San Jose Jazz's Summer Fest 2023 Guide

SJ Today has a handy guide for anyone interested in attending Summer Fest this weekend. Running from August 11-13th, it's the largest Jazz event in San Jose and is one of the largest and best Jazz festivals in the US. It features over 100 performances across eight different stages and supplemental events that will let you party all night long.

To see a great summary of the event, head over here.

1,027 apartments coming to old Harry's Hofbrau and Garden City Casino site

It's been over a decade since Garden City Casino relocated (and rebranded to Casino M8trix) and over four years since local favorite, and craft beer hotspot Harry's Hofbrau closed down. Now there is finally a solid proposal by Trammell Crow to develop the 10.3-acre site.

The plan involves three buildings with a whopping total of 1,027 apartments, 154 of which would be "affordable." While it won't replace Harry's, there will be 13,500 SQFT of ground-floor retail. The project borders Saratoga Avenue and Kiely Boulevard.

The ETA is unclear, but this is now the third proposal for this area. Hopefully this comes to fruition as we do need more housing in the area.

Source: SVBJ

Park Avenue in Downtown San Jose is reopening

The massive 200 Park Avenue office tower is pretty much complete, and that means that Park Avenue between Market Street and Almaden can reopen. However, this street got a major facelift with new pedestrian improvements, bike lanes, and bioswales (organic channels or trenches that collect rainwater runoff and filter out pollutants).

200 Park is 19-stories above ground and has four levels of underground parking. There is a total of 840,000 SQFT of office space, 26,000 SQFT of outdoor terraces, and 2,000 SQFT of retail. Each floor of office space is a whopping 54,000 SQFT... it's massive.

Park Avenue won't be open indefinitely as other high-rise projects are planned for City View Plaza across the street from 200 Park. Eventually that entire block will be torn down and replaced with three large interconnected buildings that could add another 3.8 million SQFT of office space to Downtown San Jose. The timing might not be great for that project today, but in the future when funding and demand allow... it will make for a very large tech campus in a great location.

Source: Downtown Dimension

Future CityView Plaza Proposal

Robot shuttles coming to San Jose, SJC and beyond

Autonomous transportation is a lot closer than most people think. It's coming in two forms: multi-purpose where autonomous cars are sharing the road with non-autonomous vehicles (Waymo, Cruise, Tesla FSD) and via dedicated pathways (Las Vegas Loop, autonomous trains/pods). 

San Jose has been struggling with how to connect SJC to Downtown San Jose's Diridon transit center just three miles away, which is destined to become the Grand Central of the West Coast. Plans have been brewing for more than 20 years, and tax dollars have already been collected. Finally, a solution has been approved using a local startup specializing in AVs (Autonomous Vehicles) called Glydways.

These autonomous pods can go up to 31 miles per hour, so they would take about 8 minutes to go from Downtown San Jose to SJC via a dedicated and potentially grade-separated path. Today the ride takes about 30 minutes on local buses. The vehicles themselves carry up to four passengers plus their luggage and are wheelchair accessible. 

The initial route would go between Diridon and Terminal B, with plans to potentially include Terminal A, nearby parking, and other future destinations in Midtown/Uptown San Jose like Valley Fair. Phase 1 would have 200 autonomous pods.

This would be a public/private partnership with the city taking on some costs and an investment group (Plenary) taking another portion. The investors would recoup their investment by charging a fee on each ride. 

The model sounds very similar to the Las Vegas Loop, which will actually be almost entirely funded privately except for a fare-less section at the Las Vegas Convention Center. That project will eventually have over 80 stations serviced by autonomous pods larger in size than what Gyldways is planning. Unfortunately, the Boring Company never responded to San Jose's RFI.

Now for the real bad news. The Glydways project is not expected to get underway until 2028 and could take years to complete--a timeline that may render the whole system obsolete by the time it arrives given how quickly transportation solutions are changing. 

We are already pouring billions into systems that are decades old (Light Rail and BART) so it's critical that this next step is something that will be scalable and move the needle on San Jose transportation for the decades to come. Hopefully there is some way to get this project going much sooner and with flexibility to incorporate innovation as the project is in motion.

Source: SiliconValley.com

List of major Downtown San Jose projects under development

After many years of relatively generic proposals for Downtown San Jose throughout the early 2000s and 2010s, we are starting to see some bolder proposals that better reflect the diversity and uniqueness of Silicon Valley. 

I especially love projects that combine historic buildings with newer elements above or beside the original building, like what Bayview Development is doing at 150 E. Santa Clara.

For more details on each of these projects, hit the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

33 S. Montgomery St. (1.2 million SQF office, retail, and restaurants)

150 E. Santa Clara (75,285 SQFT Office + Retail)

The Terraine (319-unit residential, 12,263 SQFT of retail)

The Mark (Housing for 1,000 students)

Woz Way (1 million SQFT office, 10,100 SQFT retail)

Levi's Stadium is hosting Super Bowl 60

Our neighbors at Santa Clara will once again be hosting the Super Bowl in 2026. Only two other Super Bowls have been hosted in the Bay Area. Super bowl 19 where the 49ers beat the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium and Super Bowl 50, Levi's Stadium first Super Bowl. 

2026 is going to be a huge year for Levi's Stadium as they will also be hosting FIFA World Cup matches. The 49ers are planning to borrow $125 million from the NFL for stadium upgrades to prepare for these big events.

The biggest winner of Super Bowl LX (60) is likely going to be San Jose. There will be a huge economic boost including events, hotel bookings, and visitors flying into SJC. These will come without any sort of subsidy, liability, or major risks which will mostly be shouldered by Santa Clara (there is a lot of economic upside for them as well). 

Given the current issues San Francisco is facing with crime, homelessness, and the general logistics of it being an hour or two away with traffic--I think San Jose will end up with more of the planned events surrounding the Super Bowl than the last time around. 

Source: SVBJ

The Alameda District in San Jose

SJ Today has a great guide for a 200-year old San Jose neighborhood laden with history and culture. You can find some great eateries here, including the Michelin-rated Luna Mexican Kitchen. Perhaps you could grab a drink at Hop & Vine or learn how to be an artist at Art Boutiki. Hit the link below for the history of The Alameda and a list of fun things to do there.

Source: SJ Today

Italian Family Festa this weekend at History Park San Jose

The 41st Italian Family Festa returns this weekend at History Park. There will be delicious Italian foods, live entertainment, culinary demos, five wineries, arts and crafts, a street dance, grape stomping, and even a re-enactment of a Roman encampment complete with Italian sword fighting. 

The event will run from 11am to 8pm on Saturday and 11am to 6pm on Sunday at History Park San Jose (1650 Senter Road). Admission is free and all ages are welcome. For more info and a full schedule of events, head over here.