Daily Business Report-Nov. 17, 2016
A San Diego life sciences startup. (Courtesy CONNECT)
$1.1 Billion Invested in San Diego
Life Sciences Startups in 2016
San Diego life science companies received $1.1 billion in venture capital investments in 2016 — a quarter of all the funding in California.
That was one of the findings released Wednesday by the trade group California Life Sciences Association in its annual report prepared by the accounting firm PwC.
The report found that the life sciences sector in San Diego employs 38,694 people at an average annual salary of $138,951.
Employment was higher in the Bay Area, Los Angles and Orange County, but San Diego ranked second in venture capital investment after the Bay Area. However, the report found that the life sciences industry is beginning to grow in Los Angeles.
“For years, the Bay Area and San Diego have been the two poles of California’s entrepreneurial life sciences culture,” the report said. “Despite its size and strength in entertainment, agriculture and other sectors, Los Angeles has remained relatively quiet. The city is starting to play catch-up and has made huge progress in the past few years.”
California leads the United States in life sciences, employing 122,500 people — three times as many as any other state. There are 3,040 companies generating more than $147 billion in annual revenue.
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New Safety Rules Approved for Caterers
Serving Food at Breweries and Wineries
San Diego County supervisors adopted new rules Wednesday to make sure people are safe when they visit the region’s growing number of breweries and wineries and decide to have a burger with their brew or more than just a little cheese with their wine.
Supervisors voted 4-0 to adopt an ordinance and two new permits that will apply food-safety rules found in restaurants to caterers hired to serve food at breweries, wineries and other businesses.
Supervisor Dianne Jacob said the rules would be the first of their kind in California and would serve as a model ordinance for other counties and cities. She also said they would help the county’s burgeoning winery and brewery industry grow even more.
“(With) this ordinance our county will establish a lot more flexibility and opportunity for caterers, food vendors, wineries and breweries,” Jacob said. “In the end it’s going to help to support, and enhance and expand our local farm and ag-tourism efforts that (we) have been so excited about.”
The ordinance will allow caterers to handle the food-service for wineries, breweries and businesses that don’t have full food-service capabilities — while making sure customers are protected by ensuring foods are heated and refrigerated correctly, and that food preparers and servers have equipment for proper hygiene.
The ordinance is scheduled to be heard again by the board Dec. 14 for a second reading and public hearing. The ordinance would then take effect in 30 days if the board approves the second reading.
The County’s Department of Environmental Health recommended the new rules after conducting a three-month pilot study of 25 catering events at 10 wineries, 13 breweries and two private functions. The board approved the study in May at Jacob’s recommendation.
Environmental health staff reported Wednesday that they saw three common problems during the study that could increase bacteria and the potential for people to get sick with food-borne illnesses.
They included food servers using ice coolers, which warm up when ice melts, rather than portable refrigerators, to try to keep cold foods safely chilled; and not having ready access to sinks to wash utensils, equipment and food-servers hands. The study found that less than one-half of food servers in the study had access to proper sinks.
The board’s action Wednesday will create two new types of permits. Breweries, wineries and other businesses who want to use caterers to provide their customers’ food will have to get “host facility” permits that ensure they have readily accessible sinks for food servers to clean utensils, equipment and their hands, as well as electricity, hot water and commercial bathrooms.
Caterers will be allowed to get “direct sales catering” permits that will expand the traditional definition of “catering” from just serving private affairs to being able to sell directly to the public. The permits will require caterers to have refrigeration and hand washing.
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General Atomics Gets NOAA
Tornado Detection Research Grant
General Atomics’ electromagnetic systems business has secured a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to research a method for direct tornado detection.
The company said Wednesday it will form a collaborative research team with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, which also received a separate NