Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 2023, a San Jose Thanksgiving tradition

This is the 19th edition of the annual 5K/10K run/walk that benefits five local charities: Healthier Kids Foundation, Housing Trust Silicon Valley, Second Harvest Food Bank, The Health Trust and The Healthier Kids Foundation Santa Clara County. 

This is your chance to burn some calories before indulging in a delicious Thanksgiving feast, while also supporting a great cause. Plus, you'll get to enjoy the beautiful scenery through Downtown San Jose, Japantown, and The Alameda; live entertainment along the course; and a swag bag that includes a long-sleeve tech shirt, a finisher medal, and a reusable water bottle. 

Don't worry if you're not a seasoned runner. The Silicon Valley Turkey Trot is open to everyone, regardless of age or fitness level. You can choose to run or walk at your own pace, or join a team with your friends, family, or coworkers. You can also register your kids for the Kids Fun Run, which is a half-mile loop around Plaza de Cesar Chavez. And if you're feeling extra festive, you can dress up in a turkey costume or any other creative outfit. Trust me, you won't be the only one!

The Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 2023 will take place on Thursday, November 23rd, starting at 7:30 a.m. at Santa Clara Street and Market Street. The registration fee is $45 for adults and $20 for kids until November 15th, after which it will increase to $50 and $25 respectively. You can register online at www.svturkeytrot.com or in person at any of the packet pickup locations listed on the website. Don't miss this opportunity to join thousands of your fellow San Joseans in a fun and meaningful tradition that makes our city so special.

See you at the starting line!

  

Break Stuff - San Jose's "stress relief demolition center"

I have heard of "rage rooms" before but didn't actually know of one that existed in San Jose. Before getting into a flurry of Thanksgiving and Christmas posts, I figured I would plug one option for getting your stress out before the holidays.

"Break Stuff" is a place that celebrates exactly what the name implies. It's the Bay Area's first and only stress therapy demolition center. Their purpose is to provide a venue that encourages controlled chaos, and by that I mean you get to break all sorts of old TVs, computers, glass bottles, garden gnomes, etc... whatever your heart desires.

Their packages range from $100 for 30 minutes of B.Y.O.B. (bring your own stuff to break) to $200 for 6 electronics and 60 glass items that they will provide for you. They have two rooms that can each hold 5 people at a time. If breaking things isn't your cup of tea, they also have axe-throwing.

Break Stuff has a Yelp rating of 4.8/5 with 256 reviews, which is very impressive. If you are looking for a unique corporate event or alternative way of hashing out family drama, it's worth a shot! Break Stuff is located at 860 S. 1st Street (between Camino and Clandestine Brewing) and is open Thursday through Sunday. You can read all of the rules and make reservations over here.

San Jose ranked as 2nd best city to go to for Thanksgiving 🍗

Thanksgiving is one of America's favorite holidays and US families spend an average of $325 per person (!) during Thanksgiving weekend. This also includes your Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.

WalletHub decided to look for the best cities in the US to celebrate Thanksgiving using 18 different metrics divided across five major categories: local celebrations and traditions, affordability, safety, volunteering, and weather.

San Jose came in 2nd place in the Thanksgiving rankings right after San Francisco. San Diego gobbled the 3rd spot. Despite an abysmal affordability rank, San Jose ranked highly in celebrations (think Turkey Trot), safety, giving thanks (volunteering), and of course weather. I love those Indian summers where we have gotten to celebrate Thanksgiving outside with family.

Source: WalletHub

SJSU is officially taking over the Signia (former Fairmont) South Tower

San Jose State University and developer Throckmorton Partners have agreed to acquire Signia's South Tower. Throckmorton will purchase the building for $73 million and lease it to SJSU. Another $40 million will be spent on improvements and fees. 

This building was previously know as the Fairmont Annex and has Morton's and Bijan Bakery on the ground floor today. Going forward the building will be known as the Spartan Village on the Paseo.

SJSU will convert 264 hotel rooms that are occupied some of the time to housing for 700+ students that be there for most of the year. It should have a net positive effect on foot traffic and density around Plaza de Cesar Chavez. It will also force SJSU students to go through several blocks of Downtown San Jose as they travel to and from campus, giving them more exposure to the area around campus. It's a great location and any student would be lucky to have their dorm in this building.

Renovation of the lobby and second-floor mezzanine into a student-centric environment will begin almost immediately with amenities such as a large dining area, fitness center, a games room, and co-learning spaces. 

