Major mixed-use redevelopment project proposed on Stevens Creek

West San Jose has not been getting a lot of attention lately when it comes to major development projects--especially when compared to Downtown and North San Jose. Developer FortBay LLC is stepping up to the plate and is proposing a 244,000 SQFT office complex along with 500 apartments at Stevens Creek and Lopina Way. That would been enough space for 1,500 jobs in West San Jose, allowing more residential to be built without contributing to our current jobs/housing imbalance.

The apartments would be built in two six-story buildings, the office would be in a separate six-story building, and there would be a six-story garage to handle the parking. It looks like the developers are a fan of buildings with six levels. Unfortunately it does not sound like there is a retail component.

Right now the area is not permitted for residential, so the developer is hoping to get "signature project" status which would given them a bit of leeway here. Combining office and residential into an urban village makes a lot of sense from a logistics and parking perspective, so I hope this goes through.

Source: SVBJ

WeWork is now open in Downtown San Jose

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has some great photos of San Jose's largest coworking space. WeWork has opened a 75,000 SQFT facility at 75 E. Santa Clara Street that provides flexible working space for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Over 60 companies are already in the process of moving in. The total capacity is 1,500 people (100-200 small companies).

Prices range from $350/mo for a "hot desk", $400-$450 for a dedicated desk, $660/mo for a one-person office and increase from that point on. WeWork provides all the necessary amenities and infrastructure such as internet access, printers, conference rooms, cleaning services, water, and coffee.

It's a great model for small companies that also provides a sense of community. Oh yeah, coworking also injects hundreds of entrepreneurs into the Downtown San Jose community, adding to the vibrancy of the area. NextSpace was the first coworking space in Downtown San Jose and it helped to transform that corner at 97 S. 2nd Street.

Check out the source link below for photos of the WeWork facilities and more information.

Source: SVBJ

United and JetBlue add more flights at SJC

This is becoming an ongoing theme. San Jose International continues to attract more and more flights, something which I find very well deserved. Beside the obvious location advantages, it is one of the best operated airports I have ever been to. Flights are rarely delayed, it is surprisingly fast to get to the gate, baggage comes quickly, even the TSA seems friendlier than other airports.

Finally the word is getting out--passenger traffic is up 9% at SJC in the first six months of 2016 and both United and JetBlue are adding more flights and routes. United is taking a page from Alaska's book and will fly directly from San Jose to Newark in March. That is not only the exact same time-frame as the new Alaska Airlines flight to New York, but the flight will leave and return at the exact same time (6:30am departure from SJC, arriving at EWR at 2:55pm, return flight leaves EWR at 4:05pm and arrives at SJC at 7:40pm). I was suspicious that this is the same flight as Alaska Airlines co-listed as United, but that does not seem to be the case. United is also adding a twice-daily nonstop from San Jose to Chicago O'Hare.

JetBlue is launching a nonstop between San Jose and Long Beach starting January 4th, 2017. The best part is that the route will be flown not once, not twice, but four times each day. This addition means that San Jose now has direct flights to all five LA airports (LAX, Burbank, Orange County, and Ontario are the others). JetBlue is promoting the flight with rates as low as $39 each way.

Sources: Forbes (thanks Josh Russell for sending this in), SVBJ

August 2016 Downtown Dimension Highlights

Here are my notes from the latest edition of Downtown Dimension:

• The Family Justice Center is now open, merging six locations into a single courthouse facility. The eight story building is 233,906 SQFT and contains 20 different courtrooms.
• Four landscaping and design firms each received $25k to create a new vision for St. James Park. The new design must include a water feature and Levitt Pavilion outdoor stage.
• Downtown Doors expands to 103 sites, 20 new pieces of artwork have been added to Downtown sites.
• Starlight Cinemas is bringing back its movie series at St. James Park. Jurassic Park will play on Aug. 31 and Beetlejuice will air on Sep. 21.
• Jazz Summer Fest is taking place from Aug 12-14th, featuring 120 performances on 12 stages and bringing tens of thousands of people to Downtown San Jose.
• Origins Juicery, Downtown's first cold-pressed juice store, is now open at 150 S. 1st Street
• Pieology is now open at 99 E. San Fernando St.

To read the newsletter, click here!

Omescape San Jose adds a 4th escape game - Pandemic Zero

Escape games are continuing to become more and more popular in the Bay Area. I love them, even thought I lost the first three rooms I attempted. They are not easy (only 15-33% of teams escape), but even if you lose it is a great experience.

The concept is similar for all of these rooms: you are locked in and have an hour to solve a series of puzzles in order to unlock the door and escape. Some companies create rooms that are better and more interesting than others. So far I have done three of the Omescape rooms and they have been among my favorites. Omescape uses a lot of special effects, tactile challenges (as opposed to solving lots of math problems), and utilizes multiple rooms/secret doors for each escape.

Omescape San Jose launched with three rooms: Kingdom of Cats (easiest, 2-6 players), Dark Altar (medium difficulty, 4-6 players), and Joker's Asylum (very hard, 6-10 players). Their fourth room is called Pandemic Zero and is medium difficulty (3-6 players). Here is a description of their latest challenge:

Pandemic Zero
A super virus has infected 95% of the world's population.
You have discovered the location of a top-secret lab. However, the entrance to it has been locked because of a citywide quarantine.
Can you find the hidden entrance underneath the city in the sewers and finish work on the cure before you become infected too?

