New Mixed-Use Residential Project Slated for East San Jose

We are going to kick off the first workweek of 2016 with two big stories for East San Jose. Today, we'll talk about the first major development proposal in decades for East San Jose. Tomorrow, we'll have an in depth restaurant review for what might just be the best new restaurant in all of San Jose--and it happens to be in East San Jose.

The Empire Lumber site at 1260 E. Santa Clara Street is clearly a prime spot for redevelopment given that it is across the street from a future BART station. Despite the fact that we won't see any trains stopping at that station until the year 2025 or so, developers have already started taking serious interest in the neighborhood.

Steinberg has proposed a seven-story mixed-use building with 418 apartments and 30,000 SQFT of commercial space on the ground floor. As you can see from the drawings below, this is not your typical building in East San Jose. You have large sidewalks with outdoor dining along Santa Clara Street facing Five Wounds Portuguese National Church--one of our most iconic buildings. There are plenty of large balconies for residents, including some nice ones on the penthouse floors. There is a swimming pool and green space on the podium level above the retail and parking, and Steinberg even designed it to have a view. A publicly accessible urban plaza would sit between two large retail pads: 18,000 SQFT on East Santa Clara Street and 12,000 SQFT at the corner of Santa Clara and 28th Street.

The Empire Lumber lot currently houses a used-car dealership, definitely not the best use for this land. There is some push-back from the community on the proposed height of 85 feet. The current site plan has a cap of 55 feet on part of the proposal, so Steinberg would require a variance to get approval. Given this location near a future BART station and a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) station that will hopefully go live by the end of this year, we should be going as dense and tall as possible. This would be a terrific addition to the neighborhood!

Source: SVBJ

VTA Adding Monitors to Light Rail Stations

VTA is in the process of adding a huge convenience feature to the Light Rail system. The 20 busiest stations are getting 47-inch passenger information monitors that will let riders know when the next train arrives. Every station marked with an "i" below will have the new system by January 6th.

There are a total of 62 VTA Light Rail stations and it is possible that the other 42 will get the real-time information monitors at some point in the future. It would also be nice to get these installed at the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations and popular bus stations.

The monitors were provided by Allied Telesis, a San Jose company based at 3200 N. 1st Street.

Source: SVBJ

Play on Words: New Year Noveau at San Jose's Cafe Stritch on January 6th

Play On Words is a collaborative literary arts series that unites emerging and established interdisciplinary artists, fiction/theater enthusiasts, and curious community members eager to learn more about the processes of creative writing and creating performances.

Below is their 2014 Highlights Reel, which includes excerpts of three shows performed at San Jose's Blackbird Tavern, as well as their San Francisco LitCrawl debut in October of last year. 

They are performing at Cafe Stritch this Wednesday from 7-9pm. The show is complimentary, but there is a $5 suggested donation at the door. For more information, please head over to the Play On Words Facebook Event Page.

Saturday Stats: 2015 Meta Post!

It's that time of year again to look back and see the top "Saturday Stats" of 2015. The list is yet again quite impressive. San Jose ranked as the top city for salaries (both before and after cost of living adjustments), tech jobs, job opportunities, job market, advanced industry sector employment, tech hub innovation, college students, and have the most future-ready economy in the US. Those were just the #1 rankings. There are many more below.

You can also see the full list of "Saturday Stats" (including previous years) with article links over here.

