Changes in DTSJ (San Jose, Oakland, Los Gatos: sales, crime, home)

[kmzizzle]

I think there also needs to be more jobs. All these high-rises going up is awesome but there needs to be demand to live there and I think more jobs are the best thing for that. Look at Axis, iStar had to come in and save them and they had a lot of issues leasing up

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by kmzizzle

I think there also needs to be more jobs. All these high-rises going up is awesome but there needs to be demand to live there and I think more jobs are the best thing for that. Look at Axis, iStar had to come in and save them and they had a lot of issues leasing up

It was the recession that did them in. The recession did everyone in. Right now Axis is back to doing well, in fact all the 4 high-rises are doing well. So there definitely is demand to live in Downtown.

But right now all homes are doing well in the Valley, and the demand is huge here, Downtown is certainly not the only place to have demands.

We definitely do need more jobs in Downtown. But let's be honest, our real job center is not Downtown, it's North 1st. Downtown is our high-rise residential/entertainment/sports/cultural center. North 1st is our employment center. They're linked together by lightrail and many bike trails, so commute between the two is pretty smooth, IMO.

[fashionguy]

Agree. Downtown SJ office vacancy rate is still among the highest in the valley, standing at 19.5%.Downtown San Jose office vacancy dips below 20 percent, but don't break out Champagne yet - Silicon Valley Business Journal

Downtown should continue to cater to the niche market of people who like to live in a modern highrise condo, which is difficult to find anywhere else in the south bay, and bring in more grocery/restaurants within walking distance. After it is successful in that regard and people start to associate downtown SJ as somewhere cool such as downtown Palo Alto, then they can work on the jobs and office part.

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

It was the recession that did them in. The recession did everyone in. Right now Axis is back to doing well, in fact all the 4 high-rises are doing well. So there definitely is demand to live in Downtown.

But right now all homes are doing well in the Valley, and the demand is huge here, Downtown is certainly not the only place to have demands.

We definitely do need more jobs in Downtown. But let's be honest, our real job center is not Downtown, it's North 1st. Downtown is our high-rise residential/entertainment/sports/cultural center. North 1st is our employment center. They're linked together by lightrail and many bike trails, so commute between the two is pretty smooth, IMO.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

Downtown should continue to cater to the niche market of people who like to live in a modern highrise condo, which is difficult to find anywhere else in the south bay, and bring in more grocery/restaurants within walking distance. After it is successful in that regard and people start to associate downtown SJ as somewhere cool such as downtown Palo Alto, then they can work on the jobs and office part.

They're going to have to open up something down there to rival Santana Row, which sucked the business life out of DTSJ when it opened.

They tried this once (way before SR), with the Pavilion:

Two examples illustrate the different challenges of bringing back retail. First is the construction of the Pavilion shopping and entertainment center in 1989, the most notable attempt to inject life into downtown shopping. The RDA put up $10 million of the $30 million cost to construct the building. Although the Pavilion aimed to be a high-end shopping center (the lease with the developers called for a mix of tenants that “shall equal or exceed” the quality of stores at Stanford Shopping Center and other upscale malls), it attracted few shoppers, had the wrong mix of tenants and lacked the planned-for anchors at its north and south ends. The developer subsequently abandoned the project. In addition to the mall’s design flaws, downtown simply had too few workers, tourists or high-income shoppers to make the Pavilion a success. By the late 1990s, the interior of the 27,500-squarefoot center had found new life as a server farm, with city officials eager to capitalize on the fiber-optic line running directly under the building.

For an exhaustive account of the history of DTSJ and some ideas on how to improve it, SPUR has provided this:
Shaping Downtown San Jose | SPUR

[fashionguy]

To be honest, I don't think downtown SJ can challenge Santana Row. Many other downtowns have tried and failed. Santana Row has this huge advantage of being across the street from Valley Fair. Fashion retail is all about "browse a lot and buy some", and variety is King. If a downtown did not have the most selections in town in the first place and tries to assemble all those retailers from scratch, it is doomed to fail. What downtown can do well is the "destination" type of retail, such as restaurants, groceries, convenience stores. Downtown SJ should look up to smaller downtowns such as Palo Alto downtown or Mountain View downtown for what it aspires to be. If it can make one major street look like those downtowns, coupled with its other attractions, such as museums and live theaters it would be considered successful in my humble opinion.

