Daily Business Report-May 15, 2014
CBRE’s Downtown San Diego office on Tenth Avenue
CBRE Opens Two ‘Free Address’
Offices Designed for Today’s Workforce
CBRE, a commercial real estate services firm, has opened two “free address” offices that incorporate workspaces designed to support the way employees work today. The San Diego offices are among more than two dozen CBRE offices globally that will transition to a “Workplace360” model in 2014.
The firm opened its new 6,500-square-foot office at 350 Tenth Ave. in Downtown San Diego on May 5 and a 5,500-square-foot office at 5780 Fleet St. in Carlsbad on May 12. Both offices are paperless environments with no assigned workstations.
The Carlsbad and Downtown San Diego offices offer a variety of work settings – a balance of both collaborative and private spaces including collaboration rooms, sit/stand desks, and offices for a day as well as focus rooms for when privacy is required. Enhanced technology that supports this mobile way of working is a core element of these offices. Private and collaborative spaces can be reserved with a phone app, while “plug and play” work stations are equipped with dual monitors and “follow me” phones. The paperless office allows employees to access their files digitally from anywhere, print from any printer with “follow me” printing, and promotes a greener environment.
“By changing employee work processes through digitization and technology training, San Diego and Carlsbad were able to reduce their combined file storage by more than 1,000 square feet,” said Casey Craig, also with the CBRE Workplace Strategy team. “We were then able to reallocate that square footage to provide additional collaborative and private workspaces for our employees.”
The offices are based in part on on research that shows that office workers spend approximately 50 percent of their time working with others and the other half spent working alone.
Hillary Clinton to Deliver Keynote Address in San Diego
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a keynote address at the 2014 BIO International Convention in San Diego. The Keynote Luncheon will take place on Wednesday, June 25, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at the San Diego Convention Center.
The BIO International Convention regularly draws over 15,000 attendees, offers key networking and partnering opportunities and provides insights and inspiration on major trends affecting the industry.
Clinton served as the 67th U.S. Secretary of State from 2009 until 2013, after nearly four decades in public service.
Physicist Receives $2.5 Million
Grant to Explore Fusion Energy
Physicist Brian Grierson of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory has won a $2.5 million grant from the Department of Energy Office of Science to fund his exploration of fusion energy for the next five years. The work will be done at San Diego’s DIII-D National Fusion Facility operated by General Atomics.
Grierson has spent the last five years with the Princeton laboratory collaborating on General Atomics’ fusion facility, the largest facility of its kind in the nation. After earning his Ph.D. from Columbia University, he joined the ranks of fusion energy scientists working to harness the power of the sun on earth, developing a clean natural and safe energy source that is virtually unlimited. At DIII-D, his work focuses on the turbulent properties at the edge of the hot, charged plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions in machines called tokamaks.
Grierson’s research focuses on a thin, roughly thumb-wide slice of the plasma edge called the “pedestal” where conditions change rapidly, becoming far hotter and denser toward the plasma core. “It’s like going from the surface atmosphere to the bottom of the sea,” Grierson said. “Only this change happens in a very small distance.”
Fat Cat Beer Announces San Diego Brewing Alliance
The Fat Cat Beer Co., makers of “sessionable” handcrafted beer and the first to package them in cans, announced that it has selected Latitude 33 Brewing Co. as its San Diego brewing partner. The partnership will enable Fat Cat Beer Co. to establish a brewing presence in San Diego, delivering on one of its strategic goals for 2014. This will allow the company to grow its footprint and include draught skus in San Diego where the company already distributes its own beer.
In conjunction with the partnership, The Fat Cat Beer Company will roll out its small batch, limited release series program which will focus on growing its overall number of beer styles in each of its markets.
Fat Cat Beer offers five other sessionable craft beers in a can, including its Fat Cat Lager, Sultans of Wheat, Shawshank’s Injunction, Pale Ale, Beale St, Brown Ale and Confession IPA.
Outpatient Breast Care Unit Opens
Pacific Building Group has renovated Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla to accommodate a 4,700-square-foot outpatient breast care unit. The Emily Fenton Hunte Breast Care Center is now open for patient care. The project involved remodeling a portion of the existing third floor of Scripps Green Hospital to accommodate the outpatient unit. The new center includes five treatment rooms with state-of-the-art technology and soothingly appointed diagnostic spaces, including three mammography suites, a stereotactic suite and two ultrasound rooms.
