You haven’t heard from me lately because I’ve been out of town for a couple of weeks. When I got back, probably the best thing waiting for me in the stack of accumulated mail (alongside the pile of bills) was the latest newsletter from PAC*SJ, the Preservation Action Council of San Jose.

The Fall 2008 newsletter (PDF) is exactly the kind of thing I joined PAC*SJ for. It has an update on the organization’s efforts to work with the SJ redevelopment agency to make a survey of the city’s mid-century buildings as they begin to achieve historic status, notes from a meeting on the fate of Mountain View’s historic Hangar 1 blimp hangar, a list of endangered historic buildings, and articles on the former San Jose Martin Luther King Library and on Brutalist and Googie style buildings in the San Jose area.

Most importantly, the city of San Jose is planning to demolish the 1970 Martin Luther King, Jr., library building. Although many people would currently think of this building as merely dated and not historical, in fact there’s several reasons to think we’ll regret it if we demolish the building. It was the largest public building constructed by the city when it opened, and is an example of the brutalist style that was prevalent during a period of major growth for the city. For a more detailed argument for saving this building, see the newsletter.

If you’re interested in preserving San Jose’s (and the South Bay’s) architectural history, you should consider supporting PAC*SJ by taking an affordable membership, or at least check out their newsletter.

A proposed property development at the corner of N 15th St and Berryessa Rd has caught the attention of nnasj, and was also a discussion topic at tonight’s 13th Street Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting. The property owner wants to demolish five homes, currently rental units, and build in their place four new detached homes.

The property currently contains two Spanish-style bungalows, one of which has three attached apartments. The courtyard between the two buildings is paved and used for parking. The three apartments look to be incredibly small, maybe only one or two rooms each, and built with minimal architectural detail at minimum cost. The two bungalows, though, presumably are considerably older, and have the kind of style that would make them terrifically desirable if they were only freshly painted and located in Willow Glen.

The owner wants to knock all of that down and replace it with four contemporary two-story houses. In a neighborhood dominated by bungalows, the planning department have somehow concluded that the impact of this change on the “existing visual character or quality of the site and its surroundings” would be “less than significant”, which is at least a highly debatable conclusion.
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I get the willies* when I go by 1009 W. San Carlos at Lincoln and see Coconut Willie’s. It has looked like this since August 15th of 2004. A two-alarm fire shut down the cocktail lounge when it suffered an estimated $650,000 in damages. Back then the San Jose Fire Department offered a $500 reward for information. Has that amount been adjusted for inflation?

It was reported that then owner Ron Lucatelli would reopen within 6 months. I would be interested in knowing if Mr. Lucatelli still owns the property; if so does he have plans to rebuild. My attempts to reach Mr. Lucatelli have gone unanswered. Is the City of San Jose OK with this mess?

*willies - 1896, “spell of nervousness,” perhaps from the woollies,

All employees were evacuated without harm as firefighters brought a three-alarm fire at Apple’s Cupertino campus under control. The fire on Valley Green Drive was reported just after 10pm Tuesday night.

As of tonight (August 6th 2008) we can keep an eye on the San Jose Planning Commission. Meetings will be broadcast live on Comcast Cable channel 26 and online.

Meetings are held approximately every two weeks. Check the city website for time and date.

Tonight at: 6:30 pm - San Jose City Website - Look for Upcoming Events In the yellow Currently in Session box - click Planning Commission.

The Navy just announced that they would not demolish the historic Bay Area landmark. The toxic siding will be removed leaving only the steel shell intact.

A special thanks to the ‘Save Hangar One Committee‘.

Hangar One

I have not been on a plane since the late 60s and therefore not known as an airport connoisseur, but I do believe that arriving travelers will find the design of our new Terminal B pleasing. In San Jose, this translates to: I hope no one ridicules it.

After all, there are enough chuckles over the two extraordinarily large, steep, and ugly staircases recently added to each end of Terminal A. The stairs are emergency exits. Imagine the announcement: Please proceed to the nearest stairway - while taking care not to break your neck on your descent.

