Downtown for Dogs

Our friend Mark from Think Bigger San Jose has an interesting article on the benefits of dogs in Downtown San Jose. He knows this firsthand as he has three of them himself. Downtown dogs have to go out several times per day to use "the facilities" and stretch their legs. This means residents have to go out more frequently as well, and in turn that means more eyes on the streets and lower chances of people doing stupid things (graffiti as an obvious example). This contributes to a safer and nicer community. It's an interesting point.

Plus dogs are great conversation starters. Who doesn't like running into a friendly pup at the San Pedro Square Market?

Check out the post right over here.

Saturday Stats: San Jose Metro is the #1 Mid-sized Region for College Students

The American Institute for Economic Research ranked San Jose as the top metro area for prospective collect students in a recent study. They defined a mid-sized metro as having a population between 1 and 2.5 million and the criteria included work opportunities, cost of rent, culture, diversity, and access to bars and restaurants.

Not surprisingly, we excelled at metrics tied to jobs, the economy, at STEM (science, technology, and math). San Jose was also first in diversity and #4 when it comes to bars and restaurants. However, our metro struggled when it came to rent costs and entertainment.

Austin came in second place followed by Pittsburgh, Raleigh, and Salt Lake City. You can access our profile right over here.

Source: SVBJ

SoFA Market Getting Traction

Now that the SoFA Market has been open for just over a year, it finally seems like it is getting the traction it deserves. 8/10 of the retail pads are now leased. The SoFA Market is currently home to Vero's Coffee, The Fountainhead Bar, On the Flipside, Konjoe Tei, Pokebowl, and Vitamina. Two places are coming soon: Milk & Wood (Gelato on a Stick) and Toasted Craft Sandwiches. It also sounds like the ninth lease will be a pizza joint. Hit the source link below for a nice article on the market's journey. Five years ago, nobody would have thought a project like this would work Downtown. Now we have both the San Pedro Square Market and the SoFA Market helping to rejuvenate their respective areas.

Source: SVBJ

Bentek Expanding San Jose Manufacturing Facilities

Bentek is a true homegrown San Jose Company that builds electrical products for a variety of industries. They were founded here in 1985 and still remain headquartered in San Jose (2350 Harris Way). They are adding 100,000 SQFT of manufacturing space at 1991 Senter Road in Central San Jose. The space will be used to build AC/DC power products for both the solar and semiconductor industries. Over the past three years alone, the company has grown from 100 to 240 employees, and they are expecting to continue growing in the near future.

Source: San Jose Economy Newsletter

Good Karma Artisan Ales & Cafe and Russian River Brewing Company Beer Dinner

Two favorites among many local beer fans unite for a beer-and-food pairing dinner taking place tomorrow (Thursday), Dec. 3 from 5pm to 8pm. As the blog post title indicates, I'm referring to Good Karma in downtown San Jose and Russian River Brewing Company. Additional information - which I previously wrote on Examiner.com - is below.

Carefully crafted vegan dishes will be paired with the following ales – all on tap – from Russian River Brewing: STS Pils (Czech Pilsener), Blind Pig IPA, Pliny the Elder (Double IPA), Temptation (Wild Ale) and Consecration (Wild Ale). While Russian River Brewing IPAs and wild ales continue to be the standards for their respective beer styles among many beer enthusiasts, having these five beers all on tap in the South Bay is a rarity.

Tickets are $55 per person, and reservations can be made via the dinner's EventBrite page. Payment for the dinner will be collected at the event. Good Karma will be open back to the public at 8pm.

Good Karma owner Ryan Summers, who has done much to elevate the local beer scene, recently took the time to answer a few questions regarding the upcoming beer dinner.

How did the idea for this dinner come about?
Natalie and Michael Benz from Russian River Brewing Company had been in town a few months back for business, and they were kind enough to stop by for dinner and a beer. At some point in the conversation, we threw around the idea of hosting a beer pairing and dinner. A few weeks and multiple emails later, the plan was in motion.