Originally Posted by bigdumbgod

They're going to have to open up something down there to rival Santana Row, which sucked the business life out of DTSJ when it opened.

They tried this once (way before SR), with the Pavilion:
For an exhaustive account of the history of DTSJ and some ideas on how to improve it, SPUR has provided this:
Shaping Downtown San Jose | SPUR

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

To be honest, I don't think downtown SJ can challenge Santana Row.

Nothing in the South Bay can challenge Santana Row. It's pretty much the de-facto HOT SPOT of the South Bay. The charming folks in Mountain View and PA can thumb their noses all they want but that's a FACT.

Downtown SJ should look up to smaller downtowns such as Palo Alto downtown or Mountain View downtown for what it aspires to be. If it can make one major street look like those downtowns, coupled with its other attractions, such as museums and live theaters it would be considered successful in my humble opinion.

Downtown SJ has 7 theatres with ongoing live performances, 4-5 museums, not including the nearby Rose Garden and Egyptian Museum. It also has a gigantic library and a beloved, constantly-sold-out arena. What you asked for are already there, go use them.

Downtown SJ doesn't need to aspire to be like Mountain View's Castro or PA. Those are chumps, little peanuts, nothing more.

Downtown SJ needs to aspire to be what it once was: the Center of the South Bay, both in terms of governmental, entertainment, and cultural.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by fashionguy

Downtown SJ should look up to smaller downtowns such as Palo Alto downtown or Mountain View downtown for what it aspires to be.

lolololololololololol, no.

And that's not a knock on either of those places, but keep the variety and let each node develop into something unique. Don't copy and paste all over the valley.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

It was the recession that did them in. The recession did everyone in. Right now Axis is back to doing well, in fact all the 4 high-rises are doing well. So there definitely is demand to live in Downtown.

But right now all homes are doing well in the Valley, and the demand is huge here, Downtown is certainly not the only place to have demands.

We definitely do need more jobs in Downtown. But let's be honest, our real job center is not Downtown, it's North 1st. Downtown is our high-rise residential/entertainment/sports/cultural center. North 1st is our employment center. They're linked together by lightrail and many bike trails, so commute between the two is pretty smooth, IMO.

This is a good point. We desperately need more housing everywhere. I think if you add more housing downtown, eventually more retail and corporate employers will want to move in.

Since housing is at a premium in SV, anywhere you put it, it will eventually be occupied, and usually pretty quickly. That isn't the case in other metro area downtowns where housing is cheaper and more abundant.

[PaliCali650]

I've always felt that Santana Row represents a lot of what not to do in today's retail/entertainment development.

It is a high end outdoor shopping mall surrounded by a freeway, two huge boulevards, and a massive complex of parking structures. It does have a nice mix of housing and restaurants but without any link to the light rail, its a bit randomly placed. it has a Disneyland kind of feel. A perfect little enclosed world without any real connection to the city.

Downtown San Jose should not try to emulate anything like Santana Row. It should be unique, accessible, and authentic in it's own right.

[zombocom]

Originally Posted by PaliCali650

I've always felt that Santana Row represents a lot of what not to do in today's retail/entertainment development.

It is a high end outdoor shopping mall surrounded by a freeway, two huge boulevards, and a massive complex of parking structures. It does have a nice mix of housing and restaurants but without any link to the light rail, its a bit randomly placed. it has a Disneyland kind of feel. A perfect little enclosed world without any real connection to the city.

Downtown San Jose should not try to emulate anything like Santana Row. It should be unique, accessible, and authentic in it's own right.

I think the emulation comes from the mixed use (Santana Row has retail, office, and residential). With Diridon, and light rail going through downtown, I don't think there are any issues with DTSJ not being linked to the area by public transit - and the plan (even if it is 20 years out) has BART coming into downtown San Jose.

I think the city of San Jose needs to push dense high rise housing as much as it can in downtown San Jose. We are desperately short on housing, and this would have the duel benefit of improving the downtown area and providing more housing options.