SAN JOSE — San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan thinks bringing unique experiences to downtown San Jose will pave the path to full recovery from coronavirus-spawned economic maladies.
Mahan offered the assessment Thursday evening while visiting a “block party” in the Fountain Alley section of downtown’s historic district.
“We are seeing a real rebound in downtown San Jose, and it’s being driven by what I like to call the experience economy,” Mahan said in an interview with this news organization during the block party.
The block party was the first of a series of such monthly events being held around the city’s urban core this spring, summer and fall to encourage economic activity in downtown San Jose.
Many office workers remain absent from San Jose’s urban core as well as many downtown districts nationwide and in the Bay Area, which has forced the South Bay’s largest city to scramble to find ways to replace that traditional source of economic activity.
“People are hungry for community, they want opportunities to gather face-to-face and enjoy unique experiences together,” Mahan said.
The balm for downtown San Jose’s lingering post-COVID afflictions might include experiences such as comedy clubs, live theaters, performance halls, restaurants, nightclubs and unique venues such as Urban Putt, a miniature golf outlet that has been open for a few months in the Paseo de San Antonio.
“Downtown is open for business,” San Jose City Councilmember Omar Torres, whose district includes the downtown, said during the block party.
The Urban Vibrancy Institute is organizing the block parties in different neighborhoods. The first one was in Fountain Alley near South First Street, East Santa Clara Street, South Second Street and East San Fernando Street. Other block parties are slated to occur in the SoFA district, San Pedro Square, Paseo de San Antonio, Little Italy, and at City Hall.
“This event is going to help 65 businesses here in the historic district,” Gary Dillabough, a partner with real estate firm Urban Community and an active developer in downtown San Jose, said during the Fountain Alley block party.
“This is a strategic investment toward economic growth when we hold these events,” said Leah Toeniskoetter, president and chief executive officer of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.
The Urban Vibrancy Institute and San Jose political and business leaders hope that safety, cleanliness and more engaging activities and venues will be the keys to success in the downtown in the absence of many office workers.
Plus, it’s also possible that heightened economic activity in downtown San Jose might also help to improve safety in the urban core.
“We are part of the safety component” for the downtown, San Jose Acting Police Chief Paul Joseph said during the block party. “We know that bringing more of the community into our downtown means less demand for our services.”
Visits to downtown San Jose have soared over the last year, providing a welcome counterpoint to the forbidding economic trends that bedeviled the Bay Area in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Downtown San Jose is is seeing an uptick,” Torres, the councilmember, said. “We are recovering.”
Oakland’s downtown also saw a jump in visitors — but San Francisco stumbled with a plunge in visitors.
San Jose’s 28.2% jump in downtown visits ranked eighth in North America, according to a new School of Cities report produced by the University of Toronto, which analyzed cell phone data to determine visitor totals in 64 downtown districts in the U.S. and Canada.
“Momentum is being driven by placemakers and facilitating those unique social experiences that people want to enjoy,” Mahan said, “especially after the pandemic.”
