Saturday Stats: San Jose is the 6th Happiest City in the US

A recent study established 15 metrics that contribute to happiness and used them to rank the largest metros in the US in terms of happiness. These metrics range from eating healthy, education, financial security, and vacation time. San Jose came in at a very respectable 6th place of all cities in the US. San Francisco ranked 17th. Boulder took the top spot followed by Santa Cruz (not surprising).

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

New luxury apartment project coming to Santana Row area

Greystar Real Estate Partners is going to transform an existing 216 unit apartment building into a a 636 unit luxury apartment community called The Reserve. The project is at 881 S. Winchester Boulevard, very close to Santana Row.

The apartments will mostly be one and two-bedroom loft-style units in four to five-story buildings with two levels of underground parking. Amenities include a pool, rooftop lounge, a fitness center, and 8,000 SQFT of retail.

The Reserve should be ready for leasing in 2020.

Source: SVBJ (subscription required)

Happy Halloween 2017!!! + Halloween in the Park (Part XI)

Keeping with San Jose Blog tradition, in October we have a Wednesday Wishlist post for Halloween in the Park. Since tomorrow is already November, I thought it might be neat to do this post on Halloween itself. The idea is to build on the momentum that Christmas in the Park brings to San Jose each year and create something of similar scale for the month of October with Halloween in the Park! A lot of the infrastructure such as wiring, lighting, and booths might even be able to be shared between the events. The goal would be to make Downtown San Jose the epicenter of October Halloween experiences.

Below you will find brainstorming ideas we have collected for this concept so far over the years. Please have a look and provide your feedback and suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

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The largest draw to Downtown San Jose for many years now has been Christmas in the Park. It has continued to grow year after year and brings in visitors from all over the Bay Area. It's economic impact is substantial and helps keep many Downtown businesses and restaurants alive.

What would you think about a similar event for Halloween? Picture Downtown lit up in orange and purple with elaborate Halloween displays assembled by local artists. Perhaps infrastructure could even be shared with Christmas in the Park (e.g. retail booths). A strong event in October would help maintain traffic between the summer months and Christmas in the Park. Here are the ideas we have so far:

• Animated Halloween Displays
• Created by local artists
• Analogous to the Christmas displays that attract many families during Christmas in the Park (almost half a million visitors)
• Family friendly so that everyone can enjoy it (PG/PG13, perhaps around the same level as Great America Halloween Haunt)
• Halloween Lighting
• Orange, purple, and green LED lighting on trees
• May be possible to use new programmable LED lighting that can go from Halloween colors to Christmas colors with the push of a button, allowing the lights to stay up for Christmas in the Park as well and reducing setup/take-down costs.
• Halloween Food
• Booths with candied apples, chocolates, candy, pumpkin seeds, etc.
• Food trucks
• Trick-or-treating station - a free piece of candy to anyone wearing a costume any day in October (could also be used to hand out promotional flyers for Downtown events/businesses/resources)
• Retail Booths selling Halloween items, for example:
• Artwork (paintings, glass pumpkins, etc.)
• Home decor/crafts like candles
• Light-up hats/necklaces/bracelets
• Costumes
• Zombie/Halloween make-up station 
• Halloween-themed Carnival Games
• Pirates of Emerson and Candlelighters (Fremont) do a good job of providing family-friendly games themed around Halloween
• A handful of children's rides could also be added to the Paseo and reused for Christmas in the Park
• Interactive Art
• Subzero/ZERO1-style, but with a Halloween spin.
• Halloween-themed video game kiosks and/or arcades
• Pumpkins
• Instead of the sponsored Christmas trees in Christmas in the Park, how about decorated Pumpkins (can even be Styrofoam so there is no mess/decay)?
• Pumpkin carving station for families. 
• Pumpkin carving contest.
• Costumed Entertainers
• Walking around the area, not necessarily scaring people but adding to the ambiance and providing photo opportunities for families
• Haunts / Mazes
• Would be ideal if these were nearby, perhaps in vacant retails spaces, surface parking lots, the San Jose Convention Center tent, or at SJSU.
• Could partners with one of the established San Jose haunt providers such as Deadtime Dreams or The World's Largest Haunted House.
• Potential Events
• Zombie-O-Rama can be used to kick off Halloween in the Park (late Sep. / early Oct. time-frame)
• Zombie Crawl
• Dia De Los Muertos Events
• Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos Bike Party
• Horror Movie Trivia Contest
• Weekly horror movie screening (perhaps in the Circle of Palms area?)
• Costume Ball

Inspirations:

• Candle Lighters
• Pirates of Emerson
• The Great Jack O'Lantern Blaze (photos below)

San Jose is the 2nd Best City for Trick-or-Treating!

As a huge fan of Halloween, I'm thrilled to see San Jose maintain its Zillow rank as the 2nd best city to Trick-or-Treat in. Each year, Zillow creates the list using population density, walk score, home values, local crime data, and age distributions. This should theoretically provide the cities where trick-or-treaters can get the most candy, in the least amount of time, with the fewest safety risks.

This year San Francisco has overtaken Philadelphia for the top spot, which now ranks #3 right behind San Jose.

Within San Jose, the top specific neighborhoods for trick-or-treating were West San Jose, Willow Glen, Cambrian Park, Rose Garden, Almaden Valley.

Source: Zillow

Scott Knies on big changes coming to Downtown

The Merc has a great interview with Scott Knies, the Executive Director of the San Jose Downtown Association. He discusses big changes, including the potential Google mega-campus which he is already dubbing the GoJo district (Google Jose). Residential, restaurants, and height restrictions also come up in the conversation. Check it out at the link below.

