Park View Towers Moving Forward!

The San Jose City Council unanimously gave the final approval to move forward with Barry Swenson's Park View Towers. The $150 million project includes two high-rise residential towers with 220 units. The former Church of Christ Scientist building will be restored an incorporated into the project, creating a nice juxtaposition of historic and contemporary architecture.

Barry Swenson will move the church (similar to how the Montgomery was moved to make way for the Fairmont annex), build underground parking spanning the entire site, and then move the church back to its final destination.

Park View Towers also includes a surprising amount of retail--18,000 SQFT! To put that in perspective, the entire San Pedro Square Market is about 25,000 SQFT. What they have planned for all that space is unclear, but I like the direction they are taking this project. Large amounts of residential and retail might just be the catalyst needed to revitalize St. James Square.

The goal is to break ground in 2016 and have the buildings ready for occupancy by 2018.

Source: SVBJ

Aerial Photo of Downtown San Jose

This photo was posted in the San Jose Development Forum by cardinal2007. Amazingly, it was taken from a plane window on an early morning flight leaving SJC. Ken Sweezey took the photo in 2013. It's already missing several buildings (One South, Centerra, Courthouse, etc.). It would be interesting to see the same shot in 2018 after Silvery Towers, the Pierce, the Gateway Tower, the St. James Park Towers, Symphony Hall, AC Hotel, and the SJSU projects are complete.

Saturday Stats: San Jose Metro is One of the Most Dense in US

When you look at population density in cities, there are two that are always at the top of the list. New York City has 27,781 people per square mile while San Francisco has 17,858. However, when you look at the whole metro area instead of just the city, the list becomes surprisingly different. New York drops down to 5,319 people per square mile putting it in fourth place and LA comes in a shocking first place with 6,999 people per square mile. The SF-Oakland Metro holds onto second place with 6,266 and perhaps even most surprising than LA is that San Jose creeps up to third place with 5,820 people per square mile. I never would have guessed.

Source: SpareFoot

The Fencing Center is Celebrating Their Anniversary on July 5th

Not only are the U.S. National Fencing Championships in San Jose this year (June 27-July 6), but the oldest fencing club in Silicon Valley--and the largest fencing venue in the Bay Area by far--is celebrating the one-year anniversary of their new facility by unveiling two large sculptures on July 5th. The unveiling event will have food, drinks, and music and me emceed by Scott Knies (Executive Director of the San Jose Downtown Association).

To be honest, I had no idea we had such a prestigious fencing facility in San Jose. The Fencing Center has been responsible for Junior and Senior National Champions, U.S. Olympic Team members, NCAA all-Americans, and prominent international fencing officials and coaches. For more info, check out the press release below or head over to their website (wow, they managed to register the domain fencing.com).

SAN JOSE – With more than 4,000 athletes in town for the U.S. Fencing National Championships, the South Bay’s oldest fencing club, The Fencing Center of San Jose, will celebrate the one-year anniversary of its new facility with the unveiling of two sculptures by former U.S. Olympic fencer Peter Schifrin on July 5. 

The Fencing Center will host “A Celebration of U.S. Fencing,” open to the public, on July 5 from 6-8 p.m. The reception will feature a performance by Schifrin at 7 p.m. when his two fencing themed sculptures, “The Salute” and “The Final Touch,” are presented to The Fencing Center where they will be on permanent loan. 

The largest fencing tournament in the world, the Nationals will feature both individual and team events in three weapons – foil, saber and epee – with national titles awarded for both men and women in all age groups, plus berths on National teams.

While the National Championships take place at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center June 27-July 6, The Fencing Center welcomes all competitors to practice for free at its new 15,000 square foot club just south of downtown San Jose at 1290 S. First Street. 

The two bronze sculptures of fencers are the first sports-themed work Schifrin has created since his San Jose State University days as a young epee fencer who represented the U.S. in the 1984 Olympic Games. A former Fencing Center coach and now an art professor at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Schifrin is known for his public art sculptures, notably Coyotes in San Jose and Confluence in San Francisco. 

“The Fencing Center’s dedication to the art of fencing continues through these powerful sculptures that celebrate the very joy of our sport,” said Sandeep Tawari, president of The Fencing Center Board of Directors.

