Daily Business Report — Nov. 12, 2009
Pacific Beacon Home to More than 1,800 Sailors
More than 1,800 sailors observed their first Veterans Day at the Pacific Beacon Bachelor’s Enlisted Quarters, the first privatized single’s quarters ever built for the Department of Defense. The high-rises at Naval Base San Diego were developed by Pacific Beacon LLC, a joint venture between Clark Realty Capital and the Navy. The design builders were Clark Construction Group and Clark Realty Builders. The concrete portion of the project was built by Morley Construction. It has rooftop lounges with barbecues and fire pits, a Sky Terrace with heated pool and hot tub and views of the harbor. Many of the unmarried sailors were stationed on ships in San Diego Harbor before Pacific Beach opened, but now they occupy 941 furnished dual master suites. In order to house as many sailors as possible, as soon as possible, three 18-story towers were erected at the Naval Base San Diego over a 15-month period. The accelerated construction timeline involved more than 700 workers in the field.
“The size of this job was huge from a concrete perspective,” said Brian Daniel, Morley’s project manager. “In order to meet the tight construction schedule we had to form more than 40,000 square feet of elevated deck every week. Instead of letting this project become daunting, the graphic schedules allowed us to break the towers down into pieces. It became like a manufacturing process, where everyday we knew where we had to be and what we had to do.” Morley was responsible for forming, placing and finishing all 54 floors of the towers, totaling 1.1 million square feet of usable space. Daniel believed the close relationship and open communication Morley had with the project’s general contractor, Clark Construction, greatly contributed to the project’s success.
The names of Pacific Beacon’s three towers are significant to the San Diego Naval community. The towers are named in honor of Matthew Axelson, Danny Dietz and Thomas Retzer — three Navy SEALs who lost their lives fighting in Afghanistan.
Real Estate Trends Conference
ULI San Diego/Tijuana District Council will present its seventh annual Real Estate Trends Conference on Nov. 17 titled “A Recession is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” The conference will discuss how industry leaders and innovators are taking advantage of this down market to create, imagine and plan for the new economy. It will be held from 7:30 a.m. to noon at Marina Village, 1936 Quivira Way, San Diego. Topics will include Navigating the U.S. Real Estate Landscape, National Real Esltalte Trends for 2010, Local Market Segments Trends for 2010, Entrepreneurs Thriving in These Times and How New California Legislation is Affecting Land Use.
Speakers will include: Gary Binger, UC Berkeley; Lynne Heidel, Prairie Schwartz Heidel; Lori Heramb, Brookfield Homes; San Diego Councilman Ben Hueso; Nancy Johnston, Epsteen & Associates;Rick Kalvoda, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Lynn LaChapelle, Jones Lang LaSalle; Chris McKenzie, California League of Cities; David Malmuth, RCLCO; Robin Munro, Prairie Schwartz Heidel;Ken Rudy, Jones Lang LaSalle; Neil Sentura, US Local News Network; Doug Wilson, Douglas Wilson Cos.; Andrew Youngquist, MDG Construction; and Alex Zikakis, Capstone Advisors.
The cost is $65 for ULI members, $50 for student members, and $85 for nonmembers. To register, call (800) 321-5011 or visit ulisd.org.
FEDERAL CONTRACT AWARDS
• Synergy Electric Co. Inc. in Santee won a $1,381,341 federal contract from the U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, San Diego, for the installation of solar lights.
• Signal Engineering Inc. in San Diego won a $56,865 federal contract from the Defense Logistics Agency’s Defense Supply Center, Richmond, Va., for radio beacons.
• Rore Inc. in San Diego, won a $249,500 federal contract from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque, N.M., for a water filtration system.
• General Atomics in San Diego was awarded a $102,200,000 federal contract modification by the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center’s Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, N.J., for the production of one advanced arresting gear system ship-set for CVN-78.
(Source: Targeted News Service)
Otay Mesa Gas Station Sold for $1.2 Million
A former Chevron gas station at 2325 Roll Drive in Otay Mesa has been sold for $1.2 million to Otay 13 Investors LLC, with IRE Development LLC as managing member. The property is less than a mile from the Otay Mesa border crossing. The property includes a 940-square-foot retail building. Reg Kobzi of CB Richard Ellis represented both Otay 13 Investors LLC and the seller, Chevron USA Inc. The property was vacant for six months after Chevron closed the facility in April 2009. Otay 13 Investors LLC plans to use part of the property to expand the parking lot of its adjacent office building. The remaining .78 acres will be offered for a freestanding bank site.
