First Amazon Books in Northern California is coming to San Jose

In the ultimate irony, Amazon is now opening up physical bookstores. Yes, the same Amazon that took down pretty much all brick-and-mortar bookstores in the US.

The first Amazon Books anywhere in Northern California is coming to Santana Row, one block away from where a two-story flagship Borders once existed. The Amazon store will be about 5,500 SQFT and prices will be exactly the same as the website if you are a Prime member. Amazon is even planning to somehow incorporate user reviews in the physical store.

Amazon Books will be located at 333 Santana Row, Suite 2. It will also be joined by a second Silicon Valley Northern Californian location in Walnut Creek later this year.

Source: SVBJ, hat tip to Corin for sending this in!

Update: As pointed out in the comments, Walnut Creek is not in Silicon Valley

The SoFA Street Fair kicks off this Sunday

A great free music festival is happening this weekend in Downtown's SoFA district. Local, regional, and national live music acts will be taking to the stage in the middle of South First Street. This is also a great opportunity to check out SoFA's hotspots like Cafe Stritch, Forager, and the now full SoFA Market. The event starts at 2pm and goes into the night.

For more details, check out the SoFA Street Fair Facebook page.

Content Magazine 9.2 "Sight & Sound" Pick-Up Party

The latest edition of Content is available today. The focus of this issue is on creative people who make the images and sounds of our region.

In typical fashion, they are celebrating the new issue with a party. Enjoy live music by Mitch Lujan, Cola, and Mark Arroyo Trio. If you are a subscriber, you even get a free drink. It all goes down at Studio by Terra Amico at 460 Lincoln Street from 7pm-9:30pm. To learn more, head over to the Content website.

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.