SAN JOSE — For decades a zone of low-slung research-and-development buildings, North San Jose is being transformed into an urban transit village and tech hub.

City officials envision thousands of new housing units, millions of square feet of new office and research spaces and additional retail, restaurants and recreation spaces — all served by BART and light rail. Their hope is that North San Jose will become the bustling heart of Silicon Valley.

“North San Jose will become more of a place where you can live and also work, and a place that is much more walkable,” said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, who often is credited as the chief architect of the emerging, denser north side. “You can get people closer to work. They don’t have to drive as far.”

After nearly 10 years of planning and preparation, the first steps of the transformation of 5,000 acres in North San Jose are coming into view. The city’s economic development staff estimates that $2.8 billion worth of new projects are underway there or about to start.

City officials envision 26.7 million square feet of additional office and research space coming to North San Jose in the next 15 years, along with 32,000 more housing units, 2.7 million square feet of retail and 550 new hotel rooms.

The ambitious plan would add office space equivalent to the size of 10 to 15 Valley Fair shopping centers. It would increase office and research space on the north side by 58 percent, nearly double the amount of retail, raise the number of hotel rooms by 20 percent, and more than triple the number of residential units, according to city estimates.

But crucial to the city’s success in transforming North San Jose will be attracting high-profile companies. That effort recently got a boost when Samsung broke ground on what is expected to be an iconic campus on First Street near East Tasman Drive. The complex will be dominated by a pair of 10-story office towers and total 680,000 square feet.

That followed the move last year of Polycom, which relocated its headquarters from Pleasanton to a site near Highway 237 and Great America Parkway.

Samsung says its new campus will include both “urban” and “garden” areas. Set alongside the light-rail system, the campus will feature a large “city plaza” of stone pavers, water features and large-scale art elements. A “sports garden” will feature native trees, sports courts and clearings. About 2,000 Samsung employees are expected to work at the complex once it opens in 2015.

“The new campus will consolidate a number of Samsung organizations within one building, while helping to accommodate the rapid growth that we are planning in Silicon Valley,” said Chris Goodhart, a spokeswoman for Samsung. “This prime location will allow us to continue to draw from talent throughout Silicon Valley.”

Kim Walesh, San Jose’s director of economic development, said the new Samsung campus “is the perfect project to signal what the new North San Jose will be all about. It is dense, it is walkable, they are new-generation buildings.”

But the biggest game changer on the drawing boards for North San Jose is the proposal by realty firm Peery Arrillaga to develop a 2 million-square-foot complex of 10 buildings of seven stories each where up to 10,000 people could work.

“Peery Arrillaga is moving as fast as they can to prepare for this project,” the mayor said. “We think they will get their basic permits in January and start construction shortly thereafter.”

To encourage more projects and corporate expansions in North San Jose, city officials have slashed development fees, cut red tape for developers and are allowing higher density than was previously permitted.

In addition to new development, several builders, including Bixby Land, are renovating existing office properties that have attracted new tenants to North San Jose, including Nimble Storage.

“Higher density is the future, and if the demand is there, then it makes sense to build more in North San Jose,” said Chad Leiker, a vice president with realty firm Kidder Mathews. “San Jose is betting on light rail and on BART to really make this work.”

Little opposition to the build-out of North San Jose has emerged in recent years, although the neighboring towns of Santa Clara and Milpitas, along with Santa Clara County, sued San Jose in 2005 over the anticipated traffic congestion the new developments would create beyond San Jose’s borders. A 2007 settlement obliges San Jose to widen Montague Expressway, including sections in Santa Clara and Milpitas.

“The judge ruled cities have a responsibility to coordinate with each other and make a good-faith effort to mitigate impacts in other jurisdictions,” said San Jose Transportation Director Hans Larsen.

While that challenge was resolved, others remain. City Councilman Kansen Chu, whose District 4 includes North San Jose, said the area is caught in “kind of a chicken-and-egg game.”

He said the area needs more stores, shops and other retail businesses for it to be attractive to residents, and at the same time needs more residents to make the area attractive to retailers.

Another challenge is stiff competition for tech companies from Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Mountain View and Santa Clara. But San Jose officials hope the north side’s plentiful land will give the city an edge.

“The idea is to create a there there,” said Nanci Klein, San Jose’s deputy economic development director. “There should be a central place for Silicon Valley. And it makes sense for North San Jose to be the center of that.”

Contact George Avalos at 408-859-5167. Follow him at Twitter.com/georgeavalos.

