Distinctive design will be key to San Jose’s future
Association presents The Pierce with Golden Nail award
For a city trying to shake a rep for bland architecture, it’s important to celebrate the structures in San Jose that at least try to break the mold. The Pierce apartments, which opened on the southern edge of downtown in February, does that in a big way — so it was well deserving of the Jim Fox Golden Nail award it received Friday.
The San Jose Downtown Association honor is named for the late Jim Fox, whose Saratoga Capital developed or restored many distinctive downtown buildings, including the Sainte Claire building that is home to Original Joe’s. This particular award hadn’t been presented since 2011, when the San Jose Marriott received it.
Steve Cox, CEO of HPC Architecture and the chair of the association’s Downtown Design Committee, noted that any development receiving the award bearing Fox’s name must “uplift the character of the neighborhood and add a new legacy for future downtowners to appreciate.” That doesn’t describe too many buildings that have come up in downtown San Jose lately.
However, the Pierce — designed by Steinberg and developed by Sares Regis — definitely is a distinctive addition to downtown’s arty SoFA District, especially with the eyecatching Voxel Cloud light sculpture on its roof. The sculpture is visible from Interstate 280 and design elements that pay homage to the businesses that previously existed on the site, including a Firestone store and Steinberg’s offices.
“This was a fun project,” said Steinberg CEO David Hart, who accepted the award with Sares Regis Construction Manager Sebastian Grillo. “We’re proud to be an integral part of downtown’s transformation. Let’s keep it going.”
And with more residential going up and the potential of Google’s big buildout near Diridon Station, the bolder design of buildings like the Pierce are just what San Jose needs to make its future a lot more interesting than its recent architectural past.
JINGLE ALL THE WAY >>
What do you call 5,000 Santa Clauses? I think a good group moniker would be a “sleigh,” but Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino would probably call it a pretty good turnout for the Santa Run Silicon Valley.
The sixth annual 5K run/walk — sponsored by Google and supporting Christmas in the Park, the Downtown Ice skating rink and literacy nonprofit Reading Partners — is set for the afternoon of Dec. 17, with runners — most dressed in Santa suits — heading out from Umpqua Bank on Santa Clara Street at 3 p.m. Once again, they’ll be chasing Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone, who’ll be in the pace car dressed as the Grinch. (With property taxes due Dec. 11, I’m sure some runners may try extra hard to catch him.)
There’ll also be a 2 p.m. “Reindeer Run” for kids ages 2-7, and the runners will be greeted with milk and cookies at the finish at Christmas in the Park. There’s still time to register at santarunsv.com.
MODEL FESTIVITIES >>
Republic Family of Companies built up good cheer at its annual holiday party at Forager Eatery & Bar in downtown San Jose on Thursday night. Republic’s Michael Van Every says it’s a great opportunity to have friends, families and colleagues in the biz celebrating the year together. And unlike some other Silicon Valley parties that have made the news, this party didn’t need to pay models to create “atmosphere.”
I doubt there were any paid models at Adobe’s big 35th anniversary party Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium. But they did have some pretty big names, including company founders John Warnock and Chuck Geschke and the pop band OneRepublic, which put on quite a show.
ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE >>
The December People’s annual Classic Rock Christmas tour is underway and arrives at the Campbell Heritage Theater on Thursday. The 8 p.m. show brings together rockers from bands including Boston, the Tubes and the Greg Kihn Band who perform classic holiday tunes in ’80s rock style.
Proceeds from the show will benefit Downtown Streets Team, which works to get homeless people off the street and into jobs and housing, and audience members are encouraged to bring donations of new socks to the concert, which will help keep the homeless warm this winter. Get tickets at streetsteam.org/decemberpeople.
BRIDGING THE GENERATION GAP >>
Last year, Gisela Bushey went from being director of the SanDisk Foundation to a job as director of civic engagement and development with San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo’s office. The move is already paying dividends for the city. Bushey’s program Critical Bridge recently earned the prestigious Judge’s Prize in a national competition for Generation to Generation, an initiative from national nonprofit Encore.org, which aims to help older adults pursue their “second act.”
The program matches mentors over age 50 with younger people just starting out. The mentors help the younger folks graduate high school, navigate college or a vocation and hit adulthood on solid footing. Critical Bridge works with San Jose Works and San Jose Promise, two public-private partnerships already supporting youth from low-income and first-generation families.
“The beauty of this program is that it can be integrated into existing workforce development and college access programs, quickly scaled to serve increasing numbers of participants, and replicated by mayors in cities and communities nationwide,” Bushey said.
DICKENS OF A SHOW >>
San Jose Youth Shakespeare is going on in-the-round adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic, “A Christmas Carol” on Sunday at the We and Our Neighbors Clubhouse at 15480 Union Ave. The 2 p.m. performance will feature 15 young actors playing about 30 characters. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or at www.youthshakes.org.
And, of course, the same show figures into a very happy holiday story for San Jose’s Northside Theatre Company, which opened its annual production of “A Christmas Carol” on Wednesday back at its home base, Olinder Theater.
Northside was washed out of the theater, which included its offices and equipment, following the Coyote Creek flood in February. It only got access back in time for the show thanks to a lot of heavy lifting on the part of the city, Northside supporters and its managing artistic director, Meredith King. The show, adapted by late Northside founder Richard T. Orlando, runs through Dec. 24. Get details and tickets at northsidetheatre.com.