Source: The Merc

Saturday Stats: SJC is the 4th fastest growing airport in terms of international travel

We went from a couple to nine international routes in what seems like no time at all. Based on international passengers, San Jose had the 4th fastest growing airport in the country between 2012 and 2016.

I would actually argue that we led the country in international growth. Reno, Austin, and Columbus were the top three and all of them had almost 0 international travel in 2012. When you take a number close to 0 and add anything to it, you are going to get a very large percentage. San Jose went from 84,000 international passengers in 2012 to 330,400 in 2016. That growth of quarter million passengers is not only far more than any other airport on the top 10, but it is greater than the rest of the top 5 combined.

SJC also had more passengers in 2012 than any other airport on the list--the larger you are the more difficult it is to grow. This makes the growth SJC has shown even more impressive.

Source: SVBJ (requires subscription)

International Passengers

New Homewood Suites by Hilton in North San Jose

Homewood Suites at 4315 N. First St. officially opened on October 13th. This is an extended-stay hotel ideal for business travelers and has 145 units that are more like mini-apartments. Every room has a full kitchen, separate living and sleeping spaces, and are at least 434 SQFT. They also have two-bedroom suites available. One of their unique features is a grocery shopping service that lets guests provide their shopping lists and employees will buy the groceries for them.

The new Hotel is located just north of Highway 237 and is just a few minutes away from Alviso, the @First shopping center anchored by Target, and Levi's Stadium.

Source: SVBJ (subscription required)

Kika Tech Moves HQ's to San Pedro Square

As artificial intelligence (AI) integrates into our daily lives, one company is using it to transform the way we communicate.

Kika Tech, a leader in mobile communications, officially announced the company’s expansion to meet worldwide consumer demand for its AI platform that enhances how people engage and interact.

In this capacity, the company establishes new headquarters in Downtown San Jose's historic San Pedro Square, bolsters leadership team by appointing Tami Zhu as General Manager.

Kika Tech’s U.S. expansion builds upon what has been a momentous year for the company. Kika Keyboard, the company’s flagship product, is the #1 rated keyboard app on the Google Play Store in the U.S., providing a seamless mobile experience to more than 60M users each month. Kika has secured $63M in funding and struck key strategic partnerships with global sports franchises (Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona), mobile manufacturers (Samsung, Huawei, and ZTE), movie studios (20th Century Fox, Warner Bros.), and leading GIF provider, GIPHY.

-Noe Sacoco

Kika Tech Expands Global Presence to Meet Worldwide Consumer Demand

Company Establishes New Silicon Valley Headquarters, Bolsters Leadership Team Appointing Tami Zhu as General Manager

SAN JOSE, Calif.  – Kika Tech, a leader in mobile communications, continues to expand to meet worldwide consumer demand for its artificial intelligence (AI) platform that enhances how people engage and interact. The company today, announced new headquarters in San Jose’s historic San Pedro Square to house its growing workforce and to solidify its presence in Silicon Valley’s innovative culture. Kika Tech has also appointed seasoned business executive Tami Zhu as general manager, whose extensive AI background will lead the company into its next phase of growth. Ms. Zhu’s experience will be leveraged to further Kika’s AI initiatives along with strategic planning, revenue generation, marketing, business development, and results measurements.

“My chief interest has always been in artificial intelligence and consumer technology,” said Tami Zhu, general manager, Kika Tech. “Kika Tech’s advancements in AI is transforming the way we communicate. It’s an exciting time to join the company, as Kika Tech expands its global presence. I look forward to driving Kika Tech’s expansion to reach new milestones in the U.S. and beyond.”

An MIT graduate and technologist, Ms. Zhu has worked on some of the most cutting-edge innovations of the times, from launching Internet joint ventures across the U.S. and various international countries, to running digital media organizations in China. In her role as general manager, Ms. Zhu will oversee day-to-day U.S. operations including the continued expansion of the U.S. Kika Tech workforce, as the company plans to hire 50 new employees in marketing, sales, engineering and other positions. Previously, Ms. Zhu served as the GM of an AI and robotics startup in San Francisco, where under her leadership, the company raised over $150M in VC funding, won multiple CES Innovation Awards for two consecutive years and became recognized as a dominant AI player in China.

Earlier in Ms. Zhu’s career, she was vice president at IPG Mediabrands, where she led the innovations of digital media. She also held various executive positions including vice president at IAC/InterActiveCorp and head of AOL Ventures, and was the top female Asian executive in the company. Before that, Ms. Zhu launched Excite@Home’s international joint ventures in the Netherlands, Australia and Japan.

Kika Tech’s U.S. expansion builds upon what has been a momentous year for the company. Kika Keyboard, the company’s flagship product, is the #1 rated utility app in the Google Play Store, providing a seamless mobile experience to more than 60M users each month. Kika Tech has secured $63M in funding and struck key strategic partnerships with global sports franchises (Real Madrid C.F., FC Barcelona), mobile manufacturers (Samsung, Huawei, and ZTE), movie studios (20th Century Fox, Warner Bros.), and leading GIF provider, GIPHY.

Looking forward, Kika Tech aims to revolutionize communications by leveraging the company’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence engine. Incorporating image and voice recognition, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and deep learning, Kika Tech’s vision is for individuals to connect five times faster with other users, resulting in more efficient and meaningful conversation.

About Kika Tech

Say it with Kika! Make everyday interactions more engaging and fun with Kika Tech. Integrating into smart devices, Kika Tech enhances self-expression that goes beyond mobile platforms. By leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), Kika Tech enriches the emotional connection between individuals in the technology-driven world. To download the Kika app, please visit: bit.ly/kikakeyboard. Keep up-to-date with Kika Tech on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.