NextSpace expands in San Jose
NextSpace is opening its second San Jose location in the Chamber of Commerce building. Following on from WeWork taking space on Santa Clara Street, and NextSpace taking its original home in the city, San Jose is creating a downtown "co-working corridor." NextSpace has earmarked 7,000 sq ft at the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber, which will feature small offices, a kitchen, conference facilities, and an event area. New applications are being taken from 1 October.

The San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce will be getting a lot of new tenants soon. Part of its downtown San Jose building will become the second San Jose location for NextSpace, the co-working outfit that rents out space to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

With WeWork moving into several floors of 75 E. Santa Clara St. and NextSpace’s original home on Second and San Fernando filled, it seems the city’s dream of creating a downtown “co-working corridor” is becoming a reality.

Chamber CEO Matt Mahood says a partnership with NextSpace is a natural opportunity for the business-oriented group to support the innovation economy in Silicon Valley and especially in downtown San Jose.

NextSpace Silicon Valley at the SJSV Chamber will take up a 7,000 square-foot space in the chamber’s building on the corner of Market and Santa Clara Streets. The new space will be taking applications Oct. 1, but some NextSpace founding members have already begun to fill the space, which will include small offices, a kitchen, conference rooms and an event area.

NextSpace was launched in Santa Cruz in 2008 and expanded to San Jose in 2011 and reached capacity there that fall. The date for an open house in October hasn’t been announced yet, but anyone interested in finding out more can email siliconvalley@nextspace.us.

READY FOR TURKEY TROT: It’s still August, but Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino is already thinking about Thanksgiving. Of course, that’s because of the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, the Thanksgiving morning race that was started in 2005 to give local nonprofits a holiday boost.

That first year drew 1,900 runners and walkers and raised $132,000 for charity, beating expectations on both counts. “This year, our goal is 28,000 participants because we want to give a million dollars back,” Guardino said.

Last year’s race had 24,901 registrants and brought in $936,000, bringing the fundraising total for the first 11 years to more than $5.9 million. Another good reason to think about the Nov. 24 race now: Registration for the 5K and 10K runs is $40 but goes up Sept. 1. Visit www.svturkeytrot.com for details.

REMEMBERING GENE WILDER: The death of actor Gene Wilder brought back a fond memory for Brian Adams, the vice president of advancement at Bellarmine College Prep, of seeing a sneak preview screening of “The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother” at one of San Jose’s Century domes in 1975.

“I recall Wilder entering the theater just as the lights dimmed,” Adams said. “After the film, he remained briefly and seemed genuinely interested in audience reaction to the musical comedy, which he also wrote, as it marked his directorial debut. It was an honor to have met him under those circumstances.”

GAME ON: After being closed for more than two weeks because of flooding in its LAN Center, AFK Gamer Lounge in downtown San Jose announced Tuesday that’s they’re back open for business. Given how locked-in some gamers get, though, they might not have noticed the water.

Contact Sal Pizarro at spizarro@bayareanewsgroup.com. Follow him at Facebook.com/mercurynews.aroundtown and Twitter.com/spizarro.