Old Fry's HQ will become a giant office campus

The shuttered Mayan-themed Fry's store and previous Fry's HQ on Brokaw Road are destined to become a seven-building tech campus. Combined, they will add another 2 million SQFT of office space to North San Jose. 

However, don't expect to see this completed anytime soon. The developer is planning to build the project in four phases over a decade and won't even begin construction until 2024 at the soonest.

Source: SVBJ

San Jose's secret hotel

There is a secret hotel hiding in plain sight right across from City Hall. It's called the WhyHotel by Placemakr and it takes up a chunk of MIRO Towers. I believe at some point MIRO struggled to lease all of their apartments, so they partnered with Placemakr to create sort of a hybrid between a hotel and Airbnb.

Since these are technically luxury apartments, all rooms have kitchens and are at least 592 SQFT. The largest room is a 2 bedroom 2 bath for up to 4 people at 1,227 SQFT. Prices are generally the same or less than hotels in the area but you get a ton more space and the convenience of a kitchen and in-unit laundry. 

I'm not aware of any hotels Downtown that have two-bedroom suites as a readily available option (outside of some rare and very expensive Presidential suites). So if you are staying with a larger group of family and friends and don't want multiple rooms, this is likely your best option. If you're curious about what it would be like to live in Downtown San Jose, it's also a nice way to do a test run for a week or so.

Some other perks include a modern fitness center, yoga studio, and private dog park. I'm not sure how long this hotel will be around, so if you're interested here is the link.

San Jose is getting a new pro-sports team!

Soccer continues to get more and more popular in the US. In fact, the US has won the past two women's World Cups and are off to a great start this year.

Bay FC will call San Jose home during the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2024. They'll be sharing PayPal Park with the San Jose Earthquakes.

Bay FC will invest more than $3M in a 3,600 SQFT facility adjacent to the stadium for the team's locker room, offices, and training facilities.

Stadium capacity is 18,000 and PayPal park has the largest outdoor bar in North America, a 2-acre fan zone, and a variety of suites and club seats. It's easily one of the nicest soccer-specific stadiums in the US.

For tickets to the inaugural season and to learn more, check out the Bay FC website over here. I'll also permanently add a link to the right under Pro Sports teams.

Santa Clara County Fair

The Santa Clara County Fair is back with a vengeance today after a COVID-related hiatus. Instead of running for three or four days, it will do a full 10-day run for the first time in 25+ years.

Today there will be a VIP ribbon cutting around 2:30pm followed by a 7pm parade. Each day there will be entertainment such as live music, magic, and even a hypnotist. The list of events and exhibits are too long to mention, so check out the full schedule and get tickets over here.

Source: The Merc

Platform 16 project is now well underway

While there is still quite a bit of vacant office space in the Bay Area, that is not stopping developers from working on flagship projects. Platform 16 is across the street from the San Jose Market Center on Coleman and just a couple of blocks away from the SAP Center and Diridon Station. When Google resumes their new campus, it will be in the neighborhood as well.

As you can see in the 2nd image below, foundation work is nearly complete and soon you'll see the 1.1 million SQFT office project rising up. With companies fleeing SF, Downtown San Jose provides an urban environment that also has suburban amenities closeby. It should be very attractive to companies that want to cater both to young workers and those with families.

Source: SF YIMBY

Valley Fair to become the largest luxury watch retail site in the country

Valley Fair already has a huge list of over-the-top watch stores where you can buy timepieces that cost as much as Teslas. These include IWC Schaffhausen, Panerai, Jaeger LeCoultre and Vacheron Constantin. If you haven't heard of any of those (like myself) they they are probably out of your budget. 

CH Premier Jewelers is planning to build a 16,000 SQFT multi-brand flagship store that will have several different watch boutiques. These would be brands like Patek Philippe, Omega, Blancpain, and Breguet & Piaget. This sounds almost like a department store for watches that should come with free Dom Pérignon and caviar while you're shopping--and perhaps they will off that. New 2023 Patek Philippe watches sell for up to $9,000,000. I had to count zeroes, but yes that is correct.

The new addition will make Valley Fair the top destination in the US for ultra-luxury watches.

Source: Silicon Valley Joe from the San Jose Development Forum

 

Taylor Swift is the mayor of what?

Santa Clara is temporary being renamed "Swiftie Clara" and Taylor will become the honorary mayor for two days. Shockingly, this is not an April Fool's joke. Also, KBAY 94.5 will become "Tay Bay" for three days and play nothing but Taylor Swift music. 

If you haven't gotten tickets yet, don't worry. Ticketmaster still has plenty for you starting at only $1,000 a person. Of course, those will be up in the nosebleeds. If you want to be close to the stage, expect to pay Super Bowl prices... $4k and up.

What does this have to do with San Jose? Unless you are a huge Taylor Swift fan and either have tickets or plan to listen to the concert from the streets (which thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people will actually do) you are going to want to avoid every freeway and major road near Levi's Stadium this Friday and Saturday. That includes 101, 237, Montague Expressway, and don't even think about getting anywhere near Tasman Drive.

The concert at Levi's Stadium will be the second time Taylor Swift performs at the venue, after her 1989 World Tour in 2015. She will be joined by two opening acts: HAIM and Gracie Adams, both rising stars in the pop scene. The show will start at 6:30 p.m., but fans will be getting there many, many hours beforehand. Some are even planning to wear adult diapers to not miss a single song, which I really wish was an exaggeration.

Source: literally every news site

A deep dive into the history of city planning in San Jose

A video going through the history of San Jose and it's urban planning was uploaded a few months ago by Off Brand Urbanism. It was actually his first video and it kind of went viral--as viral as a video about San Jose urbanism can get. It's both enlightening and hard to watch because it conveys how poor San Jose's brand is to people that are not familiar with the city and based on the comments even many folks that actually live here. 

I disagree with many parts of the video. Certainly he could have taken a better route through Downtown and visited San Pedro Square, SoFA, even The Alameda. Given that technologies developed in San Jose are critical to almost all of the tech we value today from the internet to smartphones, the city is very culturally relevant. That being said, he raises a lot of valid concerns--including the complete dumpster fire that is VTA Light Rail. 

What do you think? Do you agree with Off Brand Urbanism?

Hat tip to Kevin Zing for sending in this link.