I have been wondering what will happen to the giant bridge that connects the Signia's main tower to the South Tower. Turns out that is part of the sale as well and it will become a study lounge, perhaps one of the coolest places to study in any SJSU dorm. There is also an underground tunnel between the buildings used by housekeeping. It's not clear if that will be incorporated in some way as well.

Unlike new construction, students will not have to wait years for the building to arrive. The dorms should be ready for the 2024-2025 academic year, which starts next Fall. 

Source: The Mercury News

San Jose luxury apartment complex on The Alameda may become affordable housing in 2024

In an interesting pivot, Catalyst Housing Group is trying to acquire Modera - The Alameda and convert the property into affordable housing. The big question is... why?

Modera is a 168-unit apartment building that is being marketed as luxury apartments. It's literally located next to a Whole Foods and is blocks away from the SAP Center, Diridon Station, and the rest of Downtown San Jose. The Alameda is also a great neighborhood in its own right. 

While I think for-sale affordable housing will be better for the neighborhood as residents will stay in the community longer than those in apartments, it raises a lot of questions as to why Modera is for sale in the first place. It it struggling to maintain a profit or do the owners just want to cash out? Have they lost optimism in the location after Google delayed their Downtown West plans? (It's very close to that as well).

If anyone has additional insights or perhaps even lives in the building, please post your thoughts in the comments or on X (Twitter).

Source: SVBJ

Eight-story apartment building proposed near future San Jose Google campus

A restaurant called Con Sabor a Mexico on 500 West San Carlos Street might become the site of an eight-story apartment building. The address is significant since it's in the "Downtown West" neighborhood that Google eventually wants to turn into an urban campus in the Downtown San Jose.

The proposed building would have 90 apartments across eight floors, and 2,670 SQFT of ground-floor retail. Based on the initial render it looks like it will include some amount of parking. I don't quite understand the grid on one side of the building. Those could be some form of child-safe balconies or interior hallways that allow airflow to pass through.

Even without factoring for the Google campus, the location is a few blocks away from Diridon station and a few blocks away from Discovery Meadow and the Guadalupe River trail. The site would be extremely convenient for Adobe employees as well.

So far the development plans are preliminary and there is no formal ETA.

Source: The Mercury News

Stunning new illustration of Downtown San Jose

It's a pretty small community of people that make art specifically about San Jose. I'm a big fan of Phillip Gonzales from West Coast Artworks who prints original illustrations highlighting our city with a pinch of creative license on museum-grade canvas. I have bought two of his pieces in the past, SoFA district 1.0 (3rd one down) and Downtown San Jose (fourth one). Everyone that sees them at my house loves them.

He has a new work that is simply titled San Jose Downtown 2023. It features the Downtown San Jose skyline from the 280 and 87 intersection. If you look closely you'll spot some of our newer high-rises like 200 Park and the Miro Towers.

Phillip is also working on a couple of new pieces that should be ready in a few weeks. To go through all of his work, head over here. I'll also update my X and Facebook banner temporarily in honor of the new work!

Owners of the San Jose Flea Market cutting office components entirely and dramatically downsizing housing plans

The original plan for the San Jose Flea Market next to San Jose's only existing BART station was for 3,450 residential units (yellow in image below), 3,400,000 SQFT of commercial (teal), a 5-acre urban market (red) and a 1.4 acre public park and open space (green areas). Grey is parking.

Sadly, the owners have changed direction and have completely eliminated office space from the project. The new plan will only have 940 homes and 45,500 SQFT of ground-floor retail space.

They are taking advantage of a loophole in the builder's remedy--which streamlines approval for certain residential projects designed to encourage more housing and development--to actually reduce the size of the project. It's a classic example of good-intentioned law (like rent control) causing the exact opposite effect. If it were not a builder's remedy, San Jose could more easily reject the project and require higher density.

San Jose needs to build about 60,000 housing units over the next eight years to keep up with demand and State requirement. By taking this many homes off the table, it will be a huge step back.

Given the proximity to some of the largest tech companies in the world and immediate access to BART, this site easily could have become another Santana Row over the next decade. Plus its a destination easy to get to from anywhere in the Bay Area. Now, with the scaled back plans it will greatly undermine this opportunity. It may not have the critical mass necessary to pull anyone into San Jose as a destination and will barely make a dent on our housing requirements.

If a dense redevelopment of the San Jose Flea Market site is truly off the table, the next best step would be to quadruple down in Downtown San Jose to hit our target. The infrastructure and space for dense development is already there. Eliminate as many fees and bureaucratic steps as possible for large-scale residential development and let's get that housing built!

Source: SVBJ, SVBJ(2)