SJC's International Arrivals lounge opens Thursday

San Jose International is getting quite a bit of recognition lately. Not only is it the fastest growing major airport in the country, it was just recognized as the "best-run" international airport in the US. This Thursday SJC will get their latest improvement, a respectable area for international arrivals.

I have gone through customs at SJC twice now, and both times it has taken less than 20 minutes to get from the plane, through customs, through baggage claim, and grab a ride outside. Try doing that in any other airport in the country. The only problem is that the area looked a bit, well, janky. When leaving, you are basically dumped outside in a miscellaneous spot between Terminals A and B. Also, there is no indoor place for family and friends to wait for you.

That is going to change this week when a $8.2 million International Arrivals lounge opens up. The 5,600 SQFT space will provide a more pleasant experience for international visitors as well as those waiting to welcome them. Designed by Gensler, the area has seating, restrooms, vending machines, and a second baggage carousel for international flights. It may not sound like much, but it will be a huge improvement. Combined with the insanely fast processing time, SJC is continuing to up their game and I hope it results in more passengers and flights.

Source: SVBJ

Easter Extravaganza

We hope you all have a great weekend. If you are looking for a fun Easter event for the kids, the San Pedro Square Market is hosting an Easter egg hunt and craft activities this Sunday from noon to 3pm. For the adults you have live music and three bars =).

April 2017 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

• Live & Local is back! Visit the site promoting the 30 live music venues Downtown at liveandlocalsj.com
• The City Council established the St. James Park Management District to help fund park maintenance, activation, and eventually the complete overhaul of the park. The top priority for the redesign will be the Levitt Pavilion outdoor music venue, with other projects coming afterwards.
• SJDA suggested 20 mitigation improvements to the VTA in order to minimize Downtown disruptions during the BART subway construction.
• The Downtown San Jose Farmer's Market will return on May 5th and run through November 17th.
• The SoFA Street Fair on April 23rd will feature 100 bands on more than 15 stages.
• Klimpton Hotels & Restaurants announced that a new 173-room hotel will be part of the future Museum Place highrise located behind the Tech museum.
• Fuz Bar & Grill is now open at 58 S 1st Street.

To read the newsletter, click here!

San Jose is getting a 24-story Tribute Hotel!

Finally, some significant vertical development news for Downtown. It looks like San Jose's first cantilevered tower will be moving forward. The proprietors behind San Jose's Downtown Four Points (which is probably the nicest Four Points in the US) want to build a 24-story hotel tower in a narrow lot to the right of the hotel. The lot is so narrow that the tower would have to cantilever over the Four Points as you can see in the photos below. It creates a very interesting architectural juxtaposition of a building from the 1910s merged with a modern high-rise.

Now for the even-better news. The 279-room tower will be branded as The Tribute Hotel San Jose as opposed to being an expansion of the Four Points-branded hotel. The Tribute is a new Marriott brand (which now owns Starwood Hotels) and it is far more upscale and prestigious.

The tower will have amenities that don't even exist in San Francisco or Los Angeles. I'm talking about a rooftop pool on the 24-floor. That is officially one of the coolest hotel amenities possible and I will be booking a room at some point just to take advantage of it. The Grand Hyatt in Toyko (hotel from the movie "Lost in Translation") is the only other property I have been to with something like that and it was awesome. The Tribute Hotel will also have their gym and meeting rooms on the penthouse floor featuring amazing views of Silicon Valley. This is going to be a very unique destination and a huge win for San Jose enthusiasts.

Source: The Merc

First Friday @ SPACES by Santana Row

You now have two First Friday events to chooser from in San Jose! SPACES, a new coworking space in Santana Row, is hosting a monthly event with art, cocktails, and networking. Their first event happens today from 5pm-8pm. SPACES is located at 3031 Tische Way.

South First Fridays tonight in SoFA

It is a little wet outside, but that should not stop you from enjoying great art in some of Downtown San Jose's most interesting venues. 20 destinations will be open late tonight and proudly display local artwork. South First Fridays is completely free and you can find a preview of what will be on display over here.

For an interactive walking map (sorry the one below is just a boring image), bookmark this link.

Zoom and Wrike are growing in San Jose

Two hot tech companies are choosing to grow their presence in Downtown San Jose. Zoom is a video and web conferencing solution founded in 2011. It currently has 180 employees with plans to add 20 more.

Wrike is a work management solution with 10,000 paid accounts. Their first office was in Downtown San Jose, but they moved to Mountain View in 2014 after getting their series A funding. Late last year they moved back to Downtown San Jose and now have 70 employees with plans to grow.

Both Zoom and Wrike are headquartered on Almaden Avenue--Zoom is on the 6th Floor of 55 Almaden and Wrike is on the 10th floor of 10 Almaden.

Source: SJ Economy News

The Pierce is honoring World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day, and one of the coolest art projects in Downtown San Jose is doing something special for the occasion. Voxel Cloud--the LED light system on top of The Pierce--will be illuminated in blue from 7:30pm to midnight. To learn more about the "Light It Up Blue" campaign in support of people living with autism, please head over here.