New housing project near SoFA gets funding

166 apartments (164 of which are designated as affordable units) are slated for 802 South First Street just outside the traditional boundaries of Downtown San Jose. The site is just south of Highway 280, a few blocks away from SoFA. The six-story building also includes 1,500 SQFT of ground-floor retail. 

The project will cost nearly $100 million. Fortunately, PNC is willing to finance $66 million of that between a construction loan and bridge loan. The rest will be mostly made up by state-backed financing.

The goal is to kick off construction by September with an expected completion date of 2026.

Source: The Mercury News

Red Lobster planning to shut down its last San Jose location

Red Lobster recently announced another set of locations to close across the United States as part of its bankruptcy and sadly the very last location in San Jose was on the list. 

Sitting at the corner Capitol Expressway and Aborn Road, this has been a staple in Evergreen for decades. In fact, of all the amazing restaurants in Downtown San Jose, I don't think I have been to any of them as often as this Red Lobster. This was always the restaurant I would go to with family for small celebrations. It provided access to pretty decent seafood at affordable prices.

I'm pretty surprised this location is on the chopping block. Despite the high cost of real estate, it always seemed to be packed. Anyway, it will be and end to an era and hopefully something really interesting will take it's place that will become a new staple for the neighborhood.

The locations in Milpitas, Stockton, and Vallejo are also planning to close.

Source: The Mercury News

Unique open house in South San Jose this Saturday - 6810 Canine Court

Everyone complains about affordability in San Jose, but there are still some really interesting opportunities if you know where to look. There is a very unique townhome-style condo for sale in South San Jose in a brand new neighborhood near the intersection of 101 and 85. 

It's a massive 2,506 SQFT home with 4 oversized bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. That makes it larger than most single family homes in San Jose, yet the listing price is only $555 a square foot.

Costco is literally across the street and several great restaurants are minutes away (I highly recommend Blossom and Bourbon). It also has great parks within the community with bocce ball, basketball, multiple playgrounds for the kids, an outdoor gym, and gated dog park. The Santa Teresa Light Rail station is a 15min walk or 4min bike ride away.

My wife is the realtor and is hosting an open house this weekend from 1-4pm on Saturday with free bubbly and an assortment of appetizers highlighting a highly-rated local San Jose eatery. Last week was Pasteleria Adega and this week it will be something new but equally as awesome. Even if you're not looking for a new home, swing on by to check out the neighborhood and talk San Jose. The address is 6810 Canine Court in San Jose.

Be one of the first 8 groups to mention The San Jose Blog and take home a bottle of either Prosecco or Rosé.

400 foot tall Willow Park project wants to blast through approvals

While not in San Jose or even Santa Clara County, this project is so insane it is worth mentioning. A Bay Area-based developer called Development N17 submitted an application with the city of Menlo Park for a mixed-use project with a 665 units of housing, a 130-room hotel, 324,000 SQFT of office space, 4.9 acres of open space and parks, and a Montessori school. All of this is planned on just 6.7 acres of land.

The tallest building in the complex would be 431 feet high while other buildings would stand 367 feet and 271 feet tall. This would easily be the tallest project between San Francisco and Los Angeles, with it's flagship building standing over 130 feet taller than anything in San Jose.

Willow Park would replace single-story office building from 1951.

The developer is seeking expedited approval and want to start building as soon as possible. 133 units are allocated for affordable housing, which allows them to use an entitlement process known as "builders remedy" which prohibits the city from denying housing developments if the city does not have an approved plan for meeting their housing requirements (which Menlo Park does not).

I really wish this proposal was for San Jose, but I'm optimistic this will have local developers taking bigger bets like this one for the Capital of Silicon Valley.

Source: SVBJ

41st San Jose Fountain Blues & Brews Festival

The San Jose Fountain Blues & Brew Festival returns this weekend at Plaza de Cesar Chavez on Saturday, June 15th from 11am to 8pm. The roster features nine hours of national and regional talent across two stages featuring every genre of blues you can imagine. It's the longest running blues festival in Northern California and is expected to have over 2,500 attendees.

