Daily Business Report — April 25, 2012

Public Meetings to Start on Plaza de Panama Project

A series of meetings that will decide the fate of Balboa Park’s renovation for its centennial celebration in 2015 will start May 3 with a public meeting of the Balboa Park Committee. The committee will meet at 6 p.m. at the Balboa Park Club, 2144 Pan American Road West. Its agenda is the Plaza de Panama Project. Future meetings will be of the city Park and Recreation Committee, the Historical Resources Board, Planning and Land Use and the City Council.

Foreclosure Notices Drop Dramatically in First Quarter

The number of San Diego County homes entering the formal foreclosure process during the first quarter of the year declined by 12 percent, following a statewide trend where foreclosures declined to their lowest level in almost five years, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. Notices of Default (NODs) totaled 4,185 in the county in the first quarter of 2012 compared to 4,758 in the same period of last year. Trustees Deeds recorded (TDs), or the actual loss of a home to the formal foreclosure process, totaled 1,862 for the first quarter of this year, compared to 2,902 in the same period of last year. Statewide, a total of 56,258 (NODs) were recorded at county recorders offices during the first quarter of this year. That was down 8.5 percent from 61,517 for the prior three months, and down 17.6 percent from 68,239 in first-quarter 2011, according to DataQuick. Last quarter’s tally of 56,258 NODs was the lowest since 53,943 NODs were recorded in second-quarter 2007. NOD filings peaked in first-quarter 2009 at 135,431.

Hoteliers Approve Tax for Convention Center Expansion

San Diego hotel owners voted to create an assessment district that will generate $35.7 million a year over 30 years toward the proposed $520 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, it was announced Tuesday. The revenues are in addition to the $3.5 million the city will provide annually, and $3 million annually from the Port District. “This vote is not only good news for our hotel and visitor industries, it’s good news for our greater economy,” said Mayor Jerry Sanders. “This expansion will create 11,000 jobs, generate $12.7 million in hotel tax revenue for city services, and pump nearly $700 million a year into our economy each year.” Sanders said the expansion will help keep conventions here from leaving for other cities and help attract larger conventions. The mayor said the City Council will vote in early May to certify the election results and ask the courts to conduct a validation hearing, as he has proposed, to determine the legality of the funding plan.

Bosas Donate $5 Million Toward New Monarch School Campus

Developer Nat Bosa and his wife, Flora, have donated $5 million toward the building of new campus for the Monarch School, the K-12 school for children impacted by homelessness. The new school will be located just south of Petco Park at 1625 Newton Ave. Downtown. It will be dedicated as the Monarch School Nat & Flora Bosa campus. “An investment in the children of our community is the best investment I could make,” said Bosa, a philanthropist and CEO of Bosa Development. Monarch’s current campus is 10,000 square feet and past capacity with 150 students and 45 staff members daily. Each classroom operates two grade levels with services like eye exams and tutoring held in the middle of the hall/lobby. The only outdoor area, a minimal 5,000 square feet, is used as a catch-all for the cafeteria, gym, playground, auditorium, study hall and more. The new campus will allow the school to  serve more than 350 students daily and will be home to separate classrooms for each grade level, computer and science labs, a library, literacy and tutoring centers, a health center, a gymnasium and more.

UC San Diego Apartments Receive LEED Rating

The Charles David Keeling Apartments at UC San Diego have been awarded LEED-NC (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction) Platinum certification from the United States Green Building Council. It is the first LEED Platinum student housing in the University of California system. It is also the first new building at UC San Diego to receive a Platinum rating. The LEED designation certifies that a building was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. Platinum is the highest LEED certification level that can be achieved.

Acting Prodigy to Launch New Theater Company

San Diego native and acting prodigy Austyn Myers is launching his own theater company. Known best to San Diego audiences for his work in the Old Globe’s recent productions of “Lost In Yonkers” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” Myers has been acting as a professional performer since age 7.  He has performed in projects such as the Broadway National Tour (and Broadway revival) of “Les Miserables” and Hollywood films such as “Meet Dave” (starring alongside Eddie Murphy). Myers has chosen Athol Fugard’s award-winning play, “Master Harold and the Boy”s as his debut production at the Lyceum Theatre. The play is a story about a young white teenager in South Africa and his relationship with his two black servants. Myers will play the title role of “Master Harold” alongside San Diego actor/director Shaun T. Evans  as “Sam.” Rounding out the cast of three is San Diego newcomer Vimel Sephus as “Willie.” Scenic design is by George Gonzalez and lighting design is by Michael Hoffman. The play will open  May 11 at the Lyceum Theatre in Horton Plaza. For tickets, call the Lyceum Theatre Box Office at (619) 544-1000 or go to lyceumevents.org.

PERSONNEL MOVES ____________________________________

San Diego — Michael Brown and Mike McCabe have been hired as district managers for Guild Mortgage Co. to recruit, train and manage talent throughout California. Brown, as Southern California district manager, has more than 25 years of experience as a mortgage professional. He spent 17 years leading the National Builder Division for the West at Countrywide and Bank of America. McCabe, who has more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, is the Northern California district manager. He will oversee the opening of new branches in the San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Sacramento, Central Coast and the Central Valley. Prior to joining Guild, McCabe served as vice president at Mortgage Solutions of Colorado.