Daily Business Report — Aug. 19, 2010
The Dog Photographer
Meet David Viet, a dog photographer who says he loves his free-flowing life filled with “interesting dogs and nice owners.” Writer Gail Stoorza-Gill conducts a Q&A with Viet in the August issue of San Diego Metropolitan Magazine.
Launching the Downtown Quiet Zone
Downtown’s $20.9 million Quiet Zone project gets under way today with a ceremonial groundbreaking at 10:30 a.m. at Fourth Avenue and K Street, the park site along the MLK Promenade. When improvements are completed, the Quiet Zone will reduce noise from train horns for residents, hotels and businesses. Late night horns are a principal complaint of Downtown residents and hotel guests. The project will improve safety features at 12 at-grade rail crossings throughout Downtown from Laurel Street to Fifth Avenue. The 13th crossing at Park Boulevard will be reconstructed and improved as a separate project beginning in March 2011. Construction will include installation of medians, pedestrian curb ramps, roadway modifications, new traffic signals, railroad signal modifications, railroad interconnections, pedestrian gates, fencing, paving and storm drain and sidewalk improvements. Upon completion, the project will be one of the largest urban Quiet Zones in the nation, according to city officials. Centre City Development Corp. is to coordinate installation of the improvements with users of the railway — BNSF Railway, San Diego Trolley, San Diego Imperial Valley Railway, North County Transit District, Coaster and Amtrak.
CommNexus Hosts Technology Open House
CommNexus, San Diego’s nonprofit high-tech trade organization, will host an event to showcase some of the region’s innovative technologies at an Aug. 24 open house at its new 18,000-square-foot headquarters at 4225 Executive Square (fourth floor), in UTC. The event is from 5 to 8 p.m. The open house will include incubator facility tours, technology demos and opportunities to speak with San Diego’s top industry and civic leaders. Last year CommNexus launched EvoNexus, a pro bono technology incubator which is shepherding 10 of the most promising high-tech startups. EvoNexus will “graduate” two companies it has nurtured into independent, sustainable companies. The open house is being co-hosted by the Irvine Company, which formed a partnership with CommNexus to provide office space for the incubator entity at the nonprofit’s headquarters.
West Coast Cabling Acquires Teldata Enterprises Networks
West Coast Cabling in Santee has acquired Teldata Enterprise Networks for $440,000, rehired 15 of its employees and former owner Doug Catania and assumed the name of the company. CEO Bruce Madden said Teldata Enterprise Networks, before its sale, was in business for 21 years “and was San Diego’s premier cabling and phone system provider.” It had average annual revenue of $15 million over the past five years. West Coast Cabling, he said, has averaged $3 million in revenue over the same period. Teldata was forced to sell after it could not meet a $1.6 million line of credit obligation. The newly named company now has 48 employees. It installs phone systems, voice and data cabling, provides IT support, access control and surveillance. Madden said the acquisition was the 11th company to be acquired over the past eight years.
Grant to Help Boost Nursing Instructors
The University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science has been awarded a $1.17 million grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to ease the nursing shortage by boosting the number of nurse educators. The money will provide loans to graduate and doctoral students pursuing advanced degrees with the intention of teaching nursing. USD’s grant was the third largest in the nation among the $23.5 million in grants for the program funded through the 2010 appropriations process. Only Case Western Reserve University with a grant of $1.8 million and Vanderbilt University Medical Center with $1.6 million received larger awards. Under the Nurse Faculty Loan Program, students can have up to 85 percent of the loan forgiven in exchange for service as full-time nursing faculty members at an accredited school of nursing. “Nationally we need a projected 1 million new registered nurses by 2020,” said Sally Brosz Hardin, dean of USD’s School of Nursing. “Yet only 64 percent of the projected demand will be met at current graduation rates leaving a shortfall of more than 450,000. California currently has the worst nursing shortage in the nation with 109,000 registered nurse positions open.”
Director of Energy Services Selected
The California Center for Sustainable Energy in Kearny Mesa has announced the appointment of Peter Hamilton as director of energy services for the nonprofit company. Hamilton will oversee the center’s incentive programs for solar power, renewable energy and transportation and manage energy advisory services and engineering. He was most recently business development manager for EnerNOC in Southern California. Andrew McAllister, who formerly managed these areas, will become the center’s director of policy and strategy.
El Cajon Office Building Sold for $1.85 Million
A 14,859-square-foot office building at 1234 East Main St. in El Cajon has been sold for $1.85 million to buyers Tony Talia and Bernadette Talia. The seller, Wellesley Company, N.V., a Netherlands Antilles corporation, was represented by Kyle Clark and Kipp Gstettenbauer of Cushman & Wakefield. The buyers were represented by Alvin Mansour of Marcus & Millichap. Tenants of the building include Bank of the West. The buyer plans to occupy the vacant second floor office space.
La Mesa Apartment Building Sold for $2.8 Million
The Timberline Apartments at 7107-7111 Waite Drive in La Mesa has been sold for $2.8 million to Maria Lee. The 41-unit complex was 96 percent occupied at the time of the sale. Built in 1965, the two-story building has a mix of 36 one-bedroom, one-bath units and five two-bedroom, one-bat units. There is a swimming pool on the property, a laundry and open parking. Merrick Matricardi, Jim Neil and Eric Comer of CB Richard Ellis represented the buyer. Allen Chitayat of Hendricks & Partners represented the seller, Serenity Timberline Apartments LP.
Alpine Awards Nominations Sought
The Alpine Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce is soliciting nominations for its 16th annual Alpine Leadership and Public Service Awards. People, organizations and businesses may be nominated.
Award categories are Beautification, Small/Large Business of the Year, Organization of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Special Recognition and Youth Organization of the Year. Nomination ballots are available at the chamber office at 2157 Alpine Blvd. or online at alpinechamber.com. They must be returned by Sept. 15. The awards ceremony and dinner will be held Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Viejas DreamCatcher Lounge. For more information, call the chamber at (619) 445-2722.
Health Care District Awards Scholarships
Grossmont Healthcare District has selected nine students for its 2010 Health Tech Careers scholarships. The students are pursuing medical field jobs and applied for the funds by writing an essay on “Where I will be in my career five years from now.” Four students received $2,000 each: Jeremy Brown, Dawn Culver and Karla Klistof, all of whom are studying to become licensed vocational nurses at Grossmont Adult School’s Health Occupations Center in Santee; and, Pedro Ramos, a student at the Pima Medical Institute in Chula Vista who wants to become a respiratory therapist. Five other scholarship applicants received $500 apiece: Pima Medical Institute’s Pat Bradford and HOC’s Carolyn Farquar-Speed , both of whom want to become pharmacy technicians; Tony Lam, a future respiratory therapist who is a student at the Pima Medical Institute; and Dexter Dionio and Tanisha Holmes, both of whom are studying to become LVNs at HOC.
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