ZIPAIR adding more flights from San Jose to Japan

Finally some good news for SJC. After a series of cutbacks from airlines, we have an international expansion. ZIPAIR is planning to add a sixth weekly flight from San Jose International to Tokyo between June 1st and September 30th. 

This means that San Joseans will have a nonstop to Tokyo every single day except for Tuesdays during the peak summer season. This is also ZIPAIR's second expansion as they initially started with three flights per week and then moved to five.

Increases in international flights are significant as international tourists have a larger positive financial impact to the local economy than domestic ones.

Source: SVBJ

Updated SJSU Master Plan

SJSU has recently updated their development master plan and it looks quite impressive. The entire side of the campus closest to City Hall would feature a row of high-rises. The path leading to the Event Center would also be greatly improved and in general the campus would be modernized. Feast your eyes on the designs below.

Source: Silicon Valley Joe from Skyscraper City

San Jose AI startup raises $72M

Zededa Inc. just announced a $72 million in Series C funding. The company is a cloud-based edge management startup that works with manufacturing, retail, health care, and logistics company. Essentially they bring data closer to where it is needed for faster response times using less bandwidth.

The funds will be used to increase the amount of artificial intelligence and machine learning used in its products.

So far they have raised more than $127 million in funding and are worth about $400 million.

Source: SVBJ

Lucid is eying a retail and service center in Downtown West

While Lucid already has a retail spot in Valley Fair Mall a few miles away, it looks like they are eying a 92,500 SQFT space in Downtown West at 250 Stockton Avenue. This is the same neighborhood where Google envisions building their largest campus... eventually.

The new Lucid location would likely be primarily for service, maintenance, and repairs for their luxury EV customers. However, it could also have a sales or delivery-center component. Lucid is following the Tesla model of cutting out the middleman and selling directly to consumers without a dealership.

They have had some financial struggles in the past, but have ambitious plans to add two new models a luxury SUV and a lower-cost CUV to compete with the Model Y (now the best selling vehicle globally). 

It's a great location that was supposed to become a 15-story office tower, but given the current market environment a new Lucid shop would be very welcome.

Source: The Mercury News

Lunar New Year Community Day at the San Jose Museum of Art

Tomorrow from 11am-4pm there is one more Lunar New Year event at the SJMA. Welcome the year of the dragon with cultural demonstrations, live performances, and interactive artmaking activities. These include making paper dragons, Chinese stamps, and figurines based on the Vietnamese Tet traditions.

At 11:30am there is a performance by the Korean Culture Center at the Circle of Palms in front of Plaza de Cesar Chavez. Later at 3pm there is a traditional Lion Dance performance (which is amazing).

Admission to this event is completely free and is kid-friendly.

Levi's Stadium to host Six (!) World Cup matches in 2026

Levi's Stadium is going to have an amazing year in 2026. Not only are they hosting Super Bowl 60, but they will be hosting six World Cup games. Five will be group-stage matches and one will be a round of 32 match.

The first group stage match at Levi's is scheduled for June 13 and the round of 32 match will be held on July 1st.

Unfortunately, the US National Team will not start their journey at Levi's. They have two group-stage matches in SoFi Stadium in LA and another at Lumen Field in Seattle. Mexico and Canada will also play their initial group-stage games in their home countries. So that means all of the first five games will involve teams outside of North America. The benefit is the sheer amount of International tourism that will come to the San Jose metro for the game. 

2026 is shaping up to be a great year for sports fans in Silicon Valley!

Source: SVBJ

Happy Valentine's Day San Jose

Our friends at SJtoday have a great guide to celebrating Valentine's Day locally with everything from unique events, to parties, and dessert specials.

As an added bonus, they have a map of local love stories and there are quite a few in San Jose.

See their Valentine's Day guide here. Hope everyone has a fun time tonight with their special someone! 💗

Santana Row's two newest restaurants are opening soon

A new Indian and Peruvian-Spanish restaurant are coming to the Row very soon. 

In March, Suspiro (pictured below) will bring upscale Latin fusion to San Jose. The restaurant is owned by the same people as Zazil and El Jardin and will be open for brunch, lunch, and dinner. Suspiro specializes in fresh seasonal seafood and grilled meats. You'll find it at the very end of Santana Row next to Barry's Bootcamp and Meso Modern Mediterranean.

Fitoor will open in late March and will be an modern Indian grill and lounge. It comes from the team that owns Rooh, Anu, and Vikram Bhambri and it will be located in the space formerly occupied by Amber India.

Source: The Mercury News