April 2021 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

Happy New Year - Welcome to 2021!

The APRIL Downtown Dimension is now available for download.
 
On the Front Page:  

• After 21 years, the Friday Downtown San Jose Farmers' Market is moving to the block of South First Street between San Salvador and William streets. Fresh produce and artisan items will be available each Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. starting May 7.  The article explains why the changing is happening and enthusiastic reactions from SoFA businesses.
• SJDA Board President Katia McClain, an architect at Steinberg Hart, offers her professional perspective of the Future of Downtown San Jose.  With all the multiple high-rises being built and proposed, the action -- or interaction -- should be at street level.  And construction along Park Avenue will be the prototype, McClain says.
• Thanks to Federal stimulus funds likely available for Fiscal Year 2021-22, Mayor Sam Liccardo has requested City staff followup on a number of initiatives with downtown ramifications.  

Also this month:

• SJDA interviews a recent new downtown resident making the move from Miami to our city.  He gives his first impressions.
• We'll all enjoy a cleaner Guadalupe River Park.
• Looking forward to the re-opening of the former Fairmont, with new name, this summer.
• New lineup of retailers at MOMENT shops at San Pedro Square.

SJDA's next public meeting will be Friday, April 9 at 8:15 a.m. via Zoom.  The agenda includes a review of the Downtown West development agreement with Google followed by guest speaker Zulma Maciel, director of the city's Office of Racial Equity.
 
Register at https://tinyurl.com/apr9mtg.

Speaking of MOMENT at San Pedro Square:  The Knight Foundation, which provided the funding to clear the way for an innovative project to activate ground-floor garage space into retail shops for entrepreneurs, has studied a number of projects nationwide, including MOMENT, and has identified what makes the project successful.  To read about it, start with this blog from Chris Thompson, Knight Foundation's program director for San Jose.r.

South FIRST FRIDAY is today!

South FIRST FRIDAYs are coming back! The weather is amazing, COVID rates are dropping, and slowly but surely we are going to get back to normal--perhaps better than normal as we will appreciate what we have more.

This month participating galleries are Anno Domini (366 South First), Art Ark (1035 South Sixth), KALEID (320 South First), MACHU PICCHU (199 Martha -- new gallery?), San Jose Jazz (300 South First), MACLA (510 South First), and the SoFA Market (387 South First). 

The San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles and Works San Jose will have online exhibitions. This looks like it will be the most significant art event in San Jose in over a year. For more information, head over here.

I will also remind everyone that many restaurants have resumed indoor dining. The SoFA Market is now open indoors with 25% capacity while Petiscos and many other traditional restaurants are open at 50%. Haberdasher and other bars in SoFA can also sell drinks outdoors without customers having to buy food. The newest gastrolounge in SoFA--the Good Spot--has a soft opening this Saturday starting at 11am. I can't wait to see what SoFA will look like a month from now.

Silicon Valley Annual Check-up

In the video below Joint Venture CEO Russel Hancock summarizes the key learnings from the 2021 Silicon Valley Index. This year, special attention was paid to the impacts of the Coronavirus on our local economy. Other topics include income inequality, racial demographics, housing imbalances, patent registrations, and venture capital funding. The presentation provides an objective look at how our region is doing compared to previous years as well as the rest of the country.

If you find the content interesting, you can also read the whole 150-page study over here.

St. Patty's Day in Downtown San Jose

Downtown San Jose will be illuminated in green until March 17th for St. Patrick's Day. If you are in the area, these are the places you should pay special attention to:

• Security and Leticia Buildings at 70 S. First St.
• Twohy Building at 210 S. First St.
• The Pavilion at 150 S. First St.
• Circle of Palms on S. Market Street.
• Post Street between S. Market and S First streets
• San Pedro Square
• Fairmont Anex
• Bamboo Panda Mural on S. First St.

"Lucky the Leprechaun" will also be making an appearance at more than 30 different Downtown businesses. If you find him, take a photo and share it on social media with #DTSJlucky or #DTSJlove to be entered in a drawing for gift cards.

If you're looking for themed events, Ludwig's German Table will have a St. Patty's Day stand up comedy show featuring 5 local comics, Mezcal will be serving up Green Margarita's, and Plant Lush is discounting their Oxalis "shamrock" plants by 17% this week (if you find one with a 4-leaf clover it's free).

We could use a bit of luck right now, as could our local businesses so let's support them!

March 2021 Downtown Dimension Highlights

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

The MARCH Downtown Dimension is now available for download.
 
On the Front Page:  

• Learn about what international developer Westbank and local developer Urban Community have planned for downtown San Jose.  Five large projects designed by some of the world's best architects.  The Orchard. Energy Hub. Park Habitat. Arbor. And the renovation of the Bank of Italy.  We explain why Westbank has chosen San Jose to be be its fifth city of major investment, joining Vancouver, Toronto, Tokyo and Seattle.
• San Jose police have a plan to curb robberies, burglaries and quality-of-life crimes and Dimension has the details.

Also this month:

• SJDA opens a dog park in SoFA District.
• Natural Sweet Delight opens in SoFA Market.  The co-owners are among several new downtown businesses that chose to open during the pandemic, investing in the future of downtown.
• The Chef's Market came up with positive results.  Five downtown eateries gave a meal to a person in need for every meal sold to customers.

SJDA's next public meeting will be Friday, April 9 at 8:15 a.m. via Zoom.  Te agenda includes a presentation on the Westbank / Urban Community projects and guest speaker is Zulma Maciel, director of the city'sOffice of Racial Equity.
 
RSVP through SJDArsvp@sjdowntown.com to receive a link and PIN code to the meeting.

We're back in the Red Tier, indoor dining is back!