Rank	Stat	Source	Year	Notes
#1-10	Top 10 Happiest Cities in the World	National Geographic	2015	SF and NY did not rank
#13	Best City to Find a Job	WalletHub	2015	SF #20, NY #90
#7	Healthiest Place in America	NerdWallet	2015	SF #2, NY #15
#3	Highest GDP Per Capita in the World	SiliconBeat	2015	SF #12
#1	Advanced Industry Sector Employment	SiliconBeat	2015	SF #5
#1	Most Innovative Tech Hub in the US	NerdWallet	2015	SF #3
#6	Most Racially and Linguistically Diverse City in the US	WalletHub	2015	NY #4, SF #13, Oakland #14
#1	Best Place for Tech Jobs	Nerdwallet	2015	SF #6, NY #67
#1	Top Metro for Job Opportunities	Glassdoor	2015
#1	Hottest Job Market	SiliconBeat	2015	SF #2
#3	Best City to Raise a Family In	Healthline	2015	SF #9
#7	Economic Growth between 2008 and 2014	WalletHub	2015	SF #15, Oakland #13
#2	Best City to Trick-or-treat In	Zillow	2015	SF #1
#1	Highest Salary after Cost of Living Adjustments	SVBJ	2015	SF #9
#1	Future-ready City Economy America	Dell	2015	SF #2, NY #3
#1	"Richest City" in America (Greatest Gross Metropolitan Product [GMP])	Bloomberg	2015	SF #3, NY #8
#1	Best Mid-sized Region for College Students	American Institute for Economic Research	2015
#7	Best Place to Own a Home	Porch	2015	SF #47, NY #26

Welcome to 2016 San Jose!

Happy New Year everyone! 2015 was a phenomenal year for San Jose and I'm optimistic that 2016 is going to be even better. Here is a look back on how we did on 2015 predictions as well as a look to the future.

2015 PREDICTIONS

• 2nd Generation Residential High-Rises - It has been a long time since a high-rise residential project opened up in San Jose. This year both One South and Centerra will start leasing and will bring a thousand new residents to our city's urban core. Success. One South has filled up nicely and Centerra has just started leasing. Both of these should be completely full in early 2016. 
• Half-a-Dozen More Cranes Downtown - 2014 is the first year I can remember since the early 2000s where we had three cranes in the air Downtown. 2015 will have many more. Silvery Towers, the AC Hotel, Marshall Squares, the Post & San Pedro Tower, Park View Towers, Symphony Towers, and Mill Creek are all expected to start construction this year. We get partial credit for this one. Silvery Towers, the AC Hotel, and Symphony Towers are all well under construction. Marshall Squares and Mill Creek will definitely get going this year. The rest are still up in the air but have good chances along with new 2015 proposals for the North San Pedro Tower, Museum Place, SJSC Towers, Sobrato Block 3, the Greyhound Towers, and #Diridon. 2016 could have more cranes than at any other time in San Jose's history.
• Retail and Office will Thrive Downtown - We are finally building enough critical mass Downtown to make retail succeed, and just about every project mentioned above will have a retail component to help fill gaps between retail centers. Office vacancies will likely fall below 10% as more tech startups realize what a great value and experience Downtown San Jose provides. Fail. Office vacancies did not fall below 10% and we still have key retail gaps, but this is one I'm still optimistic we can hit in 2016.
• Stadiums Galore - Last year we have the grand opening of Levi's Stadium, which is bringing multiple world-class events a stones-throw away from North San Jose. Our hotels, restaurants, and entertainment facilities are also benefactors here. The new Earthquakes Stadium also goes live in 2015, bringing even more events and quality professional sports to San Jose (along with the largest outdoor bar in North America). Success. Avaya Stadium and Levi's Stadium have both proven to be enormously beneficial and boosted our local economy. 2016 will bring the Super Bowl to Silicon Valley and San Jose is already shaping up to be a key benefactor from the event.  
• More Great Restaurants - Last year we got First to Market, Taurinus Brazilian Steakhouse, Spuds, Garlic Bread, Seven Seas Sushi, Nick the Greek, and a lot of other great places. 2015 is going to be the year of the Urban Markets with the SoFA Market realizing its potential and a new Market going up by SJSU. Success. The restaurant scene blossomed in 2015 with major additions such as Lou's Beach Shack, Konjoe-Tei, Hawaiian Poke Bowl, Deluxe, Voltaire, Aura, HOM. The SoFA Market is nearly full, and the new SJSU market should be ready by the end of 2016. With Centerra nearly complete and Silvery Towers under construction, the amount of eateries in the San Pedro Square Market area should double by 2017. We also have some great additions slated for 2016 such as Sushi Confidential, Uproar Brewery, and Social Policy.
• More flights at SJC - We got Tokyo in 2013 and we're about due for at least one new international route this year. You can also expect more routes and flights and the economy continues to thrive. Success. We could not have nailed this any better! Instead of closing one new international route, we are getting four! San Jose will have direct flights to Beijing, London, Frankfurt, and Vancouver in 2016. Seoul and Shanghai are rumored to be in the works as well.
• BRT Launches - We will have our first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line this year, which will run between Downtown and Eastridge. BRT combines the convenience of Light Rail with low construction costs, and may be key to dramatically improving public transit in the short term. More BRT lines and the BART extension area also on their way. Fail. The Alum Rock BRT line was delayed by a whole year and the construction caused a lot of damage to the community. Hopefully we will get this one back on track.
• The Completion of Santana Row - The last major development projects to complete the original vision for Santana Row should be under construction this year. Not to worry, Federal Realty will soon start working on a brand new project across next to the Winchester Mystery House. Success. Santana Row construction is in full swing. An entire building has been leased to Splunk, and there are plans to build a major office campus across the street.

