1 South Market. Thoughts? (San Jose: 2015, food, yard)

[blue bird]

Originally Posted by countofmc

Comparatively speaking, San Jose's downtown area seems pretty nice to me. Not as nice as San Diego's, but definitely nicer than LA

All Dt San Diego has are the Gaslamp and the waterfront. The rest of downtown is a no go with the exception of Little Italy and maybe East Village during a game at Petco park, even though no one goes to the game there. It's a nice downtown but not all that great. It's nothing to write about.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by blue bird

Aren't those residential towers over 92 percent occupied already according to bloggers? Doesn't 92 percent consider as being filled?

From the latest SJ Downtown Dimensions report, it's about 96% occupied, with the Axis holding the largest number of available units (probably around 10% of their units are left available). City Heights are sold out. The 88 has 2 penthouses left. 360 Residences are fully rented except for a few units that they keep as spares.

Let's be honest though, it did take several years for the buildings to reach this point. I suppose without the recession, it would have been taken half the time. But it is what it is, and it's good to see well-heeled folks downtown.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by sjnative

What I really want to see for downtown is for more employers to rent office space. Now that, combined with more people living downtown, might result in people both living and working downtown, making DTSJ a real downtown!

That would bring DTSJ full circle from its <1950's abandonment to its >2000's reoccupation. I dare say, to see such a cycle of death and rebirth, however slow and incremental the rebirth, would be rather exciting.

I concur. We need more office works downtown, startups and whatnot. But it's kind of a "chicken and the egg" thing, so everything moves slowly, but at least it's trending upward.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by bsyde82

I think San Pedro Square, aesthetically, can attract a lot of people used to hanging out in the city, or places like DT mountain view, santana row, etc. Food quality could improve though, and I think it's just a reflection of the less sophisticated tastes when comparing to the food snob crowd that usually populates places in the city, and to a lesser extent, palo alto, MV, etc.

And I'm not even a foodie. In fact, they annoy me. But living in the city for a while makes it inevitable that you'll develop certain standards.

So in sum, you may get those people here, but the dining quality needs to improve for them to stick around. And I can already hear those who say, F them then and their snobbery. But they're the ones that spend on this kind of stuff, consistently. And consequently, they're the ones that sustain these types of developments.

Just my thoughts.

I agree with your assessment. Like I said, even up to about 2 years ago, the only reason I would go downtown is for the library, Xmas in the Park, the clubs/lounges, and the trails. I would not have gone there for "big occasion" dinners/lunches. Cheap eats are everywhere in the suburbs of San Jose, and I have no need to run into downtown for cheap eats.

But it's a chicken-and-egg thing. We don't have high-quality eats because we don't have enough well-heeled folks who go to downtown. But if we don't have high-quality eats, then we cannot attract those well-heeled folks. Sigh...such is the conundrum. A lot of high-end restaurants just cannot justify opening up in downtown when they think it's a very risky business. Cheap eats? Sure, but high-end? Not so sure.

That's why when the Market opened up, I didn't think it would last this long, nor would even be as half as successful as it is now. The Market has really surprised me. Granted, the food isn't high-end, but the concept is. And people came for the atmosphere, for the "experience", not necessarily for the food. But it worked! And it worked WELL!

Same with Original Gravity, Nemea, and Vyne. Those restaurants took a big risk in downtown last year with their high-end food/beer joints, and people DID come! So now Farmer's Union, SP2, Blackbird, ISO are riding their coattails and I hope they elevate the quality more than just being "mere followers".

[bsyde82]

I think Original Gravity is a place that would satisfy the more snobbish tastes. It looks nice and carries a legitimate beer list. More places like this would help. If only those old random (pawn shop looking?) businesses could be scrapped. It's just such an odd mish mash of old and new. It would help if they cleaned up the homeless situation a bit. I smelled at least three different whiffs of fresh urine while walking from the corner of santa clara and market to san fernando and 2nd.

As for the San Pedro Square food, I don't it necessarily needs high end. Just better quality than what they have now. Like for example, I was there a few weekends ago enjoying beers with some friends, and we got some nachos. Honestly, they were very subpar. Very very subpar. Good chips and salsa is not reserved for high-end. I'm not sure why this is. I'm thinking it's just going to be a slow evolution of sophistication.

I said this earlier, but I'll repeat. The San jose loan and savings building, now a gentleman's club, would do well to house a secondary market, maybe mixed food market/start up retail.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by bsyde82

I think Original Gravity is a place that would satisfy the more snobbish tastes. It looks nice and carries a legitimate beer list. More places like this would help. If only those old random (pawn shop looking?) businesses could be scrapped. It's just such an odd mish mash of old and new. It would help if they cleaned up the homeless situation a bit. I smelled at least three different whiffs of fresh urine while walking from the corner of santa clara and market to san fernando and 2nd.

As for the San Pedro Square food, I don't it necessarily needs high end. Just better quality than what they have now. Like for example, I was there a few weekends ago enjoying beers with some friends, and we got some nachos. Honestly, they were very subpar. Very very subpar. Good chips and salsa is not reserved for high-end. I'm not sure why this is. I'm thinking it's just going to be a slow evolution of sophistication.

I said this earlier, but I'll repeat. The San jose loan and savings building, now a gentleman's club, would do well to house a secondary market, maybe mixed food market/start up retail.

Definitely agree with you on OG. I think OG is still the number one spot for craft beer joint in downtown, if not the entire city of San Jose. They're basically Beer First, Beer Second, Everything Else Third. Likewise, Nemea is now the number one spot for fine dining in downtown, and would only have La Foret as its competition city-wide.

Are we talking about Lotteria Taco Bar? I thought it was quite good :P Maybe it was an off day for them? And yep, I think the food should be better but not necessarily high-end at the Market. We already have Santana Row, whose food aren't ALL THAT.

Your idea of mixed food market/start up retail will hopefully be fulfilled by that currently-renovating building next to Motif in SoFA Also, have you checked out Sperry Station on 3rd Street? They got a few neat and unique retails in there. I don't think there's any food, I hope they would put in a cool eatery or something in the future.

[jbunniii]

Originally Posted by bsyde82

I think Original Gravity is a place that would satisfy the more snobbish tastes. It looks nice and carries a legitimate beer list.

The beer scene is really picking up downtown in the last year or two. Just across the street from Original Gravity is Good Karma, which has a somewhat smaller but better (in my opinion) selection of beers, especially if you like Belgians. In the San Pedro Square market is the recently opened Market Beer Company, which has a large A+ selection of bottles and a handful of good taps. You can buy beer there and consume it anywhere in the market, or take the bottles to go. Just around the corner from there is Firehouse No. 1, which has a smaller but well chosen selection (and tasty burgers). And these are just the places I know about as a non-downtown resident.

[darkeconomist]

Now if only we could replace that parking lot (not the garage, the lot between San Pedro and N. Almaden) that divides SP Square with a park.

[bsyde82]

Originally Posted by darkeconomist

Now if only we could replace that parking lot (not the garage, the lot between San Pedro and N. Almaden) that divides SP Square with a park.

That lot between market and 1st (reserved for court employees? I don't know) could see some modification to reduce its footprint too. I mean, it's so much space right in downtown - can't they build a garage? the lot is never full.

[bobby_guz_man]

Centerra is breaking ground next Tuesday! Great bookend to this summer