Wooo-hoooo!!! :banana2: :righton: :cheer: :horse: :drunk:

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NOOOO!!!! I WANTED THE 1000th POST!

it's time....for SJ Development News II. Who's with me?

it's time....for SJ Development News II. Who's with me?

I dont understand why we need to start a new one? we are limited here?

San Jose, California...the eyes of Champ Car Racing Fans and the thousands of others who have come to downtown San Jose are upon you...please succeed. This is the one time of year where we actually have a 24 hour downtown.

1000+ posts, awesome!!!
:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

Downtown San Jose condo towers to lose a floor
DOWNTOWN S.J. CONDO TOWERS TO LOSE A FLOOR
By Katherine Conrad


San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:07/27/2007 01:37:07 AM PDT

http://www.tndwest.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/block8.jpg

A logjam that threatened a multimillion-dollar development in downtown San Jose has been cleared with the developer and the city agreeing to a "financial haircut."

Developer Mike Kriozere, principal at Urban West Associates, agreed to lop a floor off each of his two 25-story residential towers as long as the city lowers its price on the land, currently a parking lot on Market Street near the Fairmont Hotel.

Losing a floor on each tower reduces the total number of condominiums from 414 to 400 and the price on the 1.5 acres, known as Block 8, to $27.2 million from $28.6 million, the price agreed to by the city in June 2006.

"Instead of waiting around for God knows how long it will be . . . you break the logjam," Kriozere said. "That's what reasonable people do."

It was not a resolution that made either side happy. But Harry Mavrogenes, head of the city's Redevelopment Agency, said neither side wanted to risk a delay.

"We can lose (14) units now, or wait another year for the studies to be complete and lose the market," he said.

Kriozere's project, City Front Square, has been on hold because of an unresolved conflict that flared up in December between the city, downtown boosters and Mineta San Jose International Airport over the height of downtown buildings. At issue is how to reconcile flight paths over the downtown and the city's proposed high-rises.

Airport officials argue that tall buildings pose a risk to airplanes when they are forced to change flight paths because of wind conditions. Developers, meanwhile, assert that many projects aren't profitable unless they reach a certain height.

A consultant hired by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, the San Jose Downtown Association and the airport is currently studying the conflict. A report is expected at the end of August.

With a decision by the city months and maybe a year away, Kriozere said he worked with Mayor Chuck Reed to figure out how to get the project back on track. The developer noted that he could have lowered the nine-foot ceilings in the units rather than eliminate a floor, but he didn't want to "cheapen" the luxury project that will offer concierge services, spas and 24-hour door staff.

"We want to go ahead a build the building, and the mayor wants it built," Kriozere said. "I make a sacrifice; the Redevelopment Agency makes a sacrifice. It's fair. A delay hurts everybody."

Kriozere said final touches on the drawings will be done soon and he hopes to start construction on the $250 million project sometime after the new year. The first tower should be complete by 2010.

Kriozere also is building One Rincon Hill in San Francisco, a high-rise condominium project at the foot of the Bay Bridge. The units, which sell for about $1,000 a square foot, are almost entirely sold out. New residents can begin moving in later this fall, he said.

He is convinced that luxury condos will be a hit in San Jose, as well, though the price of the units has not yet been decided.

http://www.sanjosesabercats.com/header.jpg

Oh nice!!

:cheers:

Here's the ground floor site plan for Central Place, Anyone else care to take a guess as to what retail we might expect?



hey guys, just back from central america and it's awesome to read all the updates! :banana:

i think that whatever retailer goes into Tower 88 will be a big chain, a company that can wait out the year or two it will take for the new condos to fill up. also, probably more on th epscale side since the rent will be pretty high, maybe a benetton or zara since i dont think the south bay has them?? id also put money on there being a least two big names so together they can attract customers. i can def. see an apple store since the people who will be moving in will have lots of $$! the valley fair store is also a bit small in my opinion, so a bigger store might be a good move for apple. so..

Two big-name, upscale clothing retailers
One media/book store
One "techie" store
Maybe a shoe store?? (please puma, please puma!)

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was starting an SJ development blog called San Jose/21. I've finally finished the first post and I was hoping for some feedback. As Ive mentioned, I'm not looking to compete with this thread so much as complement it. I hope it'd be a place where we can expand further on many of the points that come up here. I also asked if anyone would be interested in contributing and a couple of people responded, so I'll be talking to you folks soon.

I plan to send a mass email to various SJ leaders, organizations, companies, etc. but I thought I'd give you guys the first look. Please take a look and feel free to comment. Hopefully, my mandate is sufficiently explained in the first post.