Some good news for SJC business travelers: Free Wi-Fi is now available (excluding Terminal A baggage area) in both Terminals. The bad news is that the Wi-Fi is not assessable in all areas. An airport official informed me that the off site ‘cell phone waiting area’ located on Airport Boulevard east of 87 would not be included.

In the weekend edition of the Morgan Hill Times, is a comment to the paper’s hotline about the vacant Target building at Cochrane Rd and US-101. The building is an 80,000 sq ft facility, now vacant since Target moved to the massive shopping center on the eastern side of US-101. One by one the businesses in the center see less traffic, relocate, or close altogether because of the absence of the traffic brought in by Target. It’s not surprising, however, that the new Target Center (complete with Circuit City, Staples, Men’s Wearhouse, Petco, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Quiznos, Chili’s and soon a nine screen theater) is the major draw in the area of Cochrane Road.

The question asked of the Times ‘Red Phone’ column is, “Why not Whole Foods?” Whole Foods is a good, healthy (and social) fit for this town. Forget that Wal-Mart claims to be bringing a more ‘upscale’ version of its store. There’s still quite a cultural gap between Wal-Mart and Whole Foods Market.

So, why not Whole Foods?

The answer is depressing and complicated.

The explanation from the Times explains the desire of Whole Foods to be here, and much of that is determined by demographic and psychographic profiles. The math involved points to about 50,000 people within a five mile radius of the market, but that’s not good enough– Whole Foods may want that density in a one mile radius.

This is complicated because of the vast amount of open space and farmland in the area.

Trade Joe’s encountered the same situation, being begged to come here. Eventually, TJ’s did make it, and is located right off of US-101 on Dunne Avenue.

So, for all the restrictions on growth to preserve a natural environment, the return is that to sustain some business and income is by bringing in yet another big box retailer. On the other hand, when Morgan Hill turned down the type of retail presence now dominated by Gilroy to the south, all the tax dollars went–guess where?– not here. Most of the time, to get any real shopping done, I find myself driving either 12 miles south to Gilroy, or 12 miles north to south San Jose.

A perplexing situation?

photo under creative commons license, That Other Paper

Inadvertently contributing to the celebration of National Library Week, as noted by my fellow Metblogs San Jose cohort, Gary Wiens, I figured now would be a good time to share the status of the demolition of Santa Teresa Branch of the San Jose Public Library.

In 1984, I was 12 years old, and clearly remember the opening of the Santa Teresa library–a bright, shiny facility located on International Circle, by the Kaiser Santa Teresa Hospital. Covering nearly 14,000 sq ft., it was the haven for working on many school projects. It was a surprise for me to see the library being torn down, before I had a chance to dig up some facts about the demolition.

The $13.6 million dollar Santa Teresa Library reconstruction project began with the its closing in late 2007, with demolition beginning in March of this year. The expected opening date for the new facility is June of 2009. The Branch Library Bond Measure, of which Santa Teresa is the 15th project, was approved by voters in 2000, which provides $212 million dollars over 10 years for new and upgraded libraries in San Jose. This new library is designed by STUDIOS Architecture in San Francisco, and is managed by BRCO Constructors of Loomis, CA.

Notable changes to the new library which, will be built on the same spot on International Circle, include an increase of computers from 13 to 33-40; seating increased from 48 to 122-156; group study and storytelling areas (previously lacking in the old library) ranging from 20-39 seats; and an increase in parking of roughly 20 more spaces. source: SJLibrary.org

More pictures of the demolition (click to zoom):

images: Eric Rice, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google Maps, STUDIOS Architecture

Have you wondered what they are building on the southeast corner of Sand Hill Road and Interstate 280?  Well I have and since they didn’t put up a big sign announcing their plans, I had to go look for myself.

“Who’da thunk it?”  Stanford University is in the hotel business. Rosewood Hotels will operate the 120-room hotel, restaurant, ballroom, spa, and office space. It should be completed by 2009.