That's a wrap, hope you all have an amazing first day of 2016!

New Year's Eve 2015 At the Market!

Once again the San Pedro Square Market is hosting a free New Year's Event! This year the theme is Star Wars and costumes are highly encouraged. All ages are welcome.

Music will be provided by Groovy Judy (info below). There will be specialty Star Wars-themed cocktails all night such as Vader-Ade, Yoda Soda, and Qui-Gon Gin & Tonic. At midnight the Market will be doing a balloon drop.

The festivities start at 9pm and the Market will be open until 1am.

More on Groovy Judy | Hendrix inspired Funk Rock: Groovy Judy is one of the “top” female guitarists and entertainers in the The Bay Area. Influenced by great artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and Sly and The Family Stone, her style and energy equals some of today’s most-known artists. Her stellar guitar playing, inspirational lyrics, colorful dress, and upbeat personality help people smile and feel good about themselves. She performs all over The Bay Area and beyond. With her band she always puts on an upbeat, positive show that gets people up and dancing.

San Jose Bike-Sharing Program is Getting a HUGE Expansion

Earlier this month the city council unanimously approved a dramatic expansion in San Jose's bike-sharing program. The current system has 16 stations filled with 130 light blue bikes that can be rented and dropped off at any other station in the network. 15 of those stations are in Downtown San Jose and one is in Japantown.

The expansion will bring 100 bike stations to San Jose and a whopping 1,000 bikes! That is close to an eight-fold increase over the current program. With that many stations and bikes, hopefully more people will get out of their cars and give the system a test run.

It gets better--the expansion will cost the city nothing. Motivate (the vendor providing the stations and bikes) will self-fund the program through corporate sponsorships and user fees that will range from $60-149 per year (for unlimited 30 minute rentals).

Several other Bay Area cities are getting stations and bikes, such as Oakland, Emeryville, and Berkeley. However, several cities that were part of the original Bay Area Bike Share pilot program will not be offered a free pass like San Jose was. Palo Alto, Mountain View, and Redwood City did not get enough riders to justify either an expansion or having Motivate self-fund the program. They will either have to pay to keep their bikes or choose a different program entirely. That really would be a shame because a membership in the San Jose program also gets you access to bikes in the other cities that also participate in Bay Area Bike Share.

Source: SVBJ

Roots and Rye Restaurant Review

Roots and Rye (R&R) is one of the newest Santana Row restaurants. It's tucked in next to Maggiano's and Kara's Cupcakes in a space that previously housed Roux Louisiana Kitchen and Hot Tamales. I'm not a big fan of the decor, which makes the whole restaurant look like it is still under construction. However, I hear that they are going to run plants and vegetation on those exposed wood pillars which would provide a unique effect. Like their sister restaurants Straights and Sino, they have a unique restroom that is partially unisex--might as well get that out of the way now so that there are no awkward surprises ;).



They have an impressive outdoor patio space with plenty of heat lamps. R&R also features live music on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. A nice Jazz band was playing while we dined there the second time around.

So now, let's get to the good stuff... the food. They recently changed their menu to focus more on small, shareable plates that are available all day. They still have some main courses that are available after 5pm. R&R also has a long list of unique craft cocktails and bourbons.

SMALL BITES (SERVED ALL DAY)

Parmesan Fries with a 63 degree egg, fines herbs, truffle aioli - This is their signature small plate and an absolute must-try. You can either dunk the fries into the egg, or pour the egg on top of the parmesan fries. I could eat this all day.

Brussel Sprouts with parmesan, capers, red wine vinegar - Brussel sprouts are usually not my favorite side to order, but these were outstanding. The lemon zest and capers added an extra kick and help make this a perfect addition to your meal.

Roasted bone marrow with red wine braised short rib, potato pepper crostini, pickled radish - When foie gras became illegal in California, bone marrow turned into my new go-to for some extra indulgence on special occasions. The presentation, flavor, and portion size of R&R's bone marrow were all impressive. However, I will say that the first time I dined here there was foie gras on the menu, and it was excellently prepared. If I had the choice, I would go with the foie gras over bone marrow any day of the week.

BIG BITES (5PM TIL CLOSE)

Fried Petaluma Chicken with house-made apple sauce, brussel leaves, mustard caviar, pickled vegetables, apple cider jus - Excellent chicken with crispy skin exploding with flavor. They nailed this dish and the accompaniments.



Beef Short Rib with potato puree, caramelized roots, charred leeks, red wine jus - This dish was just okay. It was standard fare for short rib and did not blow my away like the chicken. I would have rather ordered two more small plates instead of this, which seem to be R&R's strong suit.



SWEETS

Fried Apple Pie with honey crisp apples, roasted quince, creme fraiche ice cream, cider reduction - Save some room for dessert, and order this! If you like apple pie, this dessert will not disappoint.



Candy Bar Tart with chocolate ganache, salted caramel, spanish peanut nougatine ice cream, sazerac caramel sauce, huckleberry compote - This is their most popular dessert and was my wife's favorite. It tastes like all of the candy bars you craved as a child melted into one.



Roots and Rye Affogato with house spun fennel ice cream, almond anise biscotti - A much better alternative that just ordering coffee at the end of your meal. I really enjoyed the cappuccino-soaked ice cream and biscotti. The coffee was a little bit too bitter for my tastes, but a regular coffee drinker should love this.

DRINKS

Churchill Downs (bourbon whiskey, strawberry aquavit, lemon, green cardamom, fever tree ginger beer) - This is one of their signature cocktails and had a very unique flavor that is difficult for me to describe. It was like drinking a flower. This is light enough on the alcohol for either gender to enjoy. This was my wife's favorite.

Goldenrod (terroir gin, herbal liquor, lemon chrysanthemum honey, absinthe, rosemary) - The taste here was even more unique than the Churchill Downs. The combination of flavors actually made this taste kind of like sawdust, which pairs well with the decor. I couldn't resist drinking this since it was so different, but wouldn't recommend it to most people.

Barrel Aged Old Fashioned (bourbon whiskey, bitters, demerara sugar) - I'm a bit of an Old Fashioned snob since this is my favorite cocktail in general and this is the only cocktail that I can reproduce at home. R&R uses Buffalo Trace, which has a bit of a bite to it but I would expect nothing less from a traditional Old Fashioned. This is the cocktail that I would order first in the future.