Connie Yu, a long time coach at the club, commissioned the sculptures in homage to the legacy of The Fencing Center in San Jose. Yu, while a fencer herself, served on The Fencing Center’s first board of directors, and her three children, Jennifer, Jessica and Martin were all fencers, too.

“Fencing is an art form as well as a competitive sport. It’s not just about making the touches and winning,” Yu said. “I want to bring back the culture and pageantry that inspire people to be fencers, and having Peter’s sculptures here can help do that.”

The Fencing Center has a long association with downtown San Jose. Its first club opened in 1982 on the second floor of the old Mercury News Building at 10 Notre Dame Avenue, then moved to 40 North Street after incorporating as a non-profit organization, and finally operating for 18 years at 110 Stockton Avenue just behind the SAP Center until last year.

The Fencing Center boasts a long roster of members who have become Junior and Senior National champions, U.S. Olympic Team members, NCAA all-Americans, international fencing officials and prominent fencing coaches. The center continues its tradition of offering classes for all weapons and levels of fencing, including an introductory course, as well as being a host site for local and regional tournaments with 16 Olympic length strips, making it by far the largest fencing venue in the Bay Area. 

The special event on July 5 begins at 6 p.m. with food, beverages and music. The program will commence at 7 p.m. and be emceed by The Fencing Center’s first Executive Director, Scott Knies. There will be open fencing from 8 - 10 p.m. 

A $10 donation per person is suggested. 

For more information on The Fencing Center of San Jose: www.fencing.com. 

For more information on The U.S. Fencing National Championships: www.usfencing.org

"Behind the Magic of Performance" at the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph

The San Jose Dance Theatre and NoonArts & Lectures will be doing a community performance at the Cathedral today from 12:45pm to 1:30pm. San Jose Dance Theatre is a non-profit, pre-professional dance company focused on providing performance opportunities and training to Silicon Valley youth. All of the details are on the flyer below (click to enlarge).

San Jose's Avago Buying Broadcom for $37 Billion

Avago is a chip manufacturer headquartered in North San Jose off of Trimble. They are buying Broadcom--one of their competitors--for $37 Billion. That is Billion with a "B" not a typo. The new combined company will be worth over $77 Billion and instantly become one of Silicon Valley's largest companies.

Broadcom is based in Irvine but has offices in Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and San Jose. Given the large amounts of land in North San Jose well-suited for manufacturing companies, I wouldn't be surprised to see the new company consolidate all of their Silicon Valley operations in San Jose at some point in the future.

Source: SVBJ

Stop the Oil Trains from Coming to San Jose

There is a plan in place to send mile-long trains carrying crude oil through San Jose. Over 500 trips would take place each year--and it will take about an hour for the train to pass through San Jose each time. Not only are they filled with carcinogens, but if there is an accident it will cause mass casualties and damage that San Joseans will be responsible for. I would highly encourage you to head over to this site and watch the 2 minute video with more information. We need to do everything possible to block this project from moving forward.

San Jose Gets a Piece of Super Bowl 50!

Since it was announced that Santa Clara would host Super Bowl 50 at Levi's Stadium next year, it was expected that the city of San Jose would receive some of the benefits as well. After all, our city is a lot closer to the game than San Francisco. San Jose hotels, tourist attractions, and entertainment venues will all do quite well during Super Bowl week. The good news is that the benefits are going to extend beyond that.

A few weeks ago the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee confirmed that one of the teams will be headquartered at the Marriott Hotel in Downtown San Jose and practice at Spartan Stadium. The team will literally be living in Downtown San Jose for the whole week. The hotel is right next to the San Jose Convention Center, The City National Civic, and The Montgomery Theater... I think the odds are quite good that the team will plan some events in the area much like the WWE did during Wrestlemania. There are already talks of using the SAP Center to stage the Super Bowl Media Day. Best of all, these benefits are coming to San Jose for free. Heck, SJSU is even getting a Football locker room upgrade out of this.

Fortunately, San Jose is planning to take full advantage of the situation. Our awesome Downtown Ice Rink in the Circle of Palms will be extended through February 7th and a "party zone" will likely be created Downtown for fans.

Who knows, by the next time a Super Bowl is hosted at Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara and San Jose might fully become the official host cities with the auxiliary events in SF.

Source: The Merc