Daily Business Report-July 15, 2015
Qualcomm Stadium
City Council Votes to Spend $2.1 Million
On Environmental Report on Stadium
San Diego Union-Tribune
The City Council kept San Diego’s pursuit of a new Chargers stadium on track Tuesday afternoon by approving $2.1 million for accelerated environmental studies required for a public stadium vote in January.
“Let’s keep the ball rolling and keep San Diego competitive,” Councilwoman Myrtle Cole said.
Mayor Kevin Faulconer said the council’s approval, which came in a 6-3 vote, was crucial to keeping San Diego’s stadium plan alive because it shows the NFL that the city is serious about its efforts.
Progress on environmental work will boost the city’s credibility in meetings with NFL officials in San Diego on July 28 and on Aug. 10 in Chicago, Faulconer said.
Councilman Todd Gloria, who cast one of the no votes, said the money is a giveaway to environmental consultants that won’t get the city any closer to keeping the Chargers, who walked away from negotiations last month.
“San Diego is getting played at every turn,” said Gloria, referring to the Chargers ongoing efforts to get a stadium built in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.
Council members Marti Emerald and David Alvarez also cast no votes.
Chargers special counsel Mark Fabiani criticized the city’s move after Tuesday’s vote.
“The city’s quickie EIR will be full of holes and will be thrown out by the courts,” he said. “The Chargers will simply not hitch the future of the franchise to the city’s misbegotten legal strategy.”
OPINION
Statement from Councilwoman
Marti Emerald On Stadium EIR Vote
“In the interest of full disclosure, my family and I are big Charger fans. My husband grew up here, rooting for the Chargers. I enjoy them, too, and have great personal admiration for the Spanos Family and appreciate their contributions to our communities. We would love to see them stay. But, the Chargers have made a business decision that’s right for them. They have walked away from the bargaining table for the opportunity to move to a larger market.
Their spokesman attorney Mark Fabiani is widely quoted as saying, ‘The Chargers want no part of San Diego’s recent efforts to craft a stadium deal’, what Mr. Fabiani calls, ‘A misbegotten, doomed legal strategy.’ Now, here we are the San Diego City Council, considering a request for more money: $2.1 million for a rushed Environmental Impact Report so the city can rush a ballot measure to voters in January. This after the council approved a quarter of a million dollars for a financial plan, which still does not exist, or at least is not being shared with this council.
Let’s make a decision that’s right for San Diego. Let’s refocus on the needs of our neighborhoods. We need billions of dollars to rebuild vital facilities and services, repair roads and bridges, build parks, invest in public safety and quality of life for all San Diegans…..not invest our precious tax dollars to further enrich a wealthy few.
Many of my constituents in District 9 live paycheck to paycheck. Most could never afford to buy tickets for a Chargers game. Yet, here we are contemplating a vote that would ultimately have them paying for a stadium with their tax dollars. It’s fundamentally unfair to straddle our hardworking taxpayers with this expense. I’m with the Chargers. This is a misbegotten strategy and we should stop throwing good money after bad. This is why I am voting no on this newest request for money, and will continue to do so if the Mayor continues down this path to build a costly new stadium at taxpayer expense.”
NEIGHBORHOODS: South Park
Big Changes Coming for
The Grove at Juniper & 30th
The Grove at Juniper & 30th, a fixture in South Park for the past 12 years, will close its doors on Aug.1.
But it will re-emerge in September as two new, separate businesses.
The new businesses will be operated by Anne Mery and Susan Wells, who started The Grove in 2003.
“We agreed that a reconfiguration into two storefronts made sense, for ourselves, our vendors and our clientele,” said Mery. “We are excited about the prospects for bringing even more interesting merchandise and services into the South Park community.”
Wells’ business, in Suite A, will be named “South Park Dry Goods” and will feature fiber arts (knitting, sewing, fabrics, etc.) merchandise and services. The store will be a featured shop in the third annual San Diego Yarn Crawl in September.
Mery’s new business, “West Grove Collective,” will feature books, music, clothing, travel accessories, paper, garden and home goods. “We have always been an emporium of several shops, and will continue that theme,” she said. West Grove Collective will occupy Suite B in the reconfigured 3010 Juniper St. space.
Additional information on the new stores, including website addresses and contact information, will be provided closer to the reopening dates, expected in early September.
McClellan-Palomar Airport to
Start Shuttle Service to Las Vegas
The first of what is scheduled to be a three-times-a-week jet shuttle service to Las Vegas will start July 30 at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad. Flights will start at $154.
The new air shuttle service to Las Vegas will be provided by BizAir, the commercial air carrier that started flying its 30-seat jet shuttles twice a day between McClellan-Palomar and Los Angeles International Airport last month.
