BART is Bringing Retail to Stations

Several modular retail kiosks are coming to the Bay Area's 44 BART stations. This should add extra convenience to BART's 400,000 daily users. There will even be a companion app to the retail pods that would allow passengers to run errands such as dropping off and picking up laundry as part of their trip. These types of services could go a long way in helping people get out of their cars and utilize public transit more.

Perhaps instead of using kiosks, retail can be fully baked into the design for the upcoming BART Silicon Valley Phase 2 extension--especially since the bulk of those stations will be located in the Downtown San Jose area.

The retail kiosks are already operating in Downtown San Francisco and will reach five more stations by the end of the year. Square footage is going to vary from 600 SQFT at Union City to 2,172 SQFT at Castro Valley. I imagine that San Jose's Berryessa station will likely be towards the larger end of the retail spectrum given the station's size and location.

Source: SVBJ

Wednesday Wishlist: Vertical Forests

As San Jose grows, so will the need to increase building density and build up. I'm not just talking about Downtown San Jose and North San Jose, but many parts of our city. There are a few innovative ideas that can help make dense projects less intimidating, fit better into surrounding neighborhoods, and even contribute in a positive way to the environment.

Lausanne, Switzerland is about to build the world's second "vertical forest." This is a stunning residential tower that will be covered with hundreds of trees and shrubs. Besides the aesthetic benefits, the vegetation filters air pollution and produces oxygen. I can see this type of project working well in Everygreen and South San Jose as old strip malls and shopping centers become ready for redevelopment.

Source: Inhabitat

Silver Spring Networks Moving Headquarters to San Jose

Silver Springs Networks is a company that specializes in smart grid products for energy companies as well as software to help consumers reduce their energy consumption. They have decided to move their headquarters from Redwood City to San Jose. Silver Springs will take on 191,800 SQFT of prime office space at Champion Station (210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive). The company is yet another welcome addition to North San Jose's burgeoning portfolio of tech companies.

Source: SVBJ

Federal Realty Building 1 Million SQFT of Office Space Across from Santana Row

Federal Realty is changing their development plans for the former Winchester Theaters parking lot across from their flagship property, Santana Row. Residential has been completely removed from the project. Instead, they have decided to double-down on offices and develop a million square feet of high-end commercial space across six buildings. Each of those will range between six and nine stories, with parking taking the first three floors on the majority of the buildings. There is no surface parking, all 2,545 parking spaces will be in the garages.

There will be at least one retail component, a 29,000 SQFT grocery store that I'm sure will be popular with residents across the street at Santana Row. There is also a big question mark on what Federal Realty will do with the only Dome that was saved (which you can see on the lower left of the first render below). Speculated use has ranged from a performance arts theater to a beer garden.

This won't be the only major project in the area. Westfield is well underway with a $600 million expansion of Valley Fair. Plans have been submitted for a 12-story boutique hotel at 2850 Stevens Creek, where a gas station currently sits. There is also a proposal for 650 new apartments at 881 S. Winchester Avenue (replacing a 216 unit project), and another one for 160 residential units along with 12,000 SQFT of retail at 751 S. Winchester.

The neighborhood is certainly going to look quite a bit differently in a few years. Hopefully the new Bus Rapid Transit line will be operational by the time these projects are completed. A new Winchester Advisory Group has been meeting to great a plan with recommended transit improvements. At least the office project will not add to weekend traffic and will add much needed parking spaces to the Santana Row/Valley Fair area.

Source: SVBJ

Do You Know the Way to San Jose? (From Brooklyn)

A couple years ago Glove and Boots--famous NYC puppeteers--did an epic twelve hour AMA on reddit. In a unique twist, they answered questions with videos produced on the spot. Below was their answer to "Do you know the way to San Jose?" Thanks to Kevin Zing for sending this in!

Saturday Stats: San Jose has the Most Future-Ready Economy in the Nation

At the 2015 Strategic Innovation Summit held by Harvard University and Dell, San Jose was proclaimed as the most future-ready economy in the country. Their definition of a future-ready economy is one that has sustainable economic output and growth potential. There are three key attributes that the study looked for:

1.) Human capital, or people equipped with the right skills to drive meaningful social and economic change.
2.) Commerce from sustainable business opportunities to continue improving entire economies for year to come. This includes collaboration, such as the formation of public-private partnerships.
3.) Infrastructure prepared to support people, businesses, and technology needed to drive growth and change.

San Jose scored well above average when it comes to human capital, having strong salaries, educational achievements, and by far the highest number of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) occupations per capita. San Jose also nailed it on commerce, having a collaborative and innovation-driven economy. Where we lost some big points was with infrastructure, particularly traffic congestion and poor public transit. Despite that, we still took the top position in the study with San Francisco coming in second and Washington DC in 3rd place.

Source: Dell, SJ Economy Newsletter

Top 25 Future Ready Economies

1. San Jose, CA
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Washington, DC
4. Boston, MA
5. Austin, TX
6. Raleigh, NC
7. Seattle, WA
8. Denver, CO
9. Portland, OR
10. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
11. New York, NY
12. Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
13. Houston, TX
14. Atlanta, GA
15. Charlotte, NC
16. San Diego, CA
17. Chicago, IL
18. Louisville, KY
19. Salt Lake City, UT
20. Des Moines, IA
21. Los Angeles, CA
22. Pittsburgh, PA
23. Kansas City, MO
24. Columbus, OH
25. Philadelphia, PA

Frontier Village Remnants Head to the New Museum of Los Gatos and Great America

Many years ago there was a theme park in San Jose called Frontier Village. It had a western theme and was inspired by Disneyland, but never gained enough traction to survive despite having a number of interesting attractions (including gunfights and a roller coaster). A San Jose resident named Shaughnessy McGehee has been collecting and recreating elements of Frontier Village over the years, but is now moving out of state. His vast collection was split among the New Museum of Los Gatos and Great America and the first showing of the collection is already on display in Los Gatos.

For more information, head over to this great write-up (with a lot more photos) at Searchlight San Jose.

Bass Pro Shops Opens San Jose Store

There are very few retailers out there with fans that are willing to drive 50+ miles and plan their whole day around a store visit. Bass Pro Shops is on that short list. They officially opened their San Jose store on Almaden Expressway a couple weeks ago, which is the only one in the Bay Area and the fourth in all of California. About 10,000 people came for the grand opening.

The San Jose store is larger than an average Costco at 145,000 SQFT. It features a huge array of camping, hunting, fishing, boating, and general outdoor gear. If that wasn't enough, it has its own 12-lane underwater-themed bowling alley, a seafood restaurant, a full bar, an indoor archery range, and a 15,000 gallon aquarium worthy of a zoo. The store employs over 200 people.

Bass Pro Shops is located at 5160 Cherry Avenue and is open Monday through Saturday from 9am to 9pm and Sunday from 10am to 8pm.

Source: SVBJ