Daily Business Report-Aug. 10, 2016
A rendering of what the San Diego-Coronado Bridge would look like if a lighting project gets fully funded. (San Diego Unified Port District)
Lighting Plan for San Diego-Coronado
Bridge Gets $300,000 Donation Boost
A proposal to light the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge with low-energy LED bulbs that change color moved a step closer to reality Tuesday with the presentation of a $300,000 contribution from BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair to the Port of San Diego.
BAE Systems previously contributed about $31,000 to the project in 2013. The total amount raised to date, including the new BAE contribution, is about $455,000. The cost of the project has been estimated at around $8 million.
“Lighting the iconic San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge will add inspiration and beauty to the region’s landscape,” said Port of San Diego Chairman Marshall Merrifield. “This contribution from BAE Systems combines with a recent contribution from the development team of BRIC on the Lane Field site, both Port of San Diego tenants, to get us started on the design and engineering needed to implement the project. The Port’s goal is to light the bridge by its 50th anniversary in 2019.”
BAE Systems contributed to the initiative to fulfill a “percent-for-art” requirement set by the Port of San Diego for its new drydock project. Rather than installing an artwork on company grounds, the company opted to designate the money for the bridge lighting fund, as Port policy allows.
“We take great pride in being a good corporate citizen and a good neighbor,” said BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair Vice President and General Manager Bob Koerber. “We are pleased to participate with the Port for the artistic lighting of the iconic San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. We look forward to the completion of this project for the enjoyment of residents and visitors alike.”
The proposed project would illuminate the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge providing artistic night time illumination of the external structural and architectural features of the bridge. It would involve mounting energy-efficient LED lighting fixtures to the piers, structure and parapets. The idea of illuminating the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge with an artist-designed lighting scheme originated with the Port’s Public Art Committee’s quest in 2006 to identify a potential signature artwork for the San Diego Bay region.
The Port held a design competition and in 2010 the board approved the selection of an international design team led by London-based artist Peter Fink to develop an artistic lighting design for illuminating the bridge.
In 2012, the board approved a funding strategy for seeking donations for the proposed project, and a special non-endowment fund was established at The San Diego Foundation to receive charitable donations. A major donation was received in May 2015 — $100,000 from the development team for BRIC on the Lane Field site.
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San Diego Chinese Historical Museum
Selects Art Historian as New Director
The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum in Downtown San Diego has turned to a Chinese art specialist and art historian to become its new executive director — succeeding Dr. Alexander Chuang, who has retired after 20 years on the job.
Tiffany Wai-Ying Beres, a California native, comes to the museum with wide-ranging international experience in arts administration and fine arts curation related to Asian and Chinese art history.
“We have a new talented executive director who will continue the job that I began,” said Chuang. “With the three museum galleries and our award-winning education programs, I believe the museum has a strong future ahead.”
Beres has worked as an independent curator and exhibition planner with museums and institutions around the world such as the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Pagoda Paris, Art Stage Singapore, and the Rietberg Museum in Zürich. For the last 10 years she has been based in Beijing, China where she has worked with top artists and published extensively about topics in Asian art, particularly Chinese ink painting.
Beres said she believes that the role of cultural museums has evolved over the last 20 years. “It is not enough to display artifacts from thousands of years ago and imagine that people will come to you. Today, institutions like ours have to prove our contemporary relevance and our educational worth, ” she said.
The Downtown museum is one of a few U.S. institutions dedicated to sharing the Chinese American experience and promoting Chinese art and culture to foster cross-cultural understanding. Today, the number of Chinese in the U.S. has risen to nearly 4 million, and more than 20 percent of the world’s population is of Chinese descent.
“It is such an honor to build upon the tremendous legacy of Dr. Chuang,” said Beres. “Especially as a bi-racial Chinese American, this work is somewhat personal, too. My vision is to build upon that legacy and expand the museum’s footprint regionally and nationally, making Chinese history, art, and culture accessible to everyone who is interested.”
To attract new, younger audiences such as college students and families with children, Beres hopes to create more dynamic programming and interactive exhibits. A self-proclaimed antique lover, Beres said she is committed to the museum’s mission of preserving and protecting the past. Her three major initiatives are: 1) to expand the high-quality educational programming inside and outside the museum; 2) the care, conservation, and digitization of the museum’s collection; 3) and achieving national-level accreditation through the American Alliance of Museums.
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Santa Monica Firm Acquires
Sorrento Tech III in San Diego
BLT Enterprises, a Santa Monica-based commercial real estate investment company, has acquired Sorrento Tech III, a 30,000-square-foot flex building in the Sorrento Mesa area of San Diego. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The property is located adjacent to Sorrento Tech II, a two-building office and R&D campus, which BLT Enterprises acquired earlier this year.
The building is currently 33 percent percent leased with about 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of available space.
Sorrento Tech III is located at 10070 Barnes Canyon Road. The property was purchased from Pac Ventures, a San Diego-based commercial real estate investment firm. Ron Jacobson of Madison Partners represented BLT in the transaction, and Brian Starck and Dave Odmark at Cushman and Wakefield represented the seller.
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Atmosphere Affordable Housing
Project Reaches Mid-Way Point
Xpera CM, a San Diego-based construction management consulting firm, says construction has reached the mid-way point on the new Atmosphere affordable housing project it is managing for Wakeland Housing and Development Corp. in Downtown San Diego.
With a construction value of $79 million, the project includes a 12-story residential building, with an eight-story tower and three levels of underground parking. It is essentially two projects in one — 154 units of affordable housing for families earning between 30 and 60 percent of the San Diego area median income, plus 51 units of housing specifically for adults requiring additional support due to homelessness, mental disability or age.
Atmosphere is scheduled to be finished in May 2017. The project team includes Xpera CM (construction manager), Suffolk Construction (general contractor), Joseph Wong Design Associates (architect) and Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering.
