Daily Business Report-Jan. 15, 2014

Fire Station 5 in Hillcrest is one of the fire stations to be replaced by the bond funding.

Council Approves $120 Million of Bond Funding

For Neighborhood Infrastructure Projects

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved $120 million of bond funding for neighborhood infrastructure projects. More than $43 million from the bond will fund street resurfacing. The project list includes design for the Skyline Library, San Ysidro Library, San Carlos Library, and Skyline Fire Station, design and land acquisition for the Home Avenue Fire Station, and replacement of Fire Station 22 in Point Loma and Fire Station 5 in Hillcrest, among other improvements.

The city of San Diego has a backlog of deferred capital projects of at least $898 million. To help address the streets, storm drains, and facility needs, the city previously issued three bonds.  On March 20, 2012, the City Council adopted a funding plan for a preferred multi-year capital program.  The plan calls for capital and maintenance expenditures of $719.9 million over the next several years.  By the end of this Fiscal Year, the allocation for deferred capital will be $18.4 million higher than anticipated.

“San Diegans deserve neighborhoods with smooth roads, sound facilities, and water and sewer pipes that don’t break.  This bond will help us achieve that goal,” said Interim Mayor Gloria.  “Investing in our public assets with bond funds is fiscally responsible and community focused.”

“This bond will clearly not pay for every improvement or every investment necessary,” said Gloria. He said he will unveil his plan for a comprehensive infrastructure funding strategy at his State of the City Address tonight.

Projects to be Funded

 

Cubic Wins $18.3 Million Contract

For F-35 Air Combat Training System

Cubic Defense Systems, a subsidiary of Cubic Corp., has been awarded an $18.3 million contract from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics to design and integrate its latest-generation air combat training system for the F-35 Lightning II, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter. Cubic is scheduled to deliver airborne instrumentation and ground station planning and debrief software systems as part of F-35 System Development. Cubic’s air combat training system will be deployed to several countries receiving the F-35 jets including the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Australia and Norway.

“The F-35 Training Subsystem will be embedded and integrated in the aircraft as they roll off Lockheed Martin’s production line,” said Dave Schmitz, president of Cubic Defense Systems.

Cubic and its principal subcontractor, DRS Technologies Inc., will use an embedded P5 solution as the baseline for the F-35 Internal Training Subsystem. Engineering work for the training systems will be performed in San Diego. The contract is the first delivery of production units that will be deployed with the Block 3 F-35 stealth fighters.

New Funding for San Ysidro Port of Entry

Modernization Included in Omnibus Bill

A total of $128.3 million in new funding has been included in the fiscal year 2014 Omnibus Appropriations bill to modernize and expand the San Ysidro Port of Entry, which hasn’t been upgraded in more than 40 years, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) reported Tuesday. “These critical improvements will create jobs, speed the flow of commerce and improve border security,” said Boxer. If approved by the House and Senate, the new investments in the bill — combined with $97.7 million in reprogrammed funding — would provide the General Services Administration with the $226 million needed to complete the project.

Traffic through the crossing is expected to grow by nearly 90 percent by 2030, according to a study by the San Diego Association of Government. The study also estimated that delays cost the San Diego region $2 billion to $2.5 billion per year in lost output. By the time improvements are completed in 2016, the San Ysidro Port of Entry will be able to keep up with this growth in traffic, and to safely and efficiently process trade, commerce, and people, said Boxer.

Corporate Headquarters Building Sold

CARLSBAD — The 81,712-square-foot corporate headquarters building at 5770 Armada Drive in Carlsbad has been sold for $23.39 million to Cole Real Estate Investments. The seller was LBA Realty. The Class A building was built in 1998. It is fully leased to SkinMedica, a subsidiary of Allergan Inc. Cushman & Wakefield represented the seller.

Donna Frye to Propose Open Government

Ballot Measure for the City of San Diego

Donna Frye, the former director of open government under Mayor Bob Filner, didn’t get many opportunities to actually open government to the public. “It’s hard to provide open government when you aren’t allowed to talk to the press,” Frye said during a September panel, referencing Filner’s strict control over media contact during his tenure as mayor.

But now, as president of open government advocacy organization Californians Aware, Frye is trying to make up for lost time, KPBS reports. Today, she will present a ballot measure for the city of San Diego  that would change the city charter to require more public access to government records. Her proposal will go before the city’s Committee on Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations, the first stop to get it before voters on the June 2014 ballot.

The measure’s proposals will “help resolve some of the issues of public access that we have run into time and time again,” Frye said.

Click here to read the provisions…

Fish & Richardson Elevates

Five Attorneys to Principals

Fish & Richardson has named Frank Albert, Geoffrey Biegler, Craig Countryman, and Olga May as principals in the firm’s IP Litigation Group and Erin Hickey as a principal in its Trademark and Copyright Group in Southern California, based in San Diego.

Frank Albert will continue to focus his practice on patent litigation in the areas of electrical/computer technology, optics, semiconductors, telecommunications, software and nanotechnology.  He received his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Geoffrey Biegler will continue to focus his practice on patent litigation in a variety of technology areas including life sciences, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and software.  He received his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Craig Countryman handles patent cases in the trial court and at the federal circuit in all areas of technology, including chemistry, pharmaceuticals, life sciences, medical devices and electrical/computer technology.  He received his J.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.