In addition to the great music, there will be over 40 breweries including local favorites like Gordon Biersch, Fox Tale, and Bare Bottle. Artist vendor booths and family-friendly lawn games round out the event.

For more info and tickets, head over here.

2024 Silicon Valley Index

The Joint Venture Silicon Valley Index has been providing insights on our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for over 25 years. It provides an honest and holistic view of life in Silicon Valley. You can download the 2024 Silicon Valley Index over here.

Have a quick look at the comparison between Silicon Valley and San Francisco in the image below. Here are some of my notes from the key findings:

• We're growing again with 11,300 new Silicon Valley residents last year.
• VC dollars going into AI have risen 220% year-over-year. Generative AI represented 44% of all 2023 VC investments in AI companies.
• Silicon Valley just had four IPOs last year. San Francisco had one.
• We're still generating more patents by far than any other place in the nation. San Jose is the top city in the nation yet again for patent filing.
• Silicon Valley's 20 largest tech companies were 7% smaller at the end of 2023 than than the previous year, but employment in tech still ended up being 37,000 employees more than pre-pandemic figures. Tech is now 28% of the workforce.
•  If wealth was evenly distributed in Silicon Valley, it would amount to $2 million per household.
• Silicon Valley's population continues to age, with those over 65 years old up by 32% since 2012 and the number of children down by 13% over the same period.
• The number of births each year in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties has declined steadily since the 1990s, dropping by 33% over 33 years.
• 51% of Silicon Valley speaks a language other than English at home
• The two largest office projects in Silicon Valley last year were both in Downtown San Jose, 200 Park (965,342 SQFT) and Adobe's 4th Tower (700,000 SQFT). The 3rd largest was a 350,000 SQFT building in South San Francisco.
• Silicon Valley childcare costs have quadrupled over the past 20 years, rising twice as fast as regional inflation.
• There were no unhealthy air days in the past three years, showing an improvement in air quality.
• Total solar capacity increased sixfold over the past decade, from 174 MW in 2013 to 983 MW in 2023. Batter storage grew twentyfold in the past 5 years.
• Gasoline and Diesel sales have steadily declined and are still 19% below pre-pandemic levels (presumably due to EV sales)
• 17% of all Californian EV charging outlets are in Silicon Valley, over 5,000 in Santa Clara County alone.
• Life expectancy is several years higher in Silicon Valley versus California or the United States.

100 affordable homes proposed for Willow Glen

A project split across 520 and 544 West Alma in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood could bring over 100 affordable homes to San Jose. 

91 of these homes would be near the Highway 87 and Alma Avenue interchange. The first floor of the five-story building would be amenity space and parking while the apartments would span the upper four floors.

At 544 West Alma, there is an abandoned restaurant and large surface parking lot. Here developers would like to build 99 affordable apartments near the banks of the Guadalupe River. Part of the project would even include restoring areas adjacent to the Guadalupe River so that it can be integrated into the project.

Source: The Mercury News

South FIRST FRIDAYS Art Walk + SubZERO - June 2024

South FIRST FRIDAYS is back with exhibits across multiple galleries in three different districts. Everything is open from at least 5-9pm. Participating venues include ANNO DOMINI, the Institute of Contemporary Art, KALEID Gallery, Works San Jose, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, the SoFA Market, MACLA, Art Ark Gallery, MACHU PICCHU, San Jose Jazz, and Chopsticks Alley Gallery.

It all goes down on Friday, June 7th. As usual admission is free and all ages are welcome. Click here for a preview of featured art! Below is a map with all of the galleries to check out across all three different districts.

This month is also SubZERO which overlaps with the Festival and continues tomorrow from 5pm to 11pm. SubZERO features dozens of vendors and artists, live music across multiple stages, and a beer garden with local breweries. You won't want to miss it!