Daily Business Report-Dec. 4, 2020
The massive industrial building is at 2020 Piper Ranch Road in Otay Mesa.
Denver-based Black Creek Group acquires
San Diego’s largest iconic industrial building
Denver-based Black Creek Group has purchased a 601,417-square-foot, multi-tenant industrial building in Otay Mesa — considered San Diego’s largest iconic industrial building — for an undisclosed sum. The facility at 2020 Piper Ranch Road is situated on more than 31 acres near the U.S. Mexico border.
2020 Piper Ranch Road was constructed in 2003 and features concrete tilt-up construction with varied bay sizes that accommodate a wide range of configurations.
Surrounded by several major corporate neighbors, the project is centrally located within the Otay Mesa submarket that services a broad range of tenants both related to cross border business and San Diego companies looking for highly functional industrial space, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
The property offers freeway identity and quick access to the newly completed California State Route 905 freeway while its proximity to the international border provides immediate access to Tijuana International Airport, the planned Otay Mesa East Port of Entry border crossing, and the new Cross Border Xpress airport terminal, a processing facility with a cross-border bridge that improves domestic and international access. The project also lies within the Foreign Trade Zones and HUB Zone, significantly benefiting local trade operations.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Jeff Cole, Jeff Chiate, Bryce Aberg, Ed Hernandez, Mike Adey, and Zach Harman of the firm’s National Industrial Investment Advisory Group in Southern California represented the seller in the transaction.
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San Diego County expects initial allocation
of 28,000 vaccine doses in December
San Diego County will get 28,000 doses of the new Pfizer vaccine in the next week or two, but it will be March or April before coronavirus vaccines are widely available, public health officials said Wednesday.
Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county’s public health, officer, told local media the initial doses would go to medical personnel and nursing home residents and employees, but not in sufficient numbers to vaccinate all who need it.
“There are far more than 28,000 individuals in this first phase,” she said, but added that a second allocation of vaccine is expected within three weeks after the first round.
She said the county has one ultra-cold freezer needed to store the Pfizer vaccine and has ordered additional units.
Wooten said the county will follow the five-phase rollout for vaccinations set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The phases are:
Phase 1a – Medical personnel, nursing home residents and workers
Phase 1b – People with underlying medical conditions
Phase 2 – Teachers, other critical workers, older adults
Phase 3 – Children and young adults
Phase 4 – Everyone
Wooten said she expected sufficient doses for everyone in the county by March or April.
The vaccine comes as local case counts continue to set records and local hospitals are seeing the number of available ICU beds “continue to decline precipitously” as COVID-19 surges.
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Study finds one in four San Diego firms
engaged in artificial intelligence technology
San Diego industries that are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) support an estimated 175,680 jobs and $33.3 billion in annual gross regional product, according to a study released by San Diego Regional EDC. Underwritten by Booz Allen Hamilton, “Measuring the Future: AI and San Diego’s Economy” is the first in a series of reports that will identify key industries and clusters where AI and machine learning (ML) have been implemented, and ultimately quantify the impacts of these technologies on San Diego’s regional economy.
The study—available at SanDiegoAI.org— includes a historic timeline, cluster map, and cross-references AI patent language with job postings to anticipate the future impacts of AI and ML on the job market.
“The proliferation of AI and ML technologies promises to be a transformative force for businesses worldwide – and like in many innovative industries – San Diego is at the forefront. With this report, the EDC Research Bureau helps paint a picture of the impact of AI, proving its potential to grow jobs and even help narrow gender and racial wage gaps,” said Mark Cafferty, president and CEO, San Diego Regional EDC.
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Illumina, New York health care providers
partner on clinical whole-genome sequencing
Illumina, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and the New York Genome Center (NYGC) announced a collaboration to provide clinical whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to “thousands” of consenting patients in order to identify genetic disease drivers and potential therapies.
The initiative “aims to evaluate the diagnostic potential of WGS at scale” and across multiple diseases, the partners said in a statement, to “better understand health problems and potential disease risks of individual patients and to design more effective treatments, including the choice of specific drugs and their dosing.”
