Daily Business Report-Sept. 30, 2016
7th and Island rendering (Credit Delawie Architecture)
CivicSD Board Approves Plans
For 20-Story Hotel Tower Downtown
The CivicSD Board approved the design and related permits for J Street Development’s proposed 20-story hotel tower located on the northwest corner of Seventh and Island avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Downtown.
Designed by Delawie Architecture, the project will include 374 hotel rooms, 137 valet parking spaces, and 2,750 square feet of public urban open space along Seventh and Island avenues.
The project’s street level will be activated through the inclusion of the project’s public urban open space, views to the hotel’s restaurant and bar, seating and landscaping.
The project will pay approximately $1.1 million in development impact fees and generate approximately 480 construction jobs and 232 permanent jobs, according to CivicSD.
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Design Review Approved for
7-Story Residential Building
The CivicSD Board also approved design review of MCRT Investments’ proposed seven-story residential building — Modera San Diego — located on the east side of 14th Street between K and L streets in East Village
Designed by Carrier Johnson + Culture Architecture, the project will include 383 units and 464 parking spaces. Of those residential units, 206 are one-bedroom, 99 are two-bedroom, and 26 are studios. A total of 12,682 square feet of common open space will be included in the project. The project’s ground floor will be activated via a ground-floor residential lobby and a total of 12 ground-floor residential units with direct access to the sidewalk.
The project will pay approximately $2.9 million in development impact fees to fund new parks, fire stations and traffic circulation improvements. Additionally, it will pay approximately $1.9 million through the Floor Area Ratio Bonus Program that is used for public parks and enhances public right-of-ways.
The project will also construct a portion of the 14th Street Pedestrian Promenade along its 14th Street frontage, which is a 30-foot wide, enhanced landscaped streetscape ultimately connecting City College to the north to Barrio Logan to the south. The project will generate approximately 398 construction jobs and eight permanent jobs.
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Report: Qualcomm Eyes NXP Acquisition
Qualcomm is reportedly in talks to buy NXP Semiconductor for about $30 billion in what would be the largest deal ever for the San Diego wireless company. The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources in reporting the two companies were in discussions. The San Diego Union-Tribune
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Big Spike in High School Students Taking
Classes in Community College District
A coordinated effort by the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) and the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) has resulted in a fourfold jump in the number of high school students concurrently enrolled in college courses this fall, the district reports.
A total of 2,128 students are taking courses through City, Mesa, and Miramar colleges this year while still in high school, compared to 547 last year. Mesa College has seen the number of concurrently enrolled high school students jump by 1,000 this year, and Miramar College has seen an increase of approximately 500.
“San Diego Mesa College has long been committed to expanding opportunities for student access to a quality college education, and these latest figures underscore the impact that our efforts are having,” said San Diego Mesa College President Pamela Luster.
Concurrent enrollment – where high school students enroll in community college courses and earn credits for both high school and college at the same time – received a boost in California last year when Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill expanding access to such programs by supporting partnerships between college and K-12 districts while also eliminating college fees for high school students. The legislation, Assembly Bill 288, cited research showing dual enrollment as an effective way of improving the educational outcomes for a broad range of students, including those from underrepresented communities.
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UCLA Report: Record 18.2 Million
Working in California as Jobs Increase
By City News Service
California employment has reached record levels and jobs will likely continue to grow over the next two years, according to a UCLA economic forecast released Wednesday.
UCLA Anderson Forecast senior economist Jerry Nickelsburg wrote that the number of payroll jobs in the state has reached 16.5 million, up 6.7 percent from its previous peak. Factoring in farm labor and self-employment, the number of people working is at a record 18.2 million, up 7 percent from its previous high, according to Nickelsburg.
“How long can this go on?” Nickelsburg asked. “In less than two months, there will be a presidential election and on Jan. 20, 2017, less than four months away, a new president will be inaugurated. Who that president will be is unknown, but to be sure, whomever it might be will impact the forecast for California.”
Also looming large on the state’s economic horizon are two measures on the November ballot — Proposition 55’s proposed sales tax extension and Proposition 64’s proposed legalization of recreational marijuana use.
“Also, we hear of the threat of war — a trade war, that is,” Nickelsburg wrote in his essay, an allusion to Donald Trump’s statements on U.S.-China relations. “The impact of a trade war on the logistics industry, a vital industry for California, requires further investigation as it bears directly on the risk to the California forecast.”
But Nickelsburg concluded that despite the changes ahead, “economic policy, taxes and grass (marijuana) will not be significant players of the next 2 1/2 years.”
“The current forecast is for continued steady gains in employment through 2018,” Nickelsburg wrote. “What this means is a steady decrease in the unemployment rate in California over the next two years. We expect California’s unemployment rate to be insignificantly different from the U.S. rate at 5.4 percent by the end of the forecast period.”
Nickelburg predicted total employment growth of 2 percent this year, then 1.7 percent and 1.1 percent in the next two years.
On the national front, UCLA Anderson senior economist David Shulman predicted growth of gross domestic product of 2 percent to 2.5 percent in 2017 and 2018, with employment growth slowing from 200,000 jobs per month to 150,000 per month in 2017 and 125,000 in 2018.
“Remember the closer an economy is to full employment the more the demographics of the work force takes hold,” Shulman wrote. “The unemployment rate is forecast to be in a very tight 4.8 percent to 5 percent range for most of the forecast period as the labor force participation rate rises modestly.”