Kaiser Permanente MS Dinner Auction
National Multiple Sclerosis Society will host its 23rd annual Kaiser Permanente MS Dinner Auction starting at 5 p.m. on Nov. 21 at Loews Coronado Bay Resort, 4000 Coronado Bay Road, in Coronado. The public is invited to attend. More than 500 people are expected to attend and bid on more than 1,000 silent and live auction items valued at $800,000. The 2009 theme is “The Best is Yet to Come.” About $450,000 is expected to be raised at the fundraiser for multiple sclerosis research and programs for people with MS, a chronic, unpredictable and disabling disease of the central nervous system with no known cause, cure or prevention. Tickets range from $125 to $400 per person. For reservations and a list of auction items, visit msdinnerauction.com, or phone Angela Northrup at (760) 448-8434.
Escondido Foundation Awards $61,050 in Grants
The Escondido Charitable Foundation, an affiliate of the San Diego Foundation, has awarded $61,050 in grants to four nonprofit organizations for their work in the areas of math and science education. The recipients:
• Bernardo Elementary School, “Science Essentials at Bernardo School,” $16,560. The school will use the funding to establish a collection of permanent science equipment and instructional materials to support and enrich science instruction. The grant will provide hands-on, minds-on learning materials that promote science literacy and will increase student confidence in their science knowledge.
• Escondido Union High School District, “Education and Technology Grant,” $21,900. Escondido Union High School District will use the grant to purchase new interactive technology to enhance student success and conceptual understanding of critical Algebra I concepts.
• Escondido Education Foundation, “Lightbulb Moment: Math and Science Project Based Learning,”$10,000. The Escondido Education Foundation will use the funds for a competitive grant program for Escondido Union School District. EUSD teachers can apply to the foundation for up to $500 for an innovative classroom project that carries out California State Curriculum Standards focusing on math and science during the 2009-2010 school year.
• Grace Lutheran Church and School, “Math Advancement Program,” $12,600. The organization will use the funding to convert the current math program to a technology–based curriculum.
Amanda Scott Joins Signature Analytics
Amanda Scott has joined Signature Analytics as the vice president of business development. The company provides financial and accounting services including consulting, outsourced solutions and temporary and permanent staffing. Scott’s role includes marketing the firm’s services and recruitment of consultants and candidates. She has 10 years of previous staffing experience with a San Diego firm and a large international staffing firm. Scott, a California native, holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from SDSU. She has spent the last five years staffing professional accountants and corporate finance professionals to a number of firms and industries in San Diego.
Christopher Balzano Joins Domusstudio Architecture
Christopher M. Balzano has joined architecture firm Domusstudio Architecture as a new project manager. Recognized nationally for his expertise in church architecture, Balzano’s portfolio also includes educational buildings, fire stations and other civic structures. He has been a licensed architect in Arizona for the past five years. He has more than 10 years of experience in architecture, including several years with Will Bruder + Partners Ltd. in Phoenix. He holds a bachelor’s degreee in architecture from Syracuse University.
Lakeside Sports Complex is Project of the Year
The San Diego chapter of the American Public Works Association has selected the Lakeside Sports Complex for its Project of the Year Award. The Lakeside Sports Complex is a 13-acre, state-of-the-art Little League facility that includes four lighted, synthetic turf baseball fields with covered stadium seating on a site that is reclaimed sanitation facility land owned by the county of San Diego. Psomas provided civil engineering and design services for the $9 million sports park. MW Peltz + Associates was the prime landscape architect. The playground takes the shape of a fish with fins that form amphitheater seating and a grand staircase to the upper plaza. The mouth and belly of the fish serve as the ramped accessible path of travel to the plaza. Other consultants included LSW Engineers for electrical and lighting, K2 Engineers for geotechnical engineering. A temporary soundwall was built to protect native birds living near the river. Only plants native to San Diego County were incorporated to minimize the park’s impact on important riparian habitat.
San Diego Rated High in LGBT Travel Survey
San Diego ranks eighth in Community Marketing Inc.’s (CMI) annual rankings of the destinations most visited by the gay and lesbian community. CMI is a San Francisco-based LGBT market research and communications company. The rankings are based on a survey of more than 7,000 LGBT consumers surveyed this year. According to the survey, 15 percent of those surveyed visited San Diego. The top five destinations were New York City, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago and Los Angeles/West Hollywood.
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