Urban Confluence Silicon Valley Reveal Event

Urban Confluence Silicon Valley is going to build an iconic landmark across the street from the SAP Center. Last Friday, they narrowed down almost a thousand concept submissions across six continents to just three finalists.

Two of them use negative space to recreate the original San Jose Light Tower while providing platforms for visitors to climb the tower and take in 360 degree views. 

The third concept is a towering garden with over-sized plants and flowers. This one features walkways with glass on all sides--including the floor--that make you feel like you are floating through the garden..

Each of these finalists will receive $150k to perfect their concept and a final decision on which will go forward with will take place early next year. You can watch the full reveal of all three concepts below.

MIRO Towers being topped off

Below is a brief video from the top of MIRO, San Jose's future tallest set of buildings. The towers are currently at maximum height (just under 300 feet) and they should be ready for leasing some time next year. The views look quite stunning from up there.

Source: aphelion2100 from the San Jose Development Forum

Love, Loss, Life

Tonight the San Jose Museum of Art is hosting an event discussing the contributions of Chicano, African-American, and Vietnamese immigrants to San Jose. It includes music inspired by these stories created and performed by Emmy-award winning musician and composer Van-Anh Vo. At the end there will be an interactive Q&A with the speakers and artists.

For free tickets, click here.

September 2020 Downtown Dimension Highlights

The latest addition of Downtown Dimension is now live. Below is a summary of the content this month.

The SEPTEMBER 2020 Downtown Dimension is now available for download.

On the front page:

Taking into account the views of 1,254 survey responders, SJDA has a stabilization plan that provides guidance on how SJDA and downtown San Jose should move forward in the next six months and for the next two years.  The 40-page plan goes deep, but this month's Dimension summary outlines the highlights, managing principles and primary objectives:

1. Emphasize clean and safe services downtown;
2. Provide plenty of nurturing to downtown's vulnerable storefront economy;
3. Focus on downtown place enhancement and marketing.

Also this month:

• Nirvana Soul owners talk about opening "third-wave specialty coffee shop" in SoFA.  
• Groundwerx program managers promoted.
• Railroad through northern part of downtown to be silenced at night.
• First 90 minutes free parking at newly upgraded and safety-conscientious ParkSJ garages 

SJDA hosts City Council candidates forum Sept. 11, 8:30 a.m.

The City Council forum featuring District 4 candidates David Cohen and Lan Diep plus District 6 candidates Dev Davis and Jake Tonkel will stream live on Facebook Live starting at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 11.  To view the meeting, simply go to our Facebook page @sjdowntown.  We're taking some reservations on Zoom, too.  RSVP to sjdarsvp@sjdowntown.com.

Another way to stay connected to downtown:

The Downtowner Online is sent each Wednesday.  This weekly email features downtown businesses including virtual events and ways to support downtown. Subscribe

San Jose's new bike plan

San Jose has unveiled Better Bike Plan 2025, which will lead to a major expansion of our bike network. The previous plan gave us 392 miles of on-street bike-ways and 62 miles of trails since 2009.

The 2025 plan is nearly as ambitions. It features 79 miles of new separated bike lines, 101 miles of bike boulevards on slow-speed streets, upgrading 293 miles of existing bike lanes with new safety measures, and 37 miles of new trails.

The overall price tag could range between $250 million to $420 million. It sounds expensive but the cost covers hundreds of miles of improvements for less than the two-stop Light Rail expansion to Eastridge Mall.

Source: San Jose Inside

Guided Downtown San Jose Street Art Tour

Art helps brighten the day, and we could use a little extra brightening right now. Downtown San Jose boasts one of the most impressive collections of murals in the Bay Area. Ecocity Cycles is now offering a full blown COVID-compliant tour by pedicab. The tour takes about an hour and includes visiting over 20 murals and a free treat from a local bakery. They are also using an XL pedicab that can seat up to 6 and you can even choose whether to have a top cover or go full-on convertible.

For more info or to book a tour, head over here.

New San Jose Flag

Pop quiz, do you know what the San Jose flag looks like?

Here is a quick reminder:

It doesn't quite seem to represent the San Jose of today. Bushels of wheat and grape vines have little to do with our current culture of innovation, technology, diversity, or entrepreneurship. There was an attempt to redesign this flag in 2016, but it never gained traction.

Abhinav Ganesh has created a modernized version of the San Jose flag. It's clean and easy to remember. The sun iconography is also used in official City logos and reminds us of our 300 days of sunshine each year. Here is the official description of the unofficial redesign:

"the triangular shape represents the Santa Clara Valley, the triangles represent the mountains at our borders, and the sun represents our warmth and lofty aspirations. The blue and gold colors, currently used by the city, are also California's official colors."

If you would like to support the initiative to modernize the flag, Abhinav has started selling the new flags and donating $10 to local charities for each sale. You can learn more over here.