Office of Economic Development + Cultural Affairs
Business Development Division
Activities Report
Community and Economic Development
Committee
April 22, 2024
Item (d)1
Blage Zelalich, Deputy Director
Victor Farlie, Small Business Team Lead
Nathan Donato-Weinstein, Downtown Manager Emprendéte 2024 at School of Arts and Culture Helping Small Businesses Thrive: Tools to Grow Your
Online Presence & Manage Your Finances – May 2023
OEDCA’s Business Development Division
strengthens San José’s economy through
outreach, collaboration, development
facilitation, economic analysis, and
communications.
New structure to serve multiple segments of
the City’s business community effectively and
improve San José’s position as an attractive
place to invest and do business.
10 permanent, 5 time-limited staff focused on:
Small Business and
Neighborhood Commercial Corridors
Downtown
Corporate Outreach/Development Facilitation
Business Development Division | Who We Are & What We Do 2 -13.5%
Change in
job postings
for San José
metro,
April 2023-
March 2024
+6.8%
Consumer
spending,
compared to
January
2020, Santa
Clara
County
+2.4%
Bay Area
CPI, Feb.
2024
Business Ecosystem Vital Signs |
23%
Citywide
office
vacancy rate
13.5%
Citywide
R&D
vacancy rate
2.4%
Citywide
industrial
vacancy rate
5%*
Citywide
retail
vacancy rate
Real Estate Indicators
4.5%
Citywide
unemployment
Rate
427,000
Total jobs based
in San José,
June 2023
~60,000
Businesses with
1+ employee and
registered with
the City
+17%
Increase in
sales tax
above preCOVID
levels (Q4)
WARN layoff
notices in past
12 months
2,897
Sources: Cushman & Wakefield/CoStar (CRE data) as of Q4 2023; tracktherecovery.org, Lightcast, Calif. EDD, work2future, CDTFA, City of San Jose Department of Finance 3 | Neighborhood Commercial Corridors
4 Investment in Underserved
Business Districts
Enhanced Business Association Coordination
Annual Operating Plan
Regular cycle of meetings
Consultant assistance
Strategically Launching New Business Associations
Expanded from 4 to 9 neighborhoods;
working in a total of 12 business districts.
New Improvement Districts on Monterey Road,
Tully Road & The Alameda for City Council
consideration in late 2024.
| Small Business & Neighborhood
Commercial Corridors
Eastridge Mall
Annual Business Association Partners Retreat, March 2024 5 Strengthening the
Small Business Ecosystem
Small Business Advisory Committee
Access to capital
Neighborhood business corridors
Business advice
Permitting
Resource and Networking Events
May 2023: Tools to Grow Your Online
Presence and Manage Your Finances
November 2023: Exploring Entrepreneurship
January 2024: Emprendéte 2024
“Holiday San José” Campaign
300+ unique places to shop, dine, and
explore featured.
13,500 page visits, a 460% increase over
last year.
| Small Business & Neighborhood
Commercial Corridors
6 Improving Services
to Business Owners
Expanding Technical Assistance
New contracts with the Enterprise Foundation,
Latino Business Foundation and Prosperity
Lab delivering a variety of assistance to over
500 businesses.
New Legal Services
Service with Elevate Community launches
in May.
Enhancing the BusinessOwnersSpace network
Revamp of the website and digital tools to
focus on new services and enhanced
collaboration.
Enhanced Communication
Leveraged 5K+ email subscribers and social
media to connect people to free business
trainings.
| Small Business & Neighborhood
Commercial Corridors
7 Targeted Investment
Where It's Most Needed
Business Grants
416 grants totaling over $2.7M
111 Storefront grants, 248 Rent Relief grants
and 57 District 8 Recovery grants.
Current Storefronts waitlist up to $350,000.
Cannabis Equity Program
100% participant completion of Business
Academy.
$1M State grant secured for next phase of
program.
New partnership with Meriwest CDFI
planned for June.
| Small Business & Neighborhood
Commercial Corridors
District 8 Business Grant Check Distribution – September 2023 8 Business Development Activity
19,600
Business clients assisted through
BusinessOwnerSpace collaborative
Of businesses who
received Storefronts
Activation grant in
last 7 years who
remain open.
3x
with OEDCA social media
content than industry average
Higher
engagement
32 BizWalks in SJ
commercial
corridors/centers
11 Neighborhood
business districts
promoted
through Holiday
San José
campaign
96%
$
Amount disbursed to
1.3M
San José businesses
via rent relief grants
Business owners assisted by the City's
Small Business Ally (June 2023-Feb. 2024)
1,650
9 Business Development Activity
~500
Business
meetings
per year $2.90:$1
Ratio of revenue to
spend, OED Business
Development Outreach
~4,200
Jobs retained/attracted
per year Participants in
Foreign Trade
Zone #18
11 $6.2B
Value of exports by
participating FTZ
companies
/
90 Businesses
assisted through
development
facilitation
officer
10 Helping Medium and Large-Sized
Companies Succeed in San José
Active Engagement
200 corporate/investor representative meetings
Bridge to additional resources
Facilitating CHIPS Act investment
Foreign Trade Zone expansion
Nurturing the Manufacturing Sector
National Manufacturing Week activities
Corporate Roundtables
Expansion of FlexFactor curriculum
Youth internships
| Corporate Outreach
Procept Biorobotics’ Facility Opening - September 2023 11 Office, Industrial, R&D Leasing and Move-Ins
121
Ongoing Support Through
Policy Work and Facilitation
Entitlement and Permit Facilitation
IBM
Renesas
Urban Catalyst
Westbank
Jay Paul Company
Westfield
IBM
Supermicro
Infinera
Adobe
Tesla
Lucid
Del Grande Group
| Development Facilitation
Manufacturing Week Tour at Nevarez Machining – October 2023 Pacific Companies
Affirmed Housing
County Housing
Authority
Community
Development Partners
Charities Housing
CORE Companies
Eden Housing
Milestone Housing
Adobe Founder’s Tower
Policy Initiatives
Cost of Development
Downtown Highrise Incentive
Fiscalization of Land Use
13 Downtown Vibrancy
Pop-Up Retail Program: Five
storefronts secured; three to open in May
Downtown Resource Guide - Developed,
designed and began deploying
Continuing Partnership with San José
State to boost downtown presence
Coordination and beautification efforts
for NVIDIA GTC.
| Downtown
Fountain Alley – Historic District 14
Business Development Division
Deputy Director
Blage Zelalich
Downtown
Nathan Donato-Weinstein - Manager
Chris Arkley
Small Business & Neighborhood
Commercial Corridors
Vic Farlie - Lead
Karina Dominguez Jessica Munoz
Salvador Alvarez Adolfo Ruelas
Jiawei Tang
Corporate Outreach/Development Facilitation
Joe Hedges
Joe Sordi
Economic Analysis and Communications
Bige Yilmaz
Carlos Velazquez
15 Office of Economic Development + Cultural Affairs
Business Development Division
Activities Report
Community and Economic Development
Committee
April 22, 2024
Item (d)1
Blage Zelalich, Deputy Director
Victor Farlie, Small Business Team Lead
Nathan Donato-Weinstein, Downtown Manager Emprendéte 2024 at School of Arts and Culture 16