Nvidia will partner with San Jose on AI as well as expand office presence in our city

As a nice little Christmas present, one of the largest and fastest growing AI companies in the world has signed a MOU to partner with the city of San Jose and SJSU. 

Nvidia will work with San Jose State University to create school programs to prepare San Jose students to enter the workforce with AI skills. Nvidia already has AI training programs at every skill level, and they would provide these to educators along with a certification path.

The city of San Jose is also looking to Nvidia for help in streamlining regulatory approvals for AI initiatives. They will offer city facilities to support AI research and development. In return, Nvidia will provide some of it's training resources related to AI to San Jose.

By leaning into the future, this is an excellent strategy to ensure San Jose will stay at the forefront of tech in years to come.

However, there is more. The icing on the cake is that Nvidia has also leased 100,000 SQFT in North San Jose (300 Holger Way). This will bring more high-paying tech jobs and tax dollars to our city. Nvidia is on a roll right now with a market cap of $3.3 trillion (with a "T") and are finding themselves in desperate need for more office space. This is an area where San Jose can gladly help out.

Source: SVBJ, The Mercury News

Google is giving San Jose $5 million for community benefits

Even thought Google's multi-million SQFT megaproject is still on hold, they are holding true to several of the commitments they made to the city of San Jose. 

Google will give $5 million to San Jose as part of its community benefits agreement for the Downtown West Project. $4.25 million will be put into the Community Stabilization and Opportunity Pathways Fund.  This aims to support under-resourced communities in San Jose due to rising costs and increase job opportunities.

If the project comes to fruition, then Google will invest a total of $155 million into public benefits for the San Jose community. However, that will be a rounding error compared to value of having 10,000 or so high-paying tech jobs that would be added to Downtown San Jose along with the ecosystem to support those workers.

Source: San Jose Spotlight

San Jose is getting a new signature cocktail

Rollati Ristorante, one of Downtown San Jose's top restaurants, is introducing San Jose's first signature drink. It's called the San Jose Sour and includes not one, but two local products.

The main spirit is 10th St. Distillery's triple cask single malt whiskey called Dragon Plus. This is a local San Jose company with several award winning products and the spirit is even distilled in San Jose.

The second ingredient is Alamitos Vineyard's award-winning estate Hawk Eye Syrah, which is grown and produced in South San Jose.

The drink also has lemon juice, simple syrup, egg whites and a few dashes of Angostura bitters. You can enjoy it at Rollati right now and hopefully it will be available at some of their sister restaurants like Left Bank, LB Steak, or Meso. If you want to try to make this cocktail at home, below are the ingredients and directions.

THE SAN JOSÉ SOUR

Ingredients

1 ½ ounces 10th Street Distillery, American Whiskey, Triple Cask, STR Single Malt, San Jose, CA

¾ ounces Alamitos Vineyards, Syrah, Hawk Eye Estate Grown, Santa Clara County, CA

1 ounce lemon juice

¾ ounces simple syrup

1 egg white

4 dashes Angostura bitters, “Aromatic,” Trinidad & Tobago

Directions

1. Add whiskey, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white into shaker

2. Shake with ice and strain back into tin

3. Reverse dry shake

4. Double strain over coupe glass

5. Float Hawk Eye Syrah

6. Garnish with Filthy Black Cherry and Angostura bitters

San Pedro Holiday Market today

There are only a few days left until Christmas, but there are still many opportunities to buy gifts--especially from local entrepreneurs. The San Jose Downtown Association, City of San Jose, and SJMADE are hosting a holiday market at 60 N. San Pedro Street today in the heart of San Pedro Square. There will be over 20 vendors including:

• Ceramics By Jane
• Maco Decor
• Kyla Camille Candles
• Genevieve Inspired
• AJNA California
• Voyager Leather Crafts
• Yours Truly, Mary Anne
• The Hungry Sloth
• Kawaii Glass Co
• Charlotte Truffles
• SoyFeliz
• Love Through Letterpress
• Jale
• Peachisekai
• Thousand Skies
• A Jar of Pickles
• The Herbal Alchemist
• Dandekie

The event will run from noon to 6pm and you also get 90 minutes of free parking at the Market & San Pedro Garage, conveniently located next to the event.

For more info, head over here.

Gifts given to the City of San Jose

I learned a little history at SJ Today about some of the philanthropic gifts San Jose has received over the years. The big one is Emma Prusch Farm Park, which was an 87-acre dairy farm donated to the City of San Jose in 1962. If you were wondering why this valuable piece of land has been protected for so long and hasn't been chopped up to become apartment buildings, Prusch stipulated that it needs maintain it's rural character as part of the donation. To see other big San Jose donations, hit the source link below.

Source: SJ Today

Data center would be used to warm and cool proposed Downtown San Jose high-rises

Westbank and PG&E are forming an unconventional partnership. Westbank wants to build a project that would include 4,000 total residential units and three data centers. 

Data centers use very large amounts of energy and require vast heating and cooling systems for those stacks of computers. The idea would be to use an underground system that could recycle excess energy from the data centers to provide heat and hot water to neighboring buildings. A similar thing can be done for cooling. PG&E believes that three data centers could potentially fuel 200,000 homes.

The three data centers would need about 200 MW of energy, and are expected to be used for AI. PG&E believes that new approaches like this could could help trim monthly expenses and lead to more affordable energy systems.

If this moves forward, construction for the first data center will begin within 12 months with the goal being completion in 2027. The second would be targeted for completion in 2028 and the third in 2029.

Source: SVBJ

New Downtown San Jose Artwork

Our friends at West Coast Artworks have several new canvas prints available featuring Downtown San Jose. I especially like the two new ones below. 

One highlights the MIRO towers, San Jose City Hall, and the Bank of Italy building. The other is a unique shot of the SoFA district starting with The Pierce and Sparq. In fact, that is probably the view that many will get from San Jose's newest luxury apartment building, The Fay.

I have purchased several of these prints and love them. They are always conversation starters for guests.

To see all of the new artwork, including those that ship in time for Christmas, head over here.

Caltrain's double tower project in Downtown San Jose moves forward

Caltrain is planning to partner with a developer to build a 15-story and 16-story tower on 3 acres right in front of Diridon station in Downtown San Jose. To goal would be to help kickstart other projects and transit ridership in the area.

The project would come in at 1.1 million SQFT of commercial space--yes commercial and not residential. Most developers today are switching to residential as quickly as possible given the state of the commercial markets, but it sounds like Caltrain is taking a bold long-term perspective on this investment.

The development would also blend in retail and entertainment venues as well as a once acre publicly accessibly open space and plaza. Ironically, four levels of underground parking for 792 spaces would also be built as part of this transit-oriented-development.

Currently there is no ETA for when construction would begin but San Jose has just approved the required permits. The ball is in Caltrain's court.

Source: The Mercury News