New restaurants and stores coming to Santana Row

It does not look like Santana Row is losing any steam even after being open for more than a decade. More trendy and exclusive opening are on the way, including:

• SoulCycle - coming in May, 3,151 SQFT space at 337 Santana Row
• Ozumo - popular SF Japanese sushi and robata restaurant coming in March, 4,200 SQFT location at 355 Santana Row (former Blowfish space)
• Baldwin Denim - American-made denim apparel coming later this month, 2,000 SQFT spot at 334 Santana Row, Suite 1075.
• Everything But Water - a swimwear retailer coming in early April, 1,040 SQFT spot at 333 Santana Row in early April.
• Pizza Antica - one of Santana Row's first restaurants, is relaunching in late April/early May in an expanded 4,186 SQFT space featuring a craft cocktail bar and more seating.

Source: SVBJ

Thoughtful article on Downtown San Jose's revitalization

The Registry has a great interview with the managing director of Gensler's San Jose office. Gensler is a world-renowned design firm that opened a branch here a few years ago and has been heavily involved in catalyzing the Downtown community. Hit the source link below to read the interview.

Source: The Registry

LimeBike coming to take on Ford GoBikes Downtown

It looks like Ford GoBikes (formerly Bay Area Bike Share) has some competition. LimeBike relies on GPS self-locking system and you can rent them for just $1 for 30 minutes of use. Bikes and scooters with an electric motor cost $1 for 10 minutes of use. All models are powered by solar panels built into the bike and they use foam tires that never go flat. Unlike GoBikes, they do not need to be rented or dropped off at a station. Just use the app to locate a bike and then drop it off near your destination.

It is hard to believe that in less than 5 years we went from having no bike share options to two competing programs.

Source: The Merc

San Jose will pilot tiny homes for homeless

The city is looking at three different sites to build dozens of tiny homes that would provide temporary housing for the homeless. The homes would primarily be for the 3-5 year period between qualifying for housing assistance and when an actual housing unit is available.

Gensler designed the tiny homes, which are designed for 1-2 people and are essentially boxes with separate common areas for bathrooms and cooking.

Before you become concerned that these will pop up in your neighborhood, all three locations are not exactly desirable areas. One is proposed for the southwest quadrant of the 280/680/101 freeway interchange, another is on a VTA staging area on Mabury Road, and the last is at the intersection of Hellyer Avenue and Silicon Valley Boulevard.

I feel like this is a great initiative to house those that need it the most. However, I am also a bit concerned that the more resources we provide, the more homeless will migrate to the area (look at San Francisco as an example). We should really prioritize temporary housing for those that were born-and-raised in San Jose, if we don't do this already. There needs to be some balance between taking care of our own and not becoming a haven for homeless from other regions. Knowing that locals are living here and not transients would also go a long way towards getting public support of these projects, which are very necessary.

Source: SVBJ

Downtown JC Penny's Building renovation

Built in 1946 for JC Penny's, the 4-story building at 1 W. Santa Clara in the heart of Downtown is getting an impressive makeover. The building already has a timber deck and center atrium, both of which will be prominently featured post-remodel. It looks perfect for hip startup companies or a midsize tech firm. One feature we can all benefit from is the Blue Bottle Coffee shop on the ground floor. Check out the renders below.

Source: San Jose Development Forum, Lift Partners

San Jose is the 8th most diverse city in the US

Anyone who grew up here can tell you that San Jose is a melting pot of cultures. Now we have a way to better quantify it. A new study by WalletHub compared the 501 most populous US cities across ethnoracial diversity, linguistic diversity, and birthplace diversity. After crunching all the numbers we came in 8th place (3rd place if you only look at big cities). San Jose also had the 2nd highest linguistic diversity rank in the nation. Oakland just slightly edged us out at #7 while San Francisco came in #12.

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

SJC getting a new nonstop to Everett

If you haven't heard of an airport in Everett, Washington we can't blame you. This is a brand new 2-gate airport that is 24 miles north of downtown Seattle. Paine Field is adjacent to the Boeing factory and is currently used for corporate and private aviation (as well as delivery of brand new Boeing planes). When the commercial terminal opens, San Jose will be one of the inaugural routes Alaska Airlines will offer. Southwest is also coming to the airport, so it will be interesting to see if they will offer the route as well.

The San Jose <> Everett flight will be available towards the end of the year.

Source: SVBJ

Wednesday Wishlist: Michelin Star Restaurants (2018 Edition)

Welcome to the 9th annual Wednesday Wishlist post where the topic is getting restaurants in San Jose worthy of Michelin starts. The Michelin guide is the most renowned rubric in the world for measuring culinary success. San Jose's first and only Michelin Star restaurant, Adega in Little Portugal, retained the honor for a second year. I will also have some big news related to Adega later this year.

Michelin has three different star categories:

• One Star - A very good restaurant in its category with cuisine prepared to a consistently high standard. A good place to stop on your journey.
• Two Stars - Excellent cuisine, skillfully and carefully crafted dishes of outstanding quality. Worth a detour.
• Three Stars - Exceptional cuisine with distinctive dishes and superlative ingredients. Worth a special journey.

There are also restaurants in the Michelin guide that do not get a star, but are considered "Michelin Recommended." This is already a significant honor that a very small percentage of restaurants achieve. Within this category San Jose scored a total of 6 restaurants, which is significantly down from last year but it seems like the guide has trimmed the number of recipients throughout the Bay (the book was trimmed by 70 pages this year).

I created a Google doc listing all of the star recipients for 2018, along with tabs for all previous years and some general statistics. Below is an image capture from the doc. This year there were a total of 55 restaurants that were awarded Michelin stars, which is up 1 from last year and an all-time high for the Bay Area. 60% of the restaurants are locating in SF, 20% in Wine Country, 18% in Silicon Valley (split evenly between the South Bay and the Peninsula), and 2% in the East Bay. Silicon Valley is nearly tied with Wine Country when it comes to number of restaurants with stars. There are 5 new restaurants on the list for 2017 and 4 from last year that did not make the cut or were closed down: Aziza, Mosu, Nico, and Solbar.


San Jose Michelin Starred Restaurants:

• East San Jose
• Adega (* 1 STAR *)

San Jose Michelin Recommended Restaurants:

• Downtown
• Back A Yard
• Midtown
• Walia
• Din Tai Fung
• South San Jose
• Thien Long
• Lau Hai San
• Camden
• Zeni

The Michelin Recommended restaurants that we lost over the past year were Vung Tau, Swaad, Zona Rosa, Smoking Pig BBQ, Bun Bo Hue An Nam, and the Table. I'm a bit surprised about some of those but hopefully they will be back next year. I'm also optimistic that Adega will inspire other San Jose restaurants to go after stars!

Source: Michelin Guide