SAN JOSE — A curving pavilion that’s an eye-catching structure in downtown San Jose was a focal point in a crowded SoFA district block party, the second such recent event designed to spur activities in the city’s urban core.
Numerous visitors strolled along First Street in downtown San Jose during a block party on June 22 that was spurred by two real estate entrepreneurs and the Urban Vibrancy Institute.
Development entrepreneurs Gary Dillabough and Jeff Arrillaga, principal executives and co-founders of San Jose-based real estate firm Urban Community have teamed up with the urban vibrancy group to launch a series of block parties in the city’s downtown.
The first block party, in May, drew packed crowds to San Jose’s Fountain Alley area and historic district.
This second block party stretched along South First Street, primarily between San Carlos Street and the arts and crafts area where First and Market streets intersect.
“We are trying to move forward one step at a time,” Dillabough said in comments he texted to this news organization in connection with the efforts to help bring more activities and revitalization to downtown San Jose as the area attempts to rebound from its COVID-linked maladies. “It won’t happen overnight but we will get there.”
Restaurants, drinking establishments, the food court and shops at SoFA Market, a pop-up night market at the triangular Parque De Los Pobladores at First and Market and the Serpentine Pavilion were the primary draws for this second block party.
One of the features that drew visitors, musical performances and artists was a rare opportunity to wander through the curving Serpentine Pavilion that has risen at 350 South First Street.
The Serpentine Pavilion is a shape-shifter of an events center that Canada-based development firm Westbank set up in downtown San Jose. Westbank, a high-profile developer with a global reach, is the patron of the unique structure.
Roughly 1,800 fiberglass hollow cubes comprise the Serpentine Pavilion. The curving structure is like a cave with two entrances, and the open cubes make it possible to see into and look out from the pavilion.
The Serpentine Pavilion has become an international traveling exhibition. Its stops have included London’s Kensington Gardens and Toronto. Westbank came up with the idea of sending the pavilion on a global tour. The structure can be assembled and then taken apart to enable its tours.
San Jose is the current stop. City officials and Westbank executives had hoped the Serpentine Pavilion will be the focal point of an exhibition to help activate the SoFA district by providing free programs for the public as well as private events. Famed architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group designed the pavilion, which landed in San Jose in 2021.
Yet for various reasons, the Serpentine Pavilion has opened to the public just twice. Once was in August 2022 during the Cinequest Film & VR Festival. The other time was last week, during the SoFA block party.
Certainly, San Jose officials and Westbank have high hopes for the Serpentine Pavilion.
“The exhibition will help create a more complete community in the downtown area by activating a parking lot with a temporary pedestrian-oriented use providing arts and entertainment experiences,” a city staff report issued in 2021 stated. “It will support the development of downtown as an arts, cultural, and entertainment center.”
Among the obstacles to a consistent run of events within and next to the Serpentine Pavilion: the coronavirus outbreak, a feeble reopening of downtown San Jose after government-ordered business shutdowns began in 2020, a sluggish office market, the lagging efforts by Team San Jose to attract conventions downtown and long stretches of lousy weather.
Meanwhile, more block parties are planned, according to Dillabough.
San Pedro Square is scheduled to host a block party in July and Little Italy is slated to be a block party venue in August, he said.
“This is all about creating critical mass and momentum,” Dillabough said. “We have to be consistent and drive hard. We need everyone in the boat rowing.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com