Investigators will study the feasibility and viability of implementing WGS within an academic medical center that is part of a major metropolitan health care system in the US. Doctors at Weill Cornell Medical Center will offer qualifying patients the option to have their genomes sequenced as part of their diagnostic workups. NYGC will analyze the genomes using its CLEP-approved clinical genomic tests on Illumina’s next-generation sequencing platforms.
Board-certified molecular geneticists at NYGC will interpret and share the results with ordering physicians, who will then share them with their patients. The initiative will focus on cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.
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Upset Hindus urge Temecula clothing firm
to withdraw Lord Ganesha leggings
Upset Hindus are urging Temecula-headquartered firm Liquid Dreams for immediate withdrawal of Ganesha Leggings, Ganesha Yoga Shorts and Kali Booty Shorts carrying images of Hindu deities Lord Ganesha and goddess Kali; calling these highly inappropriate.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada, said that Lord Ganesha and goddess Kali were highly revered in Hinduism and were meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to adorn one’s legs, thighs, groin, genitals and pelvis. Inappropriate usage of sacred Hindu deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees.
Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, also urged Liquid Dreams and its CEO to offer a formal apology; besides withdrawing Ganesha Leggings, Ganesha Yoga Shorts and Kali Booty Shorts.
Clothing companies should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. It was deeply trivializing of immensely venerated Lord Ganesha and goddess Kali to be displayed on leggings and shorts, Rajan Zed said.
Liquid Dreams is a “lifestyle brand” which sells men’s and women’s apparel and accessories. It states to be creating “Functional Art For A Dysfunctional World,” claims “thoughtfully designed” products and adds that “Liquid Dreams is all about making the world a better place.”
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How election officials fought fiction with fact
By Freddy Brewster and Katie Licari | CalMatters
Pet videos populate Facebook all the time, but one posted during this frenzied election season stood out: A service dog named Maggie Magoo had voted by mail in Santa Cruz, its owner said. Not just that, the owner claimed Maggie was registered to vote using her microchip number as a social security number.
The story, like so much misinformation, had more bark than bite. But it was only after the video had been viewed at least 25,000 times and Gail Pellerin, Santa Cruz County Registrar, had checked voter registration and called the county’s district attorney, the local sheriff’s department, and the Department of Homeland Security that she felt she could definitively quash the rumor. “For the record, a dog did NOT register and vote in our county,” she tweeted.
“It’s really unfortunate when people just sit behind a camera and put out lies and deceit that just isn’t based on facts or anything real,” Pellerin said. “It really just sort of tarnishes the work that everybody is doing.”
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San Diego State University installs Sony’s
ceiling microphones in 68 classrooms
San Diego State University recently installed 68 of Sony’s MAS-A100 beamforming ceiling microphones, with future plans to implement more than 100 additional units. As their main campus and Imperial Valley campus transition to a hybrid classroom model, mixing in-person and distance education, the IP-enabled MAS-A100 has become a key component in building their classrooms of the future.
Designed for a range of lecture and presentation environments, the MAS-A100 beamforming microphone offers advanced clear audio for speech reinforcement with an Intelligent Feedback Reducer function, which can extract speech while suppressing unwanted feedback.
The microphone minimizes ambient noise, offers automatic gain control and has a dual-channel output for simultaneous recording that captures instructors’ and students’ voices. It is compatible with third party Dante mixers, converters and other devices, as well as power over Ethernet (PoE). A single cable can connect it to the system.
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Bill to require direct deposit option for jobless
benefits to be introduced in Assembly
Debit cards have caused a range of issues for Californians who are without work and in need of crucial unemployment benefits. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) said she will introduce legislation on Monday, Dec. 7—the first day of the 2021-2022 legislative session—that requires a direct deposit option be made available for unemployment insurance and other income replacement recipients.
