Tunneling in San Jose could be much cheaper in the near future

Most people don't see disruptive technology coming. It's often met with a lot of skepticism. There are plenty of famous quotes about computers or the internet. In 1943 The president of IBM said "I think there is a world market for about five computers." In 1995 Newsweek published an article that said, “The internet is just a fad.” However, even today in markets that have been stagnant for decades or even a century we're seeing disruption.

People laughed when Elon wanted to build electric cars. Tesla is now worth more every other car company combined. They laughed again when he wanted to start a rocket company. Today there are 7,702 active satellites in space--5,000 of them belong to SpaceX. By the end of next year, SpaceX will have launched more satellites than every government entity around the world combined over the past 66 years. So now... of course, there had to be much skepticism in the San Jose development community about the Boring Company. Tunnels have been built almost the same way for 100 years, what could the company possibly do differently?

Apparently a lot. The Boring Company already has a functioning tunnel network in Las Vegas with 4 active stations and capacity for 5,000 people/hour. It took one year to build. That will expand to 69 stations and capacity for over 100,000 people/hour over the next few years (not decades). They have managed to get to a cost of $10 million/mile for 14-ft wide tunnels with 2nd generation tunneling machines using EV motors and batteries. Now it looks like they might be able to triple tunnel construction speed with hexagonal wall tiles.

The big benefit is that all the pieces are exactly the same, cutting costs significantly. Fewer segments are required per mile and it enables continuous mining. There are challenges and disadvantages as well, especially around water, but if they can push through them they will very likely disrupt tunneling. It gets a bit nerdy, but there is a 15min video in the source link below that goes into exactly how this new process would work versus existing methods.

What this means for us, is perhaps there will be a future where we can bring VTA Light Rail underground or perhaps offer Personal Rapid Transit (autonomous pods) or other forms of transportation at a lower cost to San Joseans. After seeing BART costs swell to $2 billion per mile for the Downtown San Jose extension, there has to be a better solution long-term for other projects.

Full disclosure that San Jose did reach out to The Boring Company as an option to connect San Jose International Airport with Diridon in Downtown San Jose. They never responded to a RFI and things fell through. 

That doesn't mean there couldn't be other opportunities in the future to work together. A fun fact is that the original Tesla factory was supposed to be in North San Jose/Alviso. However, an opportunity to take over NUMMI presented itself in 2010 and the rest is history. Hopefully the door is still open for The Boring Company and San Jose to work together in some capacity.

Source: nextBIG Future

New San Jose mixed-use project moves forward with 1,100 homes and a Whole Foods

A massive project could be headed for a shopping center at the corner of Saratoga and Lawrence Expressway across the street from Westgate. The area would be developed into a mini-Santana Row anchored by Whole Foods. In total, it would have 1,100 residential units across several multi-story buildings sitting on top of 165,000 SQFT of retail. 

The Whole Foods would be the only single-story building on the property (to simplify financing and construction). However, that is just 43,000 SQFT of the overall project. The layout would include a retail "main street" and a new neighborhood park. 

Unlike most new projects of this scale in San Jose, there won't be an affordable housing component. Everything will be market rate. However, increasing the overall housing supply has a negative effect on prices across the board and 1,100 homes is a significant number.

Source: The Mercury News

Spend $125 at San Jose Downtown Businesses and get a $25 gift card

In the spirit of supporting local San Jose businesses, the San Jose Downtown Association is offering a special promotion this holiday season. If you spend $125 at Downtown San Jose businesses between Nov. 24 and Dec 24th, they will send you a $25 gift card.

Downtown San Jose in this case is defined as the Business Improvement District. Just provide the receipt(s) from any retail store, restaurant, cafe, museum, theatre, or entertainment venue located within the highlighted area in the map below and claim you gift card over here.

There are some exclusions such as touring shows, Sharks tickets, parking, and stays at hotels. 