I'm really stoked to try it out next weekend. They are also working on a fifth room that is still 2-3 months away, which will make it the largest escape room facility in the Bay Area and perhaps California. If you have yet to do an escape room, try Kingdom of Cats and you'll be hooked.

Omescape San Jose is located at 625 Wool Creek Dr, Ste E, San Jose 95112. Check out their Facebook page over here and book tickets here.

Almaden Boulevard is getting an exercise loop

The first time I saw a public outdoor exercise area with free equipment to use was in Israel five or six years ago. Since then I have always thought this would be a great addition to San Jose, especially given our weather and the fact that San Jose is one of the healthiest cities in the US. It looks like we are finally getting such a space in 2017.

A one-mile-long exercise loop will be built in Downtown San Jose thanks to donations from Kaiser Permanente, the Sharks Foundation, and SAP. The loop will consist of two exercise elements: the loop itself (which is designed for walking, jogging, or running) and a "Fitness Hub" in the median of Almaden Boulevard and Santa Clara Street. There will also be smaller fitness areas placed throughout the loop for smaller groups.

The Fitness Hub will have several pieces of equipment that residents and visitors can use and it is right next to a Bay Area BikeShare station. This is a great way to encourage people to be healthy while and removing the financial barrier of a gym membership.

The Downtown PBID (property-based improvement district) is also seeking a designer to construct and install a sign for the exercise loop. If you know anyone that may fit the bill for that type of job, contact information is below.

Request for Qualifications (RFQ)

The Downtown Property-Based Improvement District (PBID) is seeking to select a designer(s) to construct and install a vertical entry sign/monument for the Exercise Loop in downtown San Jose. The designer(s) will work with the San Jose Downtown Association (SJDA) to develop their piece in the Fitness Hub located in the median of Almaden Boulevard and Santa Clara Street.  The entry/monument will not only identify the Exercise Loop by name, but must also express branding and wayfinding elements for the Exercise Loop itself.

To be considered for this project, refer to the application process and send the information by Friday, August 19, 2016 by 5:30 pm.

For more Information, please direct questions to Stephanie Wong, PBID Project Coordinator, swong@sjdowntown.com

Gree opening commercial flagship store in san jose

Gree Electric is the largest air conditioning firm in the world. With the opening of their flagship store in San Jose, it will mark the very first time that Gree's commercial products will be available in California. While these are not the types of products you and I would buy for our homes, it will benefit Silicon Valley businesses that are looking to reduce HVAC costs and be more "green."

San Jose, CA -- Gree, the world's largest air conditioning manufacturer and a leading Chinese manufacturer of innovative, green, heating and cooling solutions is opening its first showroom for commercial products in California on August 9, 2016. The grand opening reception is scheduled for 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM on Tuesday at ECS Design, Inc. 502 Auzerais Avenue, San Jose, CA 95126. A special ribbon cutting and ceremonial lion dance will take place at 10:00 AM.

ECS Design has been a general contractor and HVAC specialist in San Jose for more than a decade and a strong advocate for green building construction for sustainable growth. According to Richard Wong, President of ECS, "the significance of Gree coming to San Jose is about green energy movement in the US. They are a leader in VRF* air conditioning systems which are emerging in importance everywhere around the world. It is time that we employ these energy-saving systems in the US.”

ECS Design (ecsdesign.net) will serve a role in training for commercial installation of Gree systems and expanding awareness of the company in California. Wong explains "We hope to begin installing Gree commercial systems and will be looking at larger distribution warehouses as we ramp up."

For more information contact ecs@ecsdesign.net.

About Gree
Gree (www.global.gree.com) is a multinational electric company focused on heating and air conditioning in the international market. In China it also manufactures electric appliances. It has a long history of supporting the Chinese government push toward a cleaner environment and green technology solutions. It had sales of (US) $22.9 billion in 2015. Gree is one of the largest female-led companies, operating under the leadership of President Dong Mingzhu since 2001. (http://www.makers.com/china/dong-mingzhu).

* Variable refrigerant flow is an HVAC technology that was invented in Japan by Daikin company in 1982. It uses refrigerant as both the cooling and heating medium and has gained popularity in many parts of the world, but has been slower to catch on in the US.

Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 3rd most educated city in the US

Given that the tech industry is fueled by some of the brightest minds in the world, it should come as no surprise that San Jose ranks as one of the best educated cities in the country. WalletHub looked at the 150 largest metros in the US and compared nine key metrics such as percentage of adults with bachelor's degrees, public school rankings, University rankings, racial gaps in educational attainment, and gender gaps in educational attainment.

After all the numbers were crunched the San Jose metro came in 3rd on the list, only bested by Ann Arbor and Washington DC. Boston came in 6th followed by the San Francisco metro at #7. The same study ranked San Jose as #7 in 2014, so there is a positive trend in our area. To see the full list as well as more stats check out the source link below.

Source: WalletHub, thanks to Barclay Livker for sending this in!