Can you please confirm that the five featured RRBC beers will all be on tap?
The lineup is all draught... Pliny the Elder, STS Pils, Blind Pig, Temptation and Consecration. We're lucky that we get Pliny on the regular in Santa Clara County. Blind Pig hasn't been down this way in 6 plus years. And STS Pils barely makes it out of the brewery, if at all. Temptation and Consecration – the sour, mixed fermentation barrel-aged beer components for the dinner – are such a treat.
The love, talent and care it takes to produce beers of this caliber is high art to say the least. We are beyond honored, and needless to say excited, to work with this great list of beers.

Can you provide a sneak peek of any of the vegan dish pairings?
There's a lot to play with when it comes to food and beer. We're excited to rehydrate Guajillo and California Chilis with Blind Pig for the Chili Colorado with young Jack Fruit. We'll be incorporating Temptation with an Exotic Mushroom Ceviche... That's too many spoilers already!

Anything else to add?
I've run Good Karma for almost ten years now. The relationships we've built, the experiences we've shared, the smiles we've inspired continue to inspire and us... day in, day out. The beer community continues to be some of the warmest, friendliest bunch of people I've ever encountered. Pair that with music, food, thought and reflection... the whole world just makes more sense.

Wednesday Wishlist: Downtown San Jose Bathed in Gold

We all know that San Jose is going to be a major beneficiary of Super Bowl 50 in less than three months. Every hotel room that week has been booked and several events have been planned from San Jose ranging from "Super Bowl Opening Night" at the SAP Center, an expanded Downtown Ice season, a new Guadalupe River Run, and a Super Bowl-themed South First Friday. The SB50 committee is still coming up with ideas for getting Downtown in the Super Bowl spirit. In his sports blog, Mark Purdy posted a new idea from the last SB50 briefing--lighting San Jose in gold during Super Bowl weekend.

Personally, I think this is a great idea. Residential, commercial, and office buildings would be encouraged to use gold illumination during Super Bowl week. This would create a unified theme across the Downtown core. I actually think we should take it a step further. With modern LED lighting, it is easy and relatively inexpensive to plaster any color up on a building. So why not bathe the city in teal during Sharks playoffs or blue for the Earthquakes. The city could turn red for Valentine's Day or Green for St. Patrick's day. It is a low cost way to add some more character and brand identity to the streets of Downtown.

Source: The Merc

Iconic 25-Story Tower Proposed for Santana Row!!!

Nathan Donato-Weinstein from the SVBJ has an epic scoop that made my week. A 25-story high rise called Volar has been proposed for 350 S. Winchester Avenue. This was the only parcel in the area that Federal Realty was not able to acquire for Santana Row. Currently, the site has a two story commercial building with Eli Thomas Menswear as a tenant. That parcel could become one of the most iconic buildings in San Jose, and a testament that high-rise residential could work outside of Downtown San Jose.

If built, Volar would very likely be the tallest building in San Jose and possibly even the tallest between San Francisco and Los Angeles. If those are tall ceilings--which I'm assuming will be the case given its location--it could break 300 feet in height. The project has two floors of commercial/retail space totaling 50,000 SQFT followed by 23 floors containing 330 residential units. Massive balconies drape a huge portion of the building. There is a two-story atrium at the very top of that would house a rooftop restaurant! It even looks like the whole roof could be accessible based on the renderings below. 

Volar also has one little surprise feature that would be a first in Silicon Valley, an automated garage. It works similar to an ATM. You park in a bay, get out, and the car gets loaded into the garage. When you need your car you go back to the bay, enter a code, and it gets delivered in 60 seconds. This allows more cars to be stored in a small space.

While this all seems too good to be true, it looks like this project has legs. Financing is lined up and they are ready to build as soon as the project gets city approval. The plans were just submitted last week--hopefully the city will fast-track this one!!

Source: SVBJ

North San Jose R&D Vacancy Finally Dips Below 10%

After a painful recession and years of recovery, North San Jose commercial space is finally back on solid footing. The last couple tech companies to move into the "golden triangle" were enough to bring the Research and Development (R&D) vacancy rate below 10% for the first time in many years. Usually development picks up substantially when vacancy is in the single digits.

The two most recent companies that moved to North San Jose are Silver Spring Networks and ForeScout. Silver Spring is a smart grid  provider that relocated from Redwood City to 190,000 SQFT on 210 and 230 W. Tasman Drive. ForeScout is a cyber security company that moved from Campbell to 95,000 SQFT at 190 W. Tasman Drive.

Source: San Jose Economy Newsletter