Owners of the former Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, rebranded as Signia by Hilton last year, are planning to sell off about a third of the hotel’s guest rooms. Depending on what a potential buyer does with the property, some city boosters said the change could be a positive one for the downtown area, though...
San Jose loans millions to build affordable apartments
San Jose is chipping in $25 million toward an affordable housing project proposed just south of downtown, which officials and advocates said is desperately needed as the city struggles to provide homes for its lower-income residents. The San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved loaning $21.35 million to Berkeley-based affordable housing nonprofit Resources for Community Development to...
UPDATE: Senior housing tower heads to San Jose City Council
The San Jose Planning Commission has given a stamp of approval to a developer seeking to gut a historic building downtown, and put up a high-rise apartment building for older adults. Despite some concerns about a lack of parking in the project, and the fate of existing businesses who will be pushed out of their...
Google could delay millions in San Jose community funds
Time is money, and in Silicon Valley, that saying is exceedingly true. So when news got out that Google could postpone construction on its highly-anticipated San Jose megacampus, it raised eyebrows and concerns. At stake is roughly 25,000 jobs and $155 million for a community fund that will be used to pay for education, job...
Downtown San Jose theater faces final curtain call
A San Jose art institution in downtown is closing its curtains later this year. The Tabard Theatre is closing indefinitely on April 2, according to Jonathan Rhys Williams, executive artistic director of the Tabard Theatre Company. “After three years of battling increasing costs, decreasing ticket sales and the ongoing effects of a global pandemic, we are...
Business leader sees vibrant future for downtown San Jose
From Germany, to the City of Angels, to the Biggest Little City in the World and now to the Heart of Silicon Valley, Alex Stettinski has seen a lot of downtowns, and he thinks he can help fix San Jose’s. The new head of the San Jose Downtown Association has about four months under his...
Tech layoffs won’t hurt downtown San Jose
Recent tech layoffs likely won’t prevent downtown San Jose from becoming a thriving commercial and residential hub. But uncertainty around remote work culture and lengthy timelines for completing major transit and development projects could spell years more struggle for the area and its businesses. Three regional experts said while tech company layoffs have captured big...
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Struggling artists squeezed out of San Jose
An exorbitant rent increase is about to break apart a longtime artist enclave in downtown San Jose. Roughly six dozens artists at Citadel Art Studios at the corner of Martha and Fifth streets were sent into a scramble last month when their landlord, R&C Brown, announced rent hikes of 100% or more in some instances, starting...
VTA to push out San Jose property owners for BART extension
The Valley Transit Authority will move forward with its plan to force out the owners and tenants of two buildings in downtown San Jose to make room for the future BART extension. In a meeting this week, VTA’s board of directors voted to allow the agency to assume ownership of the buildings on East Santa...
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UPDATE: San Jose nonprofit raises six figures for proposed landmark
Three years after unveiling an ambitious proposal to build a world-class landmark in Silicon Valley, organizers on Tuesday raised $170,000 to bring the plan one step closer to reality. Leaders from Urban Confluence Silicon Valley, the nonprofit behind the project, also announced this week the proposed landmark in downtown San Jose will now include a...