BizAir plans to start by providing a single round-trip flight on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, but could expand that if the flights become popular.
“Now, if you want to fly out to Vegas, it means you don’t have to drive Downtown to San Diego International Airport,” said County Supervisor Bill Horn, whose district includes McClellan-Palomar. “This is a great service for North County residents or anyone across the county and it’s great news for our local economy.”
McClellan-Palomar Airport is one of eight airports operated by the County of San Diego Department of Public Works and the only one that offers commercial flights for county residents. Like any other commercial airport, passengers must check in for flights and be screened by federal Transportation Safety Administration agents. But because McClellan is a smaller airport, passengers can escape the traffic, expensive parking and long security lines at major airports.
The County has made several improvements at McClellan-Palomar in recent years, including a $24 million renovation completed in 2009 that added a modernized, 18,000 square-foot terminal, parking and a restaurant.
Parking at McClellan-Palomar is $5 a day.
Three Medical Office Building Sales
In North County Reflect High Demand
Three medical office condominiums in North County — two in Carlsbad and one in San Marcos — have changed hands amid increasing demand for medical office space in San Diego and a resulting lease rate escalation, according to JLL.
In Carlsbad, Carlsbad Medical Village and Bressi Ranch Medical Plaza have sold for $1,720,000 and $1,650,000, respectively. Nordahl Medical Centre in San Marcos has sold for $1,096,800.
• Carlsbad Medical Village at 1281 and 1283 Carlsbad Village Drive was acquired by 725 Grand LLC. The seller was Carlsbad Medical Village LP.
• Bressi Ranch Medical Plaza at 6221 Metropolitan Street, Suite 100, was acquired by The Stephanie LLC. The seller was Brian Reagan, MD.
• Nordahl Medical Centre at 838 Nordahl Road, Suites 100-120, was acquired by EN Med Center LLC. The seller was Nordahl Medical Centre Inc.
“Each of these sales represents physicians or medical groups trying to control costs in the face of escalating market rental rates,” said JLL’s Paul Braun. “North County has the highest asking average rental rate in San Diego’s medical office building market, so owning their real estate makes sense for many health care providers as a strategy to control long-term costs.”
According to JLL’s first quarter 2015 Medical Office Snapshot, while the tables were relatively balanced between landlord and tenant leverage in San Diego’s medical office market last year, 2015 has already tipped the scale in favor of landlords in coastal North County and some of the other high-demand areas of San Diego.
InnoVision Marketing Group Pays
$2.11 Million for HQ Building
InnoVision Marketing Group has purchased an 8,060-square-foot building at 5961 Kearny Villa Road in Kearny Mesa for $2.11 million, and will use it as its new headquarters.
The two-story building will be updated to be styled as a ‘New York loft’- type agency, and will also house Pretzel Logic Productions, sister company to InnoVision.
“Finding a building that we can convert into a creative think tank and house our expanding marketing firm was critical to our plan of growing our regional and national account base, as well as entering other areas of the business sector, specifically technology,” said Ric Militi, CEO and creative director.
InnoVision Marketing Group is in its fourth year of operation. Employees number close to 30.
Dempsey Construction Working on
Two Projects at University of San Diego
Dempsey Construction has two projects under construction on the University of San Diego campus — a fire/life safety upgrade at the Alcala Cuyamaca Apartments, 5998 Alcala Park, and an interior building renovation of the Serra Hall Classroom Building, at 5821 Marian Way.
The Alcala Cuyamaca project includes the installation of a new fire/life safety system in the existing three-story dormitory building located within the University of San Diego’s Alcala Vista student housing complex. Project scope includes new exterior stucco and metal stud walls for installation of new fire risers, new suspended acoustic tile ceilings on the first, second and third floor, and the demolition of existing gyp board ceiling to install new fire sprinklers. Completion is scheduled for the end of July.
The Serra Hall project consists of the renovation of the second level of classrooms, including the demolition of the existing improvements (ceilings, soffits, lighting, electrical, doors and frames) and replacement with new finishes throughout. Completion is scheduled for Aug. 20.
Personnel Announcements
Walden Family Services Hires
Director of Fund Development
Kathyrin R. Stephens has joined Walden Family Services, a nonprofit foster family and adoption agency, as director of fund development. She will be leading the expansion of Walden’s fundraising efforts by planning and implementing a strategic, targeted, multi-faced fundraising plan to generate program and operating funds through individuals, corporations, board members, foundations and volunteers.
Stephens joins Walden after having held development leadership roles in a diverse group of organizations in San Diego. Most recently, Stephens chaired the Discovery Grants Task Force of the La Jolla Community Foundation, assisting the foundation with its first grant cycle. Prior to this, she was the director of development for A Reason To Survive (ARTS) where Stephens increased the organizational budget by approximately 46 percent.