This week we officially went from a Covid tier status of purple to red, which means indoor dining is open for business again! Hopefully restaurants will never close like this again (everyone please get your vaccine as soon as you can). As a reminder the scale goes from purple, to red, to orange, and finally to yellow which has the fewest restrictions.

Restaurants will be able to open their indoor dining rooms again effective immediately. However, they will be limited to 25% of their maximum capacity or 100 guests, whichever number is lower. 

What else can we look forward to in the red tier? Movie theaters can reopen at 25% as can museums, zoos, and aquariums. Stores can now operate at 50% capacity. Even indoor gyms can finally reopen, albeit at a meager 10% capacity.

California is also planning to ease the requirements to get into less restrictive tiers when we hit two different milestone. The first is when we distribute 2 million vaccines in the most disadvantaged zip codes, and then when we hit 4 million vaccines in those same areas.

The stats have been looking very promising in the Bay Area--let's hope this nightmare ends soon and the post-covid era will be another Roarin' 20s.

SoFA Dog Park now open

We need more active public spaces to help brighten San Jose, especially as we move towards a post-COVID19 world. The smaller projects the build culture and a sense of place are just as important as the high-rise development proposals we're getting. 

A new dog park has just opened in San Jose and it's right in the heart of Downtown San Jose's artsy SoFA district. It features separate play areas for big and small dogs, benches, sanitizing stations, waste bags, and water bowls.

Next to the dog park will be a Demonstration Garden set to open in late Spring with planters, a Veggielution farmstand, and flexible furniture. The farmstand will sell fruit and vegetables but there will also be a food truck and carts to allow for pop-up events.

Together, this will make for a pretty cool space in SoFA to compliment several new restaurants, lounges, and development projects coming to the area (seriously, everyone should check out Petiscos by ADEGA--amazing restaurant).

The new pocket park is located at 540 S. First Street and is open from 7am to 8pm every day. A Grand Opening is planned for April 2021 and the full press release is below.

SoFA Dog Park Opening Day Fact Sheet

Presented by the San Jose Downtown Association

Thursday, Feb. 18 | 10 am - 1 pm | 540 S. 1st Street 

What:

• SoFA Pocket Park (dog park-portion only) opening 

• This is a fun, inviting space for dogs, dog owners and the community to enjoy

• "Another way to activate public spaces for the community in a positive way."

• Dog park will feature artificial turf, a double-entry gate, outdoor furniture, basic dog amenities and separate areas for bigger and smaller dogs 

• Demonstration Garden (opens in late Spring) will feature raised planter beds, garden storage, farmstand, and movable furniture. The farmstand will sell fresh fruit and vegetables and occasionally offer pop-up events through their food truck and food carts.

Visuals:  Dogs and people playing together. We have five owners and canines reserved to be at the park from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday.

When:

• Thursday, Feb. 18 from 10 am - 1 pm

• Daily Hours: 7 am - 8 pm (subject to change) 

• "Pocket Park" Grand Opening planned for April 2021 - includes demonstration garden

Where:

• 540 S First Street in Downtown San Jose

Why:

• To revitalize an underutilized lot and transform it into a temporary area for the community until the ownership’s development team moves forward with a permanent project

• Wanted to provide a fun, lively, inviting space for dogs, dog owners and the downtown community to enjoy and hang out in (while socially distanced and wearing masks)

• A fun addition to the South First Area (SoFA District) 

• Dogs and their dog owners usually stop by the small strip of grass outside of where the SoFA Pocket Park currently is, so this park will provide these pets and their owners a fun little space to enjoy on their daily walks

• “Mission to bring people together to activate downtown San Jose in new and positive ways.” - Urban Community principal Jeff Arrillaga

• “Public space has never been more valued and important as we deal with the confines of daily life during the pandemic. SoFA Pocket Park is a non-traditional public space that combines a dog park -- open now -- and a community garden -- coming soon.  Our goal was to create a little oasis in the midst of downtown that will offer some pleasurable respite and be welcoming to everyone.”  - Scott Knies, Executive Director of the San Jose Downtown Association

Who:

• Presented by the San Jose Downtown Association with Veggielution

• Property Owner:  Urban Community

• Sponsors: Knight Foundation, Urban Catalyst, Topa Architecture, Google, Urban Community, Hamilton Builders, JJ Perez Paving

• Dog park will be maintained by downtown’s Property Based Improvement District (PBID)

• Demonstration Garden will be operated and maintained by Veggielution

• Project partner, Veggielution, is an urban farm from East San Jose expanding their presence downtown to generate opportunities for their food entrepreneur incubator program, Eastside Grown. 

• This park is for local residents and the greater community

Urban Catalyst announces Fund II

Urban Catalyst, one of Downtown San Jose's premier developers, has officially started fundraising for their second round of projects. 

Fund I included multiple projects spanning office space (such as the former Camera 12 Theater), student housing, senior housing, and a hotel. Fund I was so successful it was actually oversubscribed in terms of investment. Their goal was to raise $105 million and they closed funding with $131 million on December 30th of last year.

Fund II involves two large projects, Icon and Echo. One is a residential high-rise with 300 apartments while the other consists of modern office space with large floor plates adding up to 420,000 SQFT. Both will be steps from City Hall and one of our future BART stations. They seem to be around 20 stories and likely reach the maximum height legally allowed.

If you would like to invest in Fund II, you might have to reach deep in your pockets since the minimum investment is $250,000. At least Fund II doesn't close until the end of 2024, giving you some extra time to look under the couch cushions. Construction on the projects is expected to begin in 2022, even before funding officially closes.

For more information and some renders, check out the short video below. If you have your checkbook handy, you can click here.