SJ/21 is here (http://sanjose21.blogspot.com/).

Thanks so much!

-MetroMayor

Great first post, I like it! You should put a link to the blog in your signature.

as mentioned a couple of pages back, if San Jose were to redevelop Alviso's waterfront...we would have a nice district. Though we don't have to put shops and buildings close to it...a nice launch ramp and recreational area and small beach would be great. I'd love for SJ to have a mini boardwalk at least. It's a shame we can't put boats up and down the Guadalupe River...now that would be great Tourism. SJ needs its attractions and it needs em soon.

Great first post, I like it! You should put a link to the blog in your signature.

Done! Thanks!

It's a shame we can't put boats up and down the Guadalupe River...now that would be great Tourism. SJ needs its attractions and it needs em soon.

Incidentally, there are some historical images of the Guadalupe on display on River Park West of Henry's Hi Life. They show the Guadalupe as a river deep enough to support forty-foot boats and small docks throughout downtown. It's odd seeing those photos and then looking at what the Guadalupe has been reduced to– a trickle.

The final floors of the downtown San Jose high-rise formerly occupied by Knight Ridder have been leased. Only the giant sign atop the structure remains.

National labor law firm Littler Mendelson, currently a tenant in the same building at 50 W. San Fernando St., is moving up to the 15th floor and also taking the seventh floor for a total of 40,000 square feet.

The value of the 10-year lease was not released, but the asking rate was $2.85 per square foot per month.

Dennis Brown, managing shareholder of the San Francisco-based firm founded in 1942, said lawyers needed more space to handle the expanding practice. About 70 employees, including 35 lawyers, work for Littler Mendelson's San Jose office.

Brown said he can't wait to leave behind his office on the 14th floor, which hasn't been updated since Littler Mendelson moved in back in the early 1990s.

"The Knight Ridder space on the 15th floor is among the best, if not the best designed and finished floor space in all of San Jose," he said. "The materials that were used, the layout of the floor is all first-rate. It's spectacular."

Granite floors, marble countertops, exquisite woodwork and top-of-the-line furniture await the firm when it moves in sometime in October.

Normally a tenant will spend about $30 a square foot to prepare office space - and maybe double that for high-end space - according to Kevin Crawford, director of corporate services for Ritchie Commercial. Knight Ridder, however, spent on average $120 a square foot when the company moved its headquarters from Miami to San Jose in 1998, he said.

"Were we to (build out the space) today, we would not spend even half that money," Brown said.

And how much did it cost to take the furniture? Zero.

"The furniture was free," said Brown, who added that his broker was Nancy Morse of Grubb & Ellis.

Knight Ridder left a year ago, after the 32-newspaper company was sold to McClatchy, publisher of the Sacramento Bee, for $4 billion. In the deal, McClatchy fell heir to Knight Ridder's leased space in the building, which was to expire in 2008. But McClatchy broke up the chain of papers, selling them to various publishing companies, including Denver-based MediaNews Group, owner of the San Jose Mercury News.

Crawford, who put the deal together for the landlord, Forest City, said it has taken a full year to cycle through the 64,000 square feet vacated by Knight Ridder, which occupied part of the 4th, and the 7th, 12th and 15th floors. The consulting firm Accenture already has leased 32,000 square feet.

With this final lease, all vestiges of Knight Ridder are gone; only the sign remains. Rights to the over-size beacon would have gone to the company that leased at least four floors in the 17-story tower, but none of the incoming tenants took that much space. For now, the sign stays.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6501542

Incidentally, there are some historical images of the Guadalupe on display on River Park West of Henry's Hi Life. They show the Guadalupe as a river deep enough to support forty-foot boats and small docks throughout downtown. It's odd seeing those photos and then looking at what the Guadalupe has been reduced to– a trickle.

I seem to remember reading in the Merc, something like 15 years ago, that someone put forth a proposal to have whitewater rafting in the downtown stretch of the Guadalupe. There was even a quote from the water district about how the water flow could be increased. The consensus was that it was a viable plan. Never heard anything else about it.

That woulda been pretty cool.

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was starting an SJ development blog called San Jose/21. I've finally finished the first post and I was hoping for some feedback. As Ive mentioned, I'm not looking to compete with this thread so much as complement it. I hope it'd be a place where we can expand further on many of the points that come up here. I also asked if anyone would be interested in contributing and a couple of people responded, so I'll be talking to you folks soon.

I plan to send a mass email to various SJ leaders, organizations, companies, etc. but I thought I'd give you guys the first look. Please take a look and feel free to comment. Hopefully, my mandate is sufficiently explained in the first post.

SJ/21 is here (http://sanjose21.blogspot.com/).