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Dempsey Construction Building
New Civita Recreation Center
Dempsey Construction is handling the ground-up construction of the new multi-building Civita Recreation Center in the Civita development in Mission Valley, a large residential and commercial community being developed in partnership by Sudberry Properties and the Grant Family.
Bennett Allen, Dempsey Construction’s project manager, said the Recreation Center project consists of grading the site, building multiple site retaining walls, and constructing the new 10,434-square foot- facility.
Interior improvements will include high-end finishes throughout, wood paneling, gymnasium, spa area, great room, kitchen and operable glazing systems throughout to allow for indoor/outdoor use.
Outdoor amenities will include a family swimming pool, as well as a lap swimming pool, barbeque area, fire pits and outdoor seating areas.
The project was designed by Bessenian Lagoni and is scheduled for complete in spring 2017.
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Underwater Robotics System
Competition Held in San Diego
A team from the California Institute of Technology earned the top prize of $6,000 at the 19th annual International RoboSub Competition held July 25-30 in San Diego.
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay won second place and a team from Cornell University landed the third spot.
The competition saw 46 teams design and operate submarines through an obstacle course.
The competition was sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Foundation.
“To be successful, each team had to use their creative engineering skills to construct vehicles to navigate the course and its realistic missions — all autonomously,” said Kelly Cooper, a program officer in the Office of Naval Research sea warfare and weapons, ship systems and engineering research division.
Participants in the contest navigated a PVC obstacle pipe, dropped markers to weigh anchor in a preset area, launched mock torpedoes, pulled a surface ship underwater and then searched, grabbed and released an object that emitted a sonar signal.
Cooper said the contest sought to help the student participants use their knowledge in RoboSub to build new unmanned systems for warfighters.
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Free Shuttle Service Program
Debuts in Downtown San Diego
By City News Service
A free shuttle designed to transport people between parking lots and downtown San Diego restaurants and shops was introduced Tuesday.
“Free Ride Everywhere Downtown,” or “FRED,” will operate daily under a partnership between the city of San Diego, Civic San Diego and the Downtown San Diego Partnership. Initial funding of $500,000 came from downtown parking meter revenue managed by Civic San Diego.
“We certainly know all of the great restaurants, the shops and entertainment venues that are part of our thriving downtown here in San Diego, but as I think all of us know, sometimes it’s not that easy to find parking or a trolley stop nearby,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “With the ease of just a few taps on your smartphone, San Diegans and visitors can request a free ride anywhere from East Village to Little Italy.”
The venture is starting with a fleet of 15 five-person vehicles, with plans to expand to 20 in the near future.
The mint-green vehicles are plastered with signs offering free rides, and some carry sponsorship advertising. Officials hope sponsorships can fund the entire program in a few years.
The mayor said the all-electric fleet will reduce vehicle emissions and allow people to spend less time looking for parking and more time enjoying downtown attractions.
Reese Jarrett, the president of Civic San Diego — which assists the city with development projects — said FRED is “designed to provide that last mile of travel in our (downtown) region.”
According to the mayor’s office, FRED will operate from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 7 a.m. to midnight on Friday; 8 a.m. to midnight on Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
Similar programs operate in other touristy areas like Santa Monica and Venice in the Los Angeles area, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale in Florida, and the Hamptons in New York.
More information about FRED and the app are available online at TheFreeRide.com.
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Personnel Announcements
Brown Law Group Adds Associate
Daniel A. Ikeri has joined the Brown Law Group as an associate attorney.
Ikeri began his legal career in Nigeria before relocating to California.
Ikeri has more than 15 years of experience as a litigator. He has focused his practice in all areas of commercial litigation, as well as class action defense. He has also handled employment law matters, including discrimination and sexual harassment claims.
Prior to joining Brown Law Group, Ikeri worked at Small, Henstridge & Cabodi, a civil trial and appellate law firm, specializing in the defense of class actions and commercial litigation, real estate litigation and toxic tort. Prior to that, he served as a deputy attorney general in the civil litigation division for the State of California.
Ikeri earned his law degree from the University of Lagos School of Law. He is a member of the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association and San Diego County Bar Association.
Paula Danker Joins Kidder Mathews
Paula Danker has joined Kidder Mathews’ San Diego office as a senior vice president specializing in investment sales.
Danker has over 27 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, and she holds the CCIM designation.
A top producer, she has been involved in the sales and leasing of over $600 million worth of transactions. Prior to joining Kidder Mathews, she was with Commercial Facilities Inc. in San Diego.
Tamara Glaser Heads Medical Malpractice Group
Tamara Glaser has been named head of Tyson & Mendes LLP’s Southern California Medical Malpractice Group.
Formerly a partner with the San Diego defense firm of Neil Dymott, Glaser is a trial lawyer with more than 23 years’ experience.
Glaser will be a senior counsel responsible for the health care practice group at the firm. She represents physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers in elder abuse, medical negligence and fraud cases. Glaser began her career as a public defender in Mercer County, Pa. There, she handled hundreds of evidentiary hearings and tried criminal cases before juries. She also had a broad-based private practice, including real property transfers and litigation, family law, probate, personal injury, and business litigation.
Chula Vistan Appointed to Building Standards Commission
Juvilyn Alegre, 46, of Chula Vista, has been appointed to the California Building Standards Commission by Gov. Jerry Brown.
Alegre has been fire prevention supervisor at the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department since 2012, where she was a fire prevention inspector from 2007 to 2012. She was a wastewater pretreatment inspector at the city of San Diego Metropolitan Wastewater Department from 2000 to 2007 and a hazardous materials inspector at the city of San Diego Environmental Services Department from 1994 to 2000.
The position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Alegre is a Democrat.