Winter Wonderland is officially open in Downtown San Jose 🎡🎄

A holiday carnival is now in full swing adjacent to San Jose's Christmas in the Park. Rides include a nearly 70-foot tall Ferris Wheel, a Carousel, an Alien Invasion centrifuge, Tilt-a-Whirl, a Dragon Wagon coaster, and many smaller rides for younger children. Tickets are $5 a ride for the major attractions.

After three years of street closures on Park Avenue (and the whole COVID thing), Winter Wonderland is back in full force! You'll find rides both on Park Avenue and Paseo de San Antonio. The Park Avenue rides will be oriented for older kids, teens, and adults while the Paseo will have rides ideal for younger children.

Winter Wonderland Ride Hours

• November 25 - 26: 12pm - 11pm

• November 27 - 30: 3pm – 10pm

• December 1 - 3: 12pm – 11pm

• December 4 - 7: 3pm – 10pm

• December 8 - 10: 12pm – 11pm

• December 11 - 14: 3pm – 10pm

• December 15 - January 1: 12pm - 11pm

804 new home proposed in Alviso next to San Jose's Topgolf

There are several large parcels in Alviso earmarked for major development, the first of which became Silicon Valley's first Topgolf. Another that was supposed to be an entertainment and retail center has transitioned to become a future data center. Now a parcel that was originally going to be a hotel is pivoting to homes, and quite a large number of them.

Genesis Commercial Capital wants to build 804 new homes on a 3.2 acre site on North First Street right next to the Topgolf--see map below. They are utilizing the state's builder's remedy to expedite and streamline the approval process (the same builder's remedy that is also sometimes weaponized to downsize previously approved projects).

At least 20% of the homes will have to be earmarked as affordable housing. Currently there is no target ETA, but given how badly San Jose needs housing I think it will be a quick approval and more in the hands of the developer on how soon they want to move dirt and get the project up and running.

Source: SVBJ

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Warm wishes to you and your family from your friends at The San Jose Blog!

SJMADE Holiday Fair 2023 - Largest Holiday Craft Fair in Silicon Valley

SJMADE's flagship event is back on Nov 24th and Nov 25th (Black Friday and Small Business Saturday). This free event has over 425 vendors, mostly made up of artists, makers, and local entrepreneurs. This year there isn't a single empty space, every booth is spoken for. Last year it took me over two hours just to quickly walk through and look at every vendor.

Concessions are available outside Halls C & D and additional on-site food and drink concessions can be found near the main entrance outside Hall A. The first 1,000 attendees each day will also get a door giveaway, which is always an item not available for purchase.

Admission is free, parking is free, it's open to all ages and runs from 11am to 7pm each day at the Santa Clara Convention Center (5001 Great America Parkway). There is also a VTA Light Rail stop right outside the event. To see the full vendor lineup and a map--which you'll probably need--head over here.

518 new apartments in San Jose's Japantown are already 95% leased

Shea Properties and Ivanhoe Cambridge launched Sixth and Jackson luxury apartments in Japantown earlier this year, named after the cross streets where you can find the 518-unit complex. Even though it just opened pretty recently, the property is already 95% leased. This goes to show how strong the San Jose housing market is right now, even with floorplans starting at $2,656/mo for a studio and scaling to $5,200/mo for a three bedroom unit.

The project is split between two seven-story buildings with tons of amenities like a yoga room, rooftop lounge, dog run, co-working spaces, meeting rooms, a spin room, outdoor entertainment areas, Shea Properties also built a new public park between the buildings called Heinlenville Park, named after the person that helped transform the neighborhood in the late 19th century. The park will eventually have a $30 million arts incubator and community center, but construction on that project hasn't started yet.

It's quite an upgrade for Japantown, one of my favorite neighborhoods in San Jose. It's great that they were able to integrate so many community elements into the project and there is still quite a bit of retail on the ground floor available for lease to further enhance the area in the future.

Source: SVBJ