CEO Noodles Grand Opening

Today is the Grand Opening of CEO (Chief Eating Officer) Noodles in Downtown San Jose. The restaurant specializes in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine, especially noodles. Today there are some festivities from 4pm to 7pm.

The restaurant has been in soft launch mode for some time and is getting great review on Yelp (4.5 stars). It also has one of the best facades for a Downtown San Jose restaurant with a giant mural you can't miss. 

CEO Noodles is located at 130 E. Santa Clara Street and they are open from 10am to 9pm every day except for Sunday.

Downtown San Jose Falcon

Today I just have a great photo of a peregrine falcon sitting on top of San Jose's City Hall. It's a unique angle of Downtown San Jose that I have never seen before. In fact, I had to check Google maps to even see if this shot was technically possible or fabricated. Good news, it's legit!

Source: Chris Roth on X

Downtown San Jose office building may convert to housing

We're in a precarious situation right now with office space. Many employees simply do not want to return to the office and companies are looking to downsize their footprint because of it. At the same time, population is not growing quickly and we do not have a rush of companies across the world looking to relocate staff to the most expensive region of the United States. What are we to do with all the empty space?

A nine-story office tower at 152 North Third Street is considering a conversion to 133 residential units. This is a very smart move that would reduce the amount of empty office space and replace it with much needed housing.

As a bonus, the building was constructed in 1985 and a conversion would bring it up to modern standards. It would also keep the "Eagles Hall" facade that was built in 1909 in the photo below.

If it goes through, the project would also include a lounge, game room, two music studios, a gym, yoga studio, cinema room, coworking space, two meeting rooms, a cafe, kitchen, club room, and amenity terrace.

Hopefully they keep Freshly Baked Eatery on the ground floor, which is the best sandwich shop in Downtown San Jose.

Source: The Mercury News

FC2025 discounts in Downtown San Jose

If you have seen people walking around Downtown San Jose looking like Disney characters, that's because Furcon is in town this weekend and runs until January 20th. Downtown Ice might be extra entertaining to watch on these last couple days as fursuits are welcome on the ice. 

For anyone attending the convention, below are a list of discounts for things to do in Downtown San Jose. I have never seen a discount for Haberdasher before (one of the best bars in all of Silicon Valley). The Foxtail Fermentation promo is on-brand, well done!

Almaden Plaza in San Jose is getting a couple new stores

Tomorrow will be Barnes & Noble's last day at Almaden Plaza in South San Jose. That space along with the former spaces for Buy Buy Baby, Compass Real Estate, and Tuesday Morning will be merged into a single 81,000 SQFT anchor space. Sports Basement is planning to take that anchor spot later this year.

Tillys is also leaving its 10,500 SQFT store at the end of the month. That was actually the first Northern Californian location of that brand. However, the space is already destined to be replaced by Sephora sometime this summer.

Source: SVBJ

Soccer in San Jose

Visit San Jose has just released a video promoting soccer in San Jose. It's only 90 seconds long, and highlights tailgating, PayPal Park, and our awesome Earthquakes fanbase. Enjoy it embedded below.

Goodwill buys San Jose office building for $17 million

Goodwill of Silicon Valley has just purchased an empty building at 1600 Technology Drive in North San Jose near the airport. The shiny eight-story building is destined to become Goodwill's new headquarters.

They will also use the facilities for job training and employment opportunity services, including no-cost skills training to benefit the local community.

Goodwill got the deal of the century on the building. It was previously valued at $92.4 million in January of 2024. So they paid 81.6% less than the assessed value for the 198,000 SQFT building.

The purchase was made possible by a $10 million donation from MacKenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos' ex-wife). 

Goodwill plans to immediately start relocating administrative and operations staff to the new building. Any unutilized space will be shared with other local nonprofits.

Source: The Mercury News

Massive Asia Live food complex coming to Valley Fair

I was quite bummed when iChina closed down at Valley Fair. I thought the opulent restaurant was San Jose's best chance at getting another Michelin star. However, the good news is that the space will not be vacant for long.

Asia Live will take that flagship two-story space and expand it to over 12,000 SQFT, including adding a new rooftop terrace and outdoor patio. It will be far more than just a restaurant. It sounds similar to Eataly, but for Asian cuisine. The complex will have a retail marketplace, cafe, lounge, interactive experiences, and entertainment. Diners will be able to watch chefs prep food like dumplings, sushi, and curries.

It has the same owners as China Live in SF and will feature the most popular dishes from that menu including pan-fried pork buns and Peking duck. It will also have sushi, robata (Japanese BBQ), tandoori ovens, and Indonesian rice. The icing on the cake is a bar that will rival the top craft cocktails spots in the Bay Area.

Asia Live is scheduled to open this fall. The sooner the better!

Sources: Eater, SFGATE