“After too many Californians have already waited months for their unemployment benefits to be approved, widespread problems with debit cards have prevented countless families from putting food on the table or paying the bills,” Gonzalez said. “Making a direct deposit option available is a simple, commonsense solution to so many challenges we know California residents are facing.”
California is one of three states that does not allow the option for direct deposit of unemployment benefits, according to a report by CalMatters. Instead, residents receive benefits either by paper check or through a Bank of America debit card. The Employment Development Department (EDD) that processes and oversees unemployment claims in the state has no direct access to debit funds on any accounts, and no ability to resolve fraud issues for individual cards.
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Christopher Stebbins is the new
president of ASLA San Diego chapter
The San Diego chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects has a new president for 2021 — Christopher Stebbins, with KTUA Planning and Landscape Architecture.
Stebbins is a specialist in urban design, environmental planning, and landscape design as well as a veteran geographer. He is passionate about the advocacy, establishment, planning, and optimal design of urban public spaces such as plazas and promenades.
Stebbins’ academic and professional interest is to establish urban public spaces that enhance the social, civic, and economic needs of a community. His research includes a methodology for evaluating the social effectiveness of existing urban plazas as well as creating socially vibrant new ones. His research has been accessed over a hundred times by academics and practitioners worldwide, and has provided presentations on this work internationally.
Stebbins has dual masters degrees in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and Design from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Science in Geography and Anthropology from UC Santa Barbara.
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James Masias joins Optima Office
as executive vice president
Optima Office Inc.has hired James Masias as the firm’s executive vice president and chief financial officer. Masias will help lead Optima Office in their continued mission of outsourced accounting, human resources, and fractional CFO services firm. Masias will be working directly with the company’s CEO Jennifer Barnes and COO Taylor Gibson. Masias will focus on client success, strategic planning, creating community partnerships, business development, and long-term initiatives.
Masias has managed over $4 billion in combined assets during his career, raised over $300 million in capital, and analyzed thousands of financial statements. He previously worked for three years as a VP for Mission Edge, an Optima Office competitor in the accounting services industry for nonprofits. Masias has a passion for working with C-level Executives supporting their efforts with business growth, securing capital, and achieving profitability. Masias has become a financial expert in several sectors that include startups, technology, telecommunications, investment banking, nonprofit, government, and K-12 education.
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U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs awards contract
to Evofem Biosciences for Phexxi
Evofem Biosciences Inc. announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded the company a contract for the purchase of Phexxi (lactic acid, citric acid and potassium bitartrate) for a five-year period beginning Dec. 15, 2020.
Saundra Pelletier, CEO of Evofem Biosciences, said, “This award is an important milestone in our ongoing effort to create the broadest access to Phexxi for all patients.
We have achieved coverage for 55 percent of commercial lives in the U.S., including nearly 8 million lives at zero copay, and are very pleased to expand into government programs. We look forward to providing Phexxi to the women who are a part of this program, which includes VA, Tricare, Department of Defense, Coast Guard and Indian Health Services and under which approximately 12 million lives will have access to Phexxi.”
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Juanita Brooks to receive 2020 Lifetime
Achievement Award from The American Lawyer
Juanita Brooks, an intellectual property litigator and principal in Fish & Richardson’s San Diego office, will receive a 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Lawyer for leaving an “indelible mark…on the legal profession.” Brooks is one of six lawyers being recognized this year for “contributions to both the profession and broader society through public service” and for “decades spent building a legacy in the law.” Brooks will be honored on Jan. 14, 2021 at the American Lawyer’s Industry Awards event.
Throughout her 40-year career, Brooks has shattered gender and ethnic barriers to become one of the nation’s top litigators. She is a nationally recognized trial and appellate attorney who focuses her practice on complex intellectual property, product liability and mass tort litigation. She is considered an innovative, formidable litigator with a demonstrated, near-perfect winning record in complex, high-stakes lawsuits that few trial attorneys can match. Known for her master storytelling, Brooks has an inherent ability to translate complex technical jargon into relatable conversational terms that both judges and juries understand.
