Daily Business Report-July 7, 2016
Artist’s rendering by Joe Cordelle. Architecture by Rodriguez+Associates Architects and Planners
$27 Million Apartment Project
Targeted for LGBT Seniors
Community HousingWorks and the San Diego LGBT Community Center will hold a July 13 groundbreaking ceremony for a 76-unit affordable housing apartment project in North Park.
The developers describe the project, to be located at Texas Street and Howard Avenue, “San Diego’s first LGBT-affirming senior community.”
The community will be open to all seniors, but CHW intends to create an environment welcoming LGBT seniors who have challenges finding LGBT-affirming housing.
The transit-oriented design provides a large open plaza at the northeast corner of Texas and Howard and significantly enhances the pedestrian experience along Texas Street. Building frontages on Howard Avenue and Arizona Street were designed to have a residential feel that complemented the existing residential uses on the opposite side of the street.
The development has received an endorsement from the MOVE Alliance, which recognizes developments that provide “Mobility Options Viable for Everyone.”
The location is feet away from the new MTS Mid-City Rapid Bus, and with the North Park–Mid-City Regional Bike Corridor project underway, the development will have a regional bike corridor just out the front door on Howard Avenue, allowing residents to have increased access to the amenities North Park and the surrounding neighborhoods have to offer.
The city of San Diego and the San Diego Housing Commission are providing $7 million for the $27 million apartment complex, which is expected to take about 18 months to build.
The development uses an affordable housing density bonus, an ordinance requiring the provision of affordable housing in market-rate development, to help make the affordable development feasible. Under the density bonus program, 23 of the senior apartments will be restricted to very low income households earning 50 percent or less of the county’s median income.
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Scripps Research in Line for $120 Million
Grant in Precision Medicine Initiative
As part of the most ambitious medical research program in the history of American medicine, The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has received an initial award of $20 million for its role in a national precision medicine initiative, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Wednesday.
“This grant, which will total almost $120 million over five years, is one of the largest federal grants ever awarded to TSRI,” said CEO Peter Schultz.
The five-year award is part of the Cohort Program of President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI). The PMI Cohort Program is a landmark longitudinal research effort that aims to engage one million or more U.S. participants to improve the ability to prevent and treat disease based on individual differences in lifestyle, environment and genetics.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help lead this far-reaching, transformative program of one million or more U.S. participants with long-term follow up,” said the new grant’s principal investigator Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Translational Science and chief academic officer at Scripps Health. “Our focus at STSI for the decade of its existence has been to advance individualized medicine. Using genomics, mobile apps and biosensors and providing data back to each participant, this study will set the foundation for new medical knowledge and ways of engaging people in research as citizen-scientists.”
Cubic to Provide Split Radios for
Navy’s Common Data Link System
ExecutiveBiz
Cubic has been awarded a $1 million contract by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific to deliver split radio subsystems in support of the U.S. Navy’s AN/USQ-167 Common Data Link system.
The San Diego-based company said Wednesday its mission solutions division will provide switchable CDL split above and below decks radio systems for installation on Navy aircraft carriers in an effort to help the military branch secure ship-to-air communications.
“The U.S. Navy requires additional simultaneous CDL link capabilities on CVN aircraft carriers to support battle group force protection and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations,” said Mike Twyman, president of Cubic’s mission solutions segment.
Twyman added its split radios are designed to support pre-flight check-out operations as well as secure data transmission from vessels to aircraft.
Cubic supplied the CDL system for naval battle group commanders to access ISR and force-protection data from multiple aircraft platforms in real time.
UC San Diego Admits Record Freshman
and Transfer Students for Fall 2016
The University of California San Diego has admitted a record 30,273 freshman and 9,802 transfer students for the fall 2016 term. The number of new freshmen is up 3,773 compared to last year and there is also an increase among transfer admits by 1,652 students.
The students were selected out of record 84,209 freshman and 18,487 transfer applications.
Of the 40,075 admitted students, the university anticipates enrolling a diverse class of 5,660 freshmen and 2,933 transfers.
Among UC San Diego freshman admits, the average GPA is 4.12 and the average SAT Reasoning scores are 647, 688 and 659, respectively, for Critical Reading, Math and Writing. Among transfer admits the average GPA is 3.61.
Compared to last year, the diversity of UC San Diego’s new freshman admits went up by 46.2 percent and transfer admits went up with a 30.7 percent increase of historically underrepresented students.
At the freshman level, the largest increase of 58 percent comes from Mexican-American students, which is followed by African-Americans at 38 percent and Latino students at 28 percent. For transfers, the largest increase of 46 percent comes from African-American students followed by Native Americans at 31 percent, Latinos at 30 percent and Mexican-Americans at 27 percent.
SBA Forms Alliance with Accion
The U.S. Small Business Administration’s District Office in San Diego has signed a strategic alliance with Accion, pledging to work together to improve access to technological information for entrepreneurs through educational opportunities and SBA resources while providing maximum financial opportunities and specialized business training.
The agreement was signed by SBA District Director Ruben Garcia and Accion CEO Elizabeth Schott.
Accion is a nonprofit organization striving to bring economic opportunity and access to financing to small business owners in Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. It is also a member of the Accion U.S. Network, the largest nationwide nonprofit micro- and small business lending network in the United States.
San Diegans, Californians
Step Up Water Conservation in May
By City News Service
San Diegans, and California residents in general, stepped up water conservation efforts in May, state water officials reported Wednesday.
Nearly all of the two dozen local water agencies in San Diego County posted large reductions in use compared to the same month in 2013, which the state uses as a benchmark.
The largest of the local water agencies, the city of San Diego, saw usage decline by 22.6 percent in May even though there wasn’t much rain after the first week of the month. Cumulatively since June 2015, water use in the city is down 18.4 percent.
Statewide, consumption fell 28 percent in May compared to three years ago.
“The phenomenal ongoing water conservation by state residents as we enter the hottest summer months clearly shows Californians understand we remain in stubborn drought conditions statewide and that saving water is just the smart thing to do,” said State Water Board Chairwoman Felicia Marcus.
“Rain or shine, drought or no drought, state-mandated target or not, Californians should keep conserving,” Marcus said.
San Diego area agencies showing large drops in consumption in May included the Valley Center Municipal Water District, 42.8 percent; city of Poway, 39.1 percent; Ramona Municipal Water District, 37.1 percent; Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District, 35.9 percent; Santa Fe Irrigation District, 34.4 percent; Padre Dam Municipal Water District, 32.4 percent; and the Lakeside Water District, 32.1 percent.