Before moving into its new space, the hospital’s breast care center was located on the first floor of the adjacent Anderson Outpatient Pavilion at Scripps Clinic Torrey Pines. The new center offers all of the same services as before, in a more patient-friendly environment.
Pacific Building Group worked with Rodriguez Park Architecture and Planning and Young + Co. Interior Design on the facility.
Pacific Building Group team members included project executive Hollis Gentry, project manager Karin Fowler, and senior superintendents Brett Doop and Dave Harper.
Garrison Keillor Guests at University of San Diego
Warwick’s and the University of San Diego’s College of Arts & Sciences will present New York Times bestselling author Garrison Keillor discussing and signing his latest book, “The Keillor Reader” on June 8 at 3 p.m. in USD’s Shiley Theater.
“The Keillor Reader” features familiar characters such as Guy Noir, cowboys Dusty and Lefty, and many more favorites from Lake Wobegon, the town dubbed the “Gateway to Central Minnesota.”
The book signing will immediately follow discussion. Only books purchased from Warwick’s will be signed. For details, call Warwick’s Book Dept. (858) 454-0347.
Kaiser Permanente to Close San Marcos Facility
Due to the San Diego wildfires, Kaiser Permanente San Diego will close its San Marcos location this morning. Members who have appointments will be contacted by a Kaiser Permanente representative to reschedule their appointments. The San Marcos location is scheduled to reopen Thursday afternoon, safety permitting. All other Kaiser Permanente facilities will be open tomorrow until further notice. Members or the public are encouraged to contact the Kaiser Permanente member news line (619) 662-5656 for the most current updates on facility closures, appointments or schedules.
MG Properties Group Hires Rob Singh
San Diego-based MG Properties Group has hired Rob Singh as managing director and chief investment officer. Singh will be responsible for overseeing the company’s investment activities and capital relationships. In his previous position as SVP at ConAm, Singh was the head of the investments group which, during his 18-year tenure, acquired more than 16,000 multifamily units throughout the U.S. Prior to ConAm, Singh was with Citicorp and the Boston Co. investing institutional capital in joint ventures and direct real estate investments.
Singh has more than 26 years of real estate investment experience representing $4 billion in transactions.
Since December 2010, MG Properties Group has completed 20 apartment acquisitions totaling 5,200 units at a value of more than $630 million, the company said.
— GlobeSt.com
Olympics Advocate to Chair Regional Business Group
Vincent Mudd, an executive who has championed the idea of hosting the 2024 Olympics in San Diego, became chairman of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. on Tuesday.
Mudd is principal and managing partner of Carrier Johnson + Culture, an architecture and interior design firm, and is the owner of San Diego Office Interiors. He serves as chairman of the San Diego 2024 Olympic Exploratory Committee and as a director of the San Diego County Water Authority. He is a past chairman of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Mudd laid out his vision for the San Diego region in a speech at the EDC’s 49th annual dinner at SeaWorld San Diego.
“When I look at San Diego, I see a gateway to limitless possibilities,” said Mudd. “From looking at a map, anyone can see that we are a gateway to the mega-region, a gateway to the Pacific, and a gateway to Asia, but what you can’t see is just as important: we’re also at the leading edge of innovation.”
The EDC is an independently funded nonprofit with more than 160 member companies and organizations. It seeks to attract, retain and expand companies and the talent pool across the region.
Women’s Foundation to Announce 2014 Grants
The San Diego Women’s Foundation will host its 2014 annual grants celebration on Thursday, May 29, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at The San Diego Central Library. Grants to several environmental nonprofits and agencies will be announced.
During the free event, guests will be able to enjoy feature tours of the library, an opening reception and dessert. The San Diego Women’s Foundation grant funds benefit local programs that make a difference in the community on issues important to the entire region. This year’s grant focus is on the environment.
The grants panel includes Darlene Shiley, foundation founding member; Judith Harris, past foundation board chair; Katie Sullivan, philanthropist; Deborah Barrow, director, San Diego Public Library; Helen Griffith, executive director, e3 Civic High; Carmen Vann, project manager, Turner Construction; and Gail Vetter Levin, foundation member.