中文版：

圣荷西， 数十年后， 随着大片的研发大楼的拔地而起， 北圣荷西将转变成一个都市化的交通城和科技之都。

市官方构想成千上万的新房屋， 数百万英尺的办公和研发场地以及另外的零售， 餐馆和休闲中心都会来到这里，全部都得益于、旧金山湾区捷运系统和轻轨。 他们希望的是被圣荷西将成为硅谷一个繁华热闹的中心地段。

北圣荷西将成为您生活和工作的绝佳的地点， 从住家到工作的地方，仅仅需要步行就可以完成” 圣荷西市长Chuck Reed说， 他被大家誉为北部新兴城市开发的总建筑师 “离工作的地点更近就不需要很长时间的车了“。

在将近数10年的计划和准备后， 第一步转变，约5000英亩的北圣荷西将初具规模。 城市的经济开发人员估计大约有价值20亿8千万美金的新项目会在此启动。

官方预估在接下来的15年内， 将有2670万英尺的办公及研发中心来到北圣荷西。 另外大概会有32000多的新住房， 270万英尺的零售及550的新酒店会进驻此地。

这个雄伟的计划将会增加相当于10到15倍等同大小的Valley Fair购物中心的办公场所。 增加北段58%的办公及研发场所。 将近两倍的零售， 扩大20%的酒店住房数量和三倍以上的住家房产。

北圣荷西的转变中， 对城市成功起到至关重要的因素还在于将吸引高利润公司进驻。 当三星集团决定落户，可能会在靠近East Tasman Drive的第一街建立影像园区的时候，全城都因此沸腾而激动。 这一综合体将会是一对10层高的写字楼，总共约68万的英尺面积

除三星公司外，全球一体化协作通讯领导者美国宝利通公司（Polycom），也在近日将总部从东湾的普莱森顿市移至圣荷西北部，靠近237高速和Great America Parkway的一个地址。

三星集团坦言新园区，沿线轻轨系统，园区将有设施一个大的”城市广场“，有石铺道， 喷水池和大范围的艺术成分。 一个”体育花园“ 拥有自然天成的绿树， 体育中心和清洁中心。 预计将在2015年竣工启动后，大约2000的三星员工会在此办公。

新园区将合并一些三星组织到一栋大楼。 我们计划到硅谷就是为了调解快速的发展需求” 三星的新闻发言人 Chris Goodhart说。 一个重要的地址将帮助我们继续勾画三星的雄伟蓝图。

Kim Waleshm 圣荷西经济开发部主管， 说三星集团园区“这是 一个完美的项目，代表了新北圣荷西未来的一切。” 她是密集型的，是步行可到的， 是一个新世代的建筑。

但是最大的勾画北圣荷西的游戏玩家是地产公司Peery Arrillaga的一个提案， 该提案将开发200万平方英尺的10栋7层楼的综合建筑， 到时将有10000人在此上班

市长说， Peery Arrillaga将会尽最快的速度准备这个项目， 我们觉得他们会在一月份拿到基本的允许，之后马上开始建造过程。

为了鼓励更多的项目和公司进驻北圣荷西， 城市官方大幅削减了开发费用， 免去了开发商的繁琐程序，并且允许展开高密度地开发项目。

除了新开发项目， 一些建筑商， 包括Bixby Land，正在翻新目前的办公地产， 目的是为了吸引新北圣荷西租客。 同时也包括Nimble Storage.

高密度住宅是未来圣荷西北部发展的趋势。该市有便捷的轻轨和捷运系统，已经为人口密集化做好了准备。Kidder Mathews房产公司的副总裁这样说。

在北圣荷西开发外建的过程中， 最近几年也有一些反对的声音涌现。 尽管附近的城镇Santa Clara 和Milpitas， 还有Santa Clara县， 曾在2005年，起诉圣荷西超越了预期的交通拥堵现象。在2007年，一项提案又反对圣荷西扩充至Montague Expressway,包括Santa Clara和Milpitas的交界处。

圣荷西的交通主任Hans Laren说”判官有责任去支配城市相互之间调和，从友善角度，减小对其他辖区的影响”

虽然挑战是解决了， 但是其他的问题仍然还存在。 市议员朱感生说， 她的第4去包括北圣荷西， 这里将会是一个“鸡跟蛋的游戏类型”

他说这里需要更多的商铺，餐馆和零售企业才能吸引更多的居民入住。 同时， 也需要更多的居民来吸引零售商的加入。

另外一个挑战是来自 Palo  Alto, Sunnyvale, Mountain View和Santa Clara的高科技公司的严峻挑战。 但是圣荷西官方希望北段的富足的土地能提供城市一个优势

“想法就是去开发出来” Nanci Klein 圣荷西的经济开发副主管说“硅谷必须有一个中心区域， 北圣荷西成为这个中心是理所当然的。

Source: www.mercurynews.com