For groups planning to meet in Silicon Valley, some serious new projects are looming on the horizon. One can easily grasp the bigger picture and see how a football stadium and a new convention center should amplify meetings business in this part of the world. San Jose and Santa Clara both have much to rave about, while farther up the peninsula, Palo Alto and Menlo Park continue to be time-tested destinations that provide all the mystique necessary for the Silicon Valley experience.
San Jose
With the long-overdue expansion of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center debuting this month, San Jose is entering a new era. A brand-new building will add an additional 125,000 square feet of space, including a new 35,000-square-foot ballroom on the second floor. The original building was remodeled on the inside, the entrance and foyer was converted into modern networking areas, and a work of interactive public art will adorn the entire front plaza outside.
Unfolding simultaneously, every major hotel brand—Marriott, Fairmont, Wyndham and Hyatt to name a few—either recently went through a renovation or is about to embark on a new overhaul of some sort. In the immediate vicinity of the convention center, new independent restaurants are opening at a pace unusual for San Jose (see sidebar, page 19). As if that wasn’t enough, next year, the San Jose Earthquakes Major League Soccer franchise will open a new 18,000-seat stadium near Mineta San Jose International Airport, adding yet another large venue equipped with numerous suites and corporate spaces.
Regarding the convention center expansion, Meghan Horrigan, director of communications for Team San Jose, the city’s CVB, says it’s about time.
“We can now attract bigger conferences and bigger events,” Horrigan says. “But in addition to that, we can now program two events at the same time. We’re able to not only keep our current clients that want to continue to expand in San Jose, but also have an opportunity to secure new business that has not thought of San Jose in the past. Now we’re on their radar.”
The design of the new building will incorporate outdoor street-level areas that merge into the main plaza. Upstairs by the new ballroom, an outdoor balcony will allow for still more breakout and networking areas. What’s more, the new building will offer flexible exhibit and meeting spaces, a serious deficiency in the original building.
“It’s an exciting time to be here,” Horrigan said.PageBreak
Santa Clara
With Levi’s Stadium, the brand-new 68,000-capacity home of the San Francisco 49ers, set to open across the street from the Santa Clara Convention Center next year, business in the “Mission City” will undergo a radical transformation. The 50th Super Bowl will take place here in February 2016, for example.
David Andre, vice president of marketing and communications for the Santa Clara CVB, emphasizes that the convention center already presents unique, site-specific possibilities. Centrally located and also across the street from California’s Great America Theme Park, the facility was once named “Best Event Venue” by the Silicon Valley Concierge Association.
“It’s also unique because it sits adjacent to the 18-hole Santa Clara Golf & Tennis Club and is connected to the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara,” Andre says. “In addition, the center’s 31 breakout rooms, three ballrooms, 100,000-square-foot, column-free exhibit hall and 607-seat theater consistently rank high in customer service, according to client surveys. Most unique is the beautiful 22,400-square-foot Mission City Ballroom that can be used in multiple configurations for a variety of meetings or events.”
The 107-suite Townhouse Suites by Marriott will open later this year, right next to the Embassy Suites, giving Santa Clara another hotel in the immediate vicinity of the stadium, the convention center and the theme park. In the latter’s case, Great America now boasts the Gold Striker, the tallest and fastest wooden roller coaster in Northern California.
Andre says all bodes well for Santa Clara in both the short term and the long term.
“Business is trending higher as Santa Clara’s name recognition increases,” Andre explains. “We are seeing more and more interest in the Santa Clara Convention Center and our full service hotels. Groups continue to come to Santa Clara for the outstanding customer service we provide, and in addition, [they] want to experience the excitement of having a meeting or event at the location of the upcoming Super Bowl 50.” PageBreak
Palo Alto/Menlo Park
Halfway between San Jose and San Francisco, one finds the historical heart of Silicon Valley, the area of Palo Alto and Menlo Park. It is here where much of the innovation emerged in the decades before, during and after the PC revolution. Even today, giants like Google, Facebook and Apple occupy land in the area.
The Four Seasons Hotel Silicon Valley at East Palo Alto defines the cultural mystique of the area. High-level corporate mergers or takeovers have unfolded within its hallowed suites and boardrooms. For meetings and groups, the property emphasizes a distraction-free setting, all the way down to the individual breakout rooms. Attendees can swill cocktails with C-level executives at Quattro, the hotel’s epicurean restaurant, or take advantage of complimentary sedan service to Palo Alto’s business core, just a few miles away.
The neighboring community of Menlo Park, also steeped in Silicon Valley inventive lore, lays claim to the Rosewood Hotel Sand Hill. Located behind Stanford University, the Rosewood sets groups in the middle of Silicon Valley’s venture capital row, Sand Hill Boulevard. Both Menlo Park and Palo Alto are effective jumping-off points for the numerous wineries located in the nearby Santa Cruz Mountains, as well as the pristine scenery of Stanford University.
“The vibe of Silicon Valley is creativity and being on the cutting edge of all that is new,” says Anne LeClair, president and CEO, San Mateo County/Silicon Valley CVB, which handles Palo Alto and Menlo Park. “Which is good because that creative vibe carries over to corporate meetings. Planners like to bring groups here for that reason.”
Gary Singh is a San Jose-based freelance writer.