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Parkinson’s Association Suspends Operations
Citing a lack of funds, the Parkinson’s Association in San Diego said it will suspend operations effective today.
“We have cut expenses to the bone, but we haven’t been able to rally sufficient donations,” said Lisa Fine, executive director. “Services will be suspended while volunteers work on a mass mailing soliciting financial help. This community really does need and deserve our help — particularly the newly-diagnosed when they are broadsided by this devastating diagnosis.”
The Parkinson’s Association is the sole nonprofit serving people affected by Parkinson’s in San Diego County. It is an independent charitable organization with no affiliation with, or support from, national Parkinson’s foundations.
Details about suspended services will be posted on the organization’s website, parkinsonsassociation.org.
“What PA does isn’t “sexy”, said Fine. “We’re not about the cure. The Parkinson’s Association simply enables San Diegans burdened by a life-changing incurable disease to enjoy the best life possible.”
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Realtor Associations Agree
To Share the Same CEO
Two San Diego-area Realtor trade groups, the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR) and the North San Diego County Association of Realtors (NSDCAR), have decided to share a chief executive officer.
Richard D’Ascoli, current CEO for PSAR, also will add CEO for NSDCAR duties to his workload, succeeding CEO Dianne McMillan who is retiring.
Each association will continue to operate independently as two separate organizations, governed by their own boards of directors, and D’Ascoli will report to each board separately, a statement said.
Officials said the decision for D’Ascoli to serve as CEO for both associations was prompted by a shared-services agreement the two groups signed earlier this year. The agreement provides access to services, resources and discounts offered by either association to both PSAR and NSDCAR members. Shared services include Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data, discounts on store items and lockbox equipment and services, along with educational training, advocacy and other resources. PSAR and NSDCAR began sharing services in 2013, when arbitration and mediation services became available through a joint program.
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Cody Award winner Raffaele Ferrari
To Give Free Presentation at Scripps
A prominent physical oceanographer who specializes in the circulation of the ocean and its interaction with the atmosphere and climate has been selected to receive the 2016 Robert L. and Bettie P. Cody Award in Ocean Sciences from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Raffaele Ferrari, a Scripps/UC San Diego alumnus and the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will present the Cody Award public lecture at 3 p.m. on Oct. 12 in the Robert Paine Scripps Forum for Science, Society and the Environment (Scripps Seaside Forum), 8610 Kennel Way in La Jolla. Admission is free for the lecture, “The Role of Ocean Turbulence in Climate.”
The 13th recipient of the Cody Award, Ferrari employs a mix of observations, theory, and numerical models to investigate motions in the sea that span scales from inches to thousands of miles. He is particularly interested in the complex interactions of these motions, which are crucial to maintaining the climate system.
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Defense Secretary Talks U.S. Dominant
Military Power in the Asia-Pacific Region
The U.S. aims to continue being the dominant military power in the Asia-Pacific region, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Thursday in a speech aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on San Diego Bay.
Carter said an effort started four years ago to move more U.S. military assets to the region and shore up alliances there “will continue to sharpen our military edge so we remain the most powerful military in the region and the security partner of choice.”
Carter headed to Hawaii after the speech to host a meeting with defense ministers of Asian and Pacific countries.
Among those he’ll meet is Delfin Lorenzana, the defense secretary of the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines’ maverick new president, said Wednesday his country would no longer take part in military exercises with U.S. forces, following war games scheduled for next week.
Carter, in his speech, said U.S. relations with the Philippines were ironclad, Stars & Stripes reported.
The defense secretary began a four-state swing Monday by calling for billions of dollars of upgrades to U.S. nuclear weapons and facilities. Speaking to personnel at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota — home to the B- 52H Stratofortress bombers of the 5th Bomb Wing and the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles of the 91st Missile Wing — he noted that the U.S. hasn’t built a nuclear weapon in 25 years, while other nations have.
Modernizing the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal is expected to cost $348 billion over the next eight years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Carter also visited New Mexico, where he spoke at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque and toured the Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories.
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New Gaslamp Quarter Parking
Restrictions Begin Tonight
By City News Service
Starting tonight, violators of recently enacted weekend parking restrictions along Fifth Avenue in the Downtown Gaslamp Quarter will have their vehicles ticketed or towed.
Curbside parking on the roadway between Broadway and Harbor Drive will be prohibited between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. The area will instead become a 3-minute passenger loading zone.
The two-year experiment is designed to unclog traffic and improve safety in a neighborhood full of restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
“Anyone who has been in the Gaslamp on a Saturday night knows that the current configuration of backed-up traffic and patrons being dropped off is untenable, so I applaud the community for working on this creative solution to improve access to San Diego’s premier entertainment district,” said Councilman Todd Gloria, who represents the area.
The San Diego City Council approved the new rules in June, and they took effect Sept. 1. Violators during the first three weekends were issued warnings.
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Personnel
CivicSD Promotes Sherry Brooks
CivicSD President Reese A. Jarrett announced the recent promotion of Sherry Brooks from associate project manager to project manager.
Brooks draws on 17 years of experience working at the Southeastern Economic Development Corp and CivicSD. She has been instrumental in advancing projects in the former redevelopment areas of Encanto and southeastern San Diego. During her time at CivicSD, she has contributed to several affordable housing projects including Alpha Square, Comm22, and 9th & Broadway.
