent higher than 2013 and more than $360,000 higher than the median price throughout the state) and an average rental rate of $2,333 per month (11 percent higher than 2013) in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.
Commercial space – The amount of approved development hit skyscraper levels in FY 2013-14 to 12.9 million square feet – nearly twice the floor area of the Pentagon, the largest U.S. office building. This amount of net non-residential development is far more than any other year over the last decade, and is 2.6 million square feet more than the last peak in 2004.
Published annually since 1995, the Silicon Valley Index findings are reported in five major sections: People (talent flows and diversity); Economy (employment, innovation and entrepreneurship, commercial space, income); Society (preparing for economic success, early education, arts and culture, quality of health, safety); Place (environment, transportation, land use, housing); and Governance (city finances and civic engagement).
The 2015 Silicon Valley Index is accessible online at www.siliconvalleyindicators.organd may be downloaded from the Joint Venture website at www.jointventure.org.
About Joint Venture Silicon Valley

Established in 1993, Joint Venture provides analysis and action on issues affecting the Silicon Valley economy and quality of life. The organization brings together established and emerging leaders—from business, government, academia, labor and the broader community—to spotlight issues, launch projects and work toward innovative solutions. For more information, visit www.jointventure.org.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Google Donates $1M to Support Lick Observatory

It's nice to see Google giving back to the San Jose community, where many of its employees are housed. The search giant has committed $1 million over the next two years to help keep the doors open at the historic Lick Observatory, which has been responsible for many discoveries and important astronomical projects over the years. The gift is equivalent to one fourth of the center's annual operating budget.

Lick Observatory is one of San Jose's most prominent landmarks and is the only observatory in the UC system where astronomy and astrophysics students can design and build their own astronomy projects. A vote of confidence from a company like Google will go a long way to attracting other Silicon Valley donors.

Source: The Merc



Saturday, February 21, 2015

Saturday Stats: San Jose is #1 For Advanced Industry Sector Employment

San Jose has the greatest share of advanced industry employment in the country. Advanced industry includes tech, engineering, and energy jobs that drive innovation. In fact, it took first by a mile. 30% of employment in the San Jose metro is in the advanced industry sector. Seattle came in second at 16% and San Francisco was in 5th with 14%.

Why is this important? Not only are these the jobs that drive economic growth in the country, but the pay is spectacular. In 2013, workers in this sector nationwide raked in an average of $90k a year. However in Silicon Valley, that number is doubled to an astounding $180k per year.

Source: SiliconBeat, Brookings Institute




Friday, February 20, 2015

San Jose Convention Center Getting The Alternative Press Expo

APE (The Alternative Press Expo) is moving to San Jose and will take place on October 3rd and 4th. APE is an annual indie comics show that was previously hosted in San Francisco. One of the key goals will to make APE in San Jose a multi-venue event with additional programming in the SoFA District across the street.

The San Jose Convention Center also hosts the mainstream Big Wow Comics Fest each April. Landing another comics convention is a big win for the local arts community.

Source: Comics Beat


Thursday, February 19, 2015

More Murals Coming Downtown!

Erin Salazar is creating a group of professional artists called The Exhibition District to paint murals on the sides of buildings throughout Downtown. Salazar has a bit of experience here, as she was the person responsible for the murals in Good Karma Vegan Cafe and Paper Plane. There are multitudes of boring windowless walls throughout the area that could become attractions with a bit of color and artistic creativity. With all of the traction Downtown has been getting lately, there has never been a better time to take our arts scene to the next level and show what local artists are capable of.

The San Jose Downtown Association and the Knight Foundation have already signed on as sponsors. Hopefully we'll see some projects from The Exhibition District underway real soon!

Source: MetroActive


Examples of Downtown Murals we have today:

Anno Domini (2006)
Andre Hart at SubZERO Festival (2014)



Wednesday, February 18, 2015

February 2015 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:
  • The 25th Cinequest Film Festival will run from February 24th through March 8th and include nearly 300 events and features, including both US and World Premiers of films. In 1990 there were 3,000 Cinequest attendees... this year there will be over 100,000.
  • You can nominate one-of-a-kind, only-in-Downtown gems over here: http://sjdowntown.com/live-here/downtown-gems/ (as well as see previous gems).
  • San Jose Jazz's Winter Fest 2015 will be in the SoFA District from February 27 to March 8th (coinciding with Cinequest).
  • There, There SJ is a clothing pop-up shop that has decided to stay Downtown past the holiday. Their store is on North Second Street. The Usuals and SJ MADE Playspace will also be remaining at the former Rep Theater lobby until at least the end of March, as will DH Co. and Good Concepts which are located in shipping containers right outside the former theater.
To read the full newsletter, click here!



Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Sharks are Moving Their Minor League Team to SAP Center!

The San Jose Sharks are going to be one of the first NHL teams to have their minor league (AHL) affiliate play in the same arena. The "minor league Sharks" are going to be moved from Massachusetts to San Jose this October, and will be playing 38 AHL home games at SAP. This is of course great news for Downtown, which will see even more visitors and activity during game nights. The AHL games will cost substantially less than the NHL games and will hopefully make hockey accessible to more people in the area.

Source: SVBJ


Monday, February 16, 2015

Mill Creek Building an Apartment Project on San Pedro

To say that the San Pedro Square area is on fire would be an understatement. Just as the Centerra tower is wrapping up, the two Silvery Towers broke ground earlier this month. Those three towers alone will add thousands of people to the San Pedro Square area. North of San Pedro, multiple projects are just waiting for the Julian Street realignment in order to get started. And yet... there is more.

The Mill Creek project will bring 8 floors of apartments right to the heart of the San Pedro Square area in what is now a parking lot. While not very tall, this infill project will create 204 new units as well as 9,500 SQFT of retail on the ground floor. One other neat feature is a new landscaped paseo next to Peggy Sue's that will also host some live/work units. This could add thousands of square feet on the retail side if the occupants choose to locate businesses on the ground floor.

This looks like another great project in the Downtown San Jose pipeline. The total cost will be around $90 million and Mill Creek is hoping to break ground by the end of the year. Oh, and the financing is already in place. This has the potential to move very quickly.

Source: SVBJ