Unique Cafes in San Jose

It looks like one of my favorite San Jose hyperlocal sites might be coming back! SJ Today just posted a list of unique cafes in San Jose. I definitely agree with the list which includes Nirvana Soul, K Cafe, Voyager, and many more. Check it out at the source link below.

Source: SJ Today

ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle Conference in San Jose

San Jose is aiming to become a major player in the AI space and part of that is hosting major AI-related events. Earlier this year, Nvidia hosted their largest annual conference in San Jose and they have already booked the McEnery Convention Center again for 2025.

This week the ADAS & Autonomous Vehicle conference is coming to San Jose and will host a variety of speakers from companies like Waymo. Self-driving cars aren't coming, they are already here thanks to the latest innovations in AI.

The event is taking place this Wednesday and Thursday at the Convention Center. If you're interested in learning more, you can register for this conference for free over here.

First T&T Supermarket in California is coming to San Jose

A new supermarket specializing in Asian groceries will be coming to West San Jose in 2025. T&T Supermarket will be the newest anchor tenant at Westgate Center (which is owned by the same company as Santana Row). The store will be 55,000 SQFT and take over the former Walmart space.

T&T's goal is to be more than just a place to grab groceries. They want it to be a destination for discovery, innovation, and bringing people together through food. The store will have live seafood tanks, a full-service meat counter, a BBQ counter, noodle station, dim sum, and a street food section, and even a made-to-order Chinese crepe station. Their bakery will have mochi puffs, egg tarts, and assorted pastries.

T&T Supermarkets has 33 stores, mostly in Canada but there are a couple stores in the US. This will be their first location in all of California.

Source: SiliconValley.com

Silicon Valley Pride Parade

The annual LGBTQ+ Pride Parade takes place today in Downtown San Jose. This year the route is from Julian Street to Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park on Market Street. The parade starts at 10:30am and continues until noon where it will end with a big festival in the park that lasts until 6pm.

This is the largest Pride festival in the South Bay and has run for 49 years, making it one of the longest-running Pride events in California. For more info, head over here.

Mama Kin

Mama Kin is a great intimate venue for Jazz and live music in Downtown San Jose's SoFA District. You can get a sneak peak of the show just by walking by, but they have a solid Southern-style food and drink menu on the inside. 

Performances are typically inexpensive and are a great centerpiece for a night out Downtown. DL Edwards & the Disciples are playing tonight, and you can get tickets over here.

To see the upcoming music lineup and menus, head here.

San Jose's AI incubator plan

One of San Jose's most prolific supporters, Gary Dillabough, is championing an "AI Center of Excellence" in Downtown San Jose. The goal would be to create an accelerator for dozens of AI startups in partnership with Plug and Play Tech Center and the City of San Jose.

Plug and Play is working on the concept and would run the day-to-day operations of the center. They are currently headquartered at 4420 N. Wolfe Road in Sunnyvale and have multiple innovation centers around the world. It's not clear where the Downtown San Jose location would be yet.

In addition to the incubator, there would also be a learning center whole goal is to get 7th through 12th graders inspired about AI and generate the next generation of entrepreneurs. There would also be a showcase featuring outcomes from the program. For a lot more details, check out the source link below.

Source: SVBJ

Grok2-generated image of "AI in San Jose"

Spartan Village on the Paseo

After several months of renovation, what was originally the Fairmont Annex tower will now be home to around 700 San Jose State University students that will be living there most of the year. Occupancy is already over 90% capacity. Students started moving in this past weekend.

This is one of the nicest student housing projects I have ever seen. Not only is it centrally located in Downtown San Jose, but it has a sky bridge lounge, a gaming lounge, video screening center, cafe, fitness room, and study rooms. Keep in mind that what are now dorms used to be the fanciest hotel rooms in San Jose and have a view of Plaza de Cesar Chavez.

This should have a significant impact on foot traffic and general ground floor activity around the tower. I think that will improve the retail scene, safety, and the overall vibe around Plaza de Cesar Chavez. It's a win all the way around except for the loss of a couple hundred hotel rooms. There are several new hotels being proposed that will hopefully fill in that gap.

Congratulations to the SJSU students moving into Spartan Village on the Paseo. Your college experience is going to be much nicer than previous generations!

Source: SiliconValley.com

Wishlist Wednesday: 3d printed homes in San Jose

We live in the epicenter of technological disruption and innovation, yet housing has changed very little in decades. Now we're starting to see some interesting ideas being tested in this space. A community called Wolf range in Georgetown, Texas (north of Austin) is being built by Lennar using a giant 3D printer. The machine is 45 feet wide and weighs almost 5 tons. 

The "ink" is a mixture of concrete powder, water, and sand. This makes the homes very resilient to extreme weather and increases waterproofing and energy efficiency dramatically. 

I have spent a lot of time in homes made out of concrete and stone throughout my life and can vouch that the level of insulation is excellent. Sometimes it can be a 20 degree difference between outdoor and indoor temperatures with very little heating or air conditioning needed. I can also attest that the one downside is WiFi signals will struggle to get through the walls as mentioned in the source article. A multi-router mesh network is ideal.

The 100-home project started in 2022 and should be done by the end of the summer. Each of the homes range from $450k to $600k and feature three to four bedrooms.

What makes me excited about this technology, is that with economies of scale the cost of homebuilding could decrease while delivering a better overall product. There is limited space for single family homes in San Jose, but this can easily be used for ADUs or even townhomes with a little effort. The cost of construction is one of the key variables keeping housing costs high, so any downward pressure on that will benefit homebuyers and help increase supple in Silicon Valley.

Source: Engadget