Erin Hickey will continue to provide strategic counsel to clients in trademark law, advertising law (including false advertising and comparative advertising), right-of-publicity law, unfair-competition law and copyright law.  She also represents clients in administrative trademark and advertising proceedings and litigates trademark claims in federal district courts.  She received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

Olga May will continue to focus her practice on intellectual property and patent litigation. She received her J.D., summa cum laude, from Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

$1.5 Million Cornerstone Heights Corporate Center Lease

The 97,945-square-foot Cornerstone Heights Corporate Center in San Diego has increased to 91 percent occupancy with the signing of a 64-month lease valued at $1.5 million by Tillster Inc., which serves the fast food and restaurant industry. Lincoln Property Co. owns and manages the two-building property. Cassidy Turley represented the owner and Colliers International represented Tillster.

Carlsbad’s Vote on New Peaker Plant

Hinges on the Removal of Smokestack

Carlsbad has fought for years to get a massive power plant off its coastline. The Encina power station will be put into mothballs in 2018 because its sea-water cooling system no longer meets state environmental regulations. But under previous proposals, there was no guarantee the 400-foot smokestack would be removed. And until now SDG&E had not signed any contract to use power from a replacement plant, so any energy produced might have gone out of the region.

Now, because the San Onofre nuclear power plant has shut down, the energy landscape in San Diego has changed. SDG&E is interested in contracting with the owner of the Carlsbad power plant, NRG, for electricity to use at times of peak consumer demand. The new plant would be gas powered like the old one, but it would be air cooled, rather than using ocean water, to meet new state mandates.

The city of Carlsbad has hammered out a memorandum of agreement with the power companies, NRG and SDG&E, allowing NRG to build the new plant, on condition that the old plant — and its smokestack — is torn down. The new plant, which would also be just west of Interstate-5, would also have chimneys, but a much lower profile. Under the memorandum of understanding, SDG&E would also give a portion of its land west of the freeway to the cty of Carlsbad.

City spokeswoman Kristina Ray said removing the ugly smokestack off Carlsbad’s oceanfront property is an incentive for the city to approve the new plant.  — Reported by KPBS

KCM Group Hires Four Professionals

San Diego-based KCM Group, a construction management and consulting firm, has added four professionals to the company.  Joining the firm are Tarek Nabas, marketing; Matt Renault, project engineer; Natalia Torres, project engineer; and Wendy Dean, project coordinator.

Nabas will lead KCM Group’s marketing team. His role includes implementing strategic marketing initiatives, overseeing marketing research and managing the company’s web and digital marketing programs.

Renault joins KCM Group as a project engineer. He previously worked at Whiting-Turner Construction.

Torres also joins KCM Group as a project engineer. Prior to arriving at KCM group, she worked as a field engineer at Flatiron Construction and currently serves as an executive board member and secretary for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

Dean joins KCM Group as a project coordinator.  She spent the last five years as an estimating coordinator for Echo Pacific Construction. Prior to that, Dean served as a project coordinator for Howard Building Corporation in Orange County and an onsite project coordinator for Ledcor Construction.

Great Neighborhood Challenged Launched

By S.D. Center for Civic Engagement

The San Diego Foundation’s Malin Burnham San Diego Center for Civic Engagement launched the Great Neighborhood Challenge today, a new initiative that takes an innovative approach to community organizing, civic engagement and strategic grantmaking.

In an effort to elevate traditional public involvement and drive change in neighborhoods across San Diego, The Great Neighborhood Challenge will sponsor 10-20 community awards between $1,000 and $5,000 each to encourage the creation of projects that improve neighborhoods throughout San Diego County. By supporting small-scale efforts and building upon existing community assets, the Challenge seeks to bring people together to work for a common cause, offer new opportunities for leadership, and showcase neighborhood-level solutions to improve quality of life in the San Diego region.

“The San Diego Center for Civic Engagement supports projects that increase and strengthen our region’s capacity for civic engagement and community problem-solving,” said Robert C. Dynes, chair of the Center’s Leadership Council. “The Great Neighborhood Challenge is one of several civic engagement projects the San Diego Center for Civic Engagement is supporting to boost community problem-solving and improve our region’s quality of life.”

The Center will focus its efforts on under-organized communities. These include communities that do not have an equitable number of organized and recognized neighborhood groups addressing local quality of life issues when compared with other areas of the region and/or communities where residents are not arranged in a structured order to address a specific goal.

Workshops will be offered through March 10, 2014 throughout the county to answer questions about the application and selection process, help brainstorm possible neighborhood projects and assist residents with their applications.

“Our goal is to fund a large variety of small-scale neighborhood projects,” said BongHwan Kim, vice president/executive director of the San Diego Center for Civic Engagement. “To see nearly 500 residents and neighbors come together to revitalize National City’s Butterfly Park identified to us that there is an unprecedented number of people in San Diego who are wanting and willing to build upon existing community assets to make their corner of our region a more useful and vibrant place,” Kim said.

Applications opened on Monday and will close on Monday, March 10.

For more information, visit www.sdfoundation.org/GNC.