Why San Jose is the New Place To Be
When Cara Douglas started working in the San Jose economic development office two years ago, downtown had fewer than 80 high-tech companies; now there are 110. With that growth, the city is getting ready to launch a brand-new campaign to drum up interest. Cara, the brains behind the project, tells us brokers and developers have been craving more ways to market San Jose, including a collateral suite of materials, and the new website launching at the end of the month will include Loopnet features and the ability to search for development opportunities and demographics. The office projects 40% growth by 2040.
We also chatted with economic development office downtown manager Lee Wilcox, who filled us in on San Jose's new high-rise development incentive approved at the end of 2014. Developers that build downtown's next office skyscraper can save up to $1.5M in fees for a project. He thinks interest will start ramping up in a few months, as vacancy still needs to come down and rents need to come up.
Downtown is already seeing lots of high-rise residential development (the 396-unit Centerra project recently topped off) and the city team thinks adding high-rise office space is crucial for balancing out the number of jobs and residents. The office claims one in four of Apple's employees live in San Jose vs. one in eight in S.F. Above, the view from the eco devo office's 17th floor; somewhere out there is Samsung's new HQ rising by the day.
San Jose's got about 100M SF of office, R&D and manufacturing space, with a citywide development capacity of more than 200M SF. That leaves a lot of room for shovel activity. Here's a sneak peek at a brochure the office will be circulating.
Last night San Jose welcomed new Mayor Sam Liccardo at the sold-out inauguration at the Center for the Performing Arts. Cara says the fourth-generation local should be good for bringing new business to San Jose. The four-mile circumference around downtown contains a whopping 50% of San Jose's population, so she hopes to market that radius. Sam is calling San Jose the new "global gateway" to the US.