Thanks so much!

-MetroMayor

:bowtie: Your elected to another term Mr. Mayor, screw term limits

Do you think the 21 story towers by the airport will encourage other developers to join the high rise boom at N. 1st? I'd love to see that area rise up with Towers. It has this urban feel with the LR station and lighting but it's missing something.

So the river was once bigger? All those dams block the water flow now, no? Stupid Vasona....:lol:

So the river was once bigger? All those dams block the water flow now, no? Stupid Vasona....:lol:

the culprits are actually the guadalupe and and lexington reservoirs. and although the guadalupe was bigger and deeper, it was only during the wet eason that big ships could navigate it. still, it would be awesome to have some more water inthe river and maybe even some life on its banks: restaurants, bars, things like that. damn dams!

the culprits are actually the guadalupe and and lexington reservoirs. and although the guadalupe was bigger and deeper, it was only during the wet eason that big ships could navigate it. still, it would be awesome to have some more water inthe river and maybe even some life on its banks: restaurants, bars, things like that. damn dams!
There's also an underground bypass channel that runs parallel to the Guadalupe near downtown. The channel gates can be opened and closed to control the River's water level (for flood control).

Perhaps we could raise the water level just enough to create a downtown whitewater rafting/kayak park like this one in downtown Reno.

San Jose
http://a248.e.akamai.net/f/248/1229/1d/images.world66.com/do/wn/to/downtown_san_jose_mobile

Reno
http://www.downtownmakeover.com/downtown_reno/images/strkc4-whitewaterpark1.jpg
http://www.downtownmakeover.com/downtown_reno/images/TruckerRiverRehab-EastDowntown.jpg

The River Street Historic District (behind the Arena) is already home to a handful of coffee shops, restaurants, and other businesses that are being housed in rehabilitated Victorian and Edwardian buildings. The city should just re-orient some of those buildings to face the river, add a nice pedestrian walkway, and call it San Jose River Walk.

San Jose
http://www.sanjoseca.gov/planning/Historic/images/maintained_victorians.jpg

San Antonio
http://www.fantasticfamily.com/kevinpat/Images/SanAntonio/Riverwalk.jpg

That last shot makes me want to go visit San Antonio. It would be great if we had something like the brook that goes through Capitola by the Sea (has anyone been to Shadowbrook? They have outdoor seating right by the water... great restaurant in general).

It's a shame that Lake Cunningham and Raging Waters couldn't have collaborated together more. There were plans in the early 90's to build a lakeside boardwalk and have attractions and a roller coaster. Raging waters would have had some stations set up and the park would have a wildlife center and miniature aquarium and peddle boats. This would have been located where currently dragon's den and some electrical stations are located today. The land there is not inabited by the creatures under wildlife protection and was given a green light. Funding collapsed as RW was convinced that the water park would be fine on it's own and the space could be used for parking and other attractions. shame shame..SJ and water clearly don't mix.

They should put up a dam and levee system around the south bay, with global warming we're gonna need it. The cool part is, the dam could hold back the waters of the gaudelupe so that it's navigable to small craft. When the rainy season starts they can lower the levels.:bash:

That last shot makes me want to go visit San Antonio.

That must be some picture to make you want to visit Texas! :clown:

Well, since we're talking of what could've been...I also very distinctly remember (like almost 20 years ago) a proposal to open a Lucasfilm museum at the Pavilion (back when it was a struggling retail center).

Anyone ever heard of this?

I'm wondering what the status is on that building. if ole Mikey of Urban West is in trouble for this two towers at the Fairmont block...then One South Market's gotta be in deep water for their tower. SJ has done a good job there with so much density with Axis, Almaden Tower, Adobe, Riverpark Tower, Commerca Bank, the new hotel and the financial district we got there. Definitely the true buzzing center of SJ. Hopefully our Eastern downtown can catch up with the nightlife and residential area whilst business continues to boom in west downtown.

I sent out an email to dozens of SJ leaders, developers, artist, etc. Wish me luck. If you still haven't checked out the site, please do. Also, feel free to leave a comment, as well. Thanks! :banana:

Nice one^^ similar crown to the nytt.

it's time....for SJ Development News II. Who's with me?

you should start a new one, forum leaders like threads to stay at 500 posts, anything drastically more like the 1000+ you have now slows the forum down, so do us a favor and make San Jose Development News II please and also if you dont mind, try to stick to around 700 posts or less next time :)

FYI - I started a San Jose Development News II thread at:
SkyscraperCity > Continental Forums > North American Skyscrapers Forum > United States Urban Issues > West Coast and Interior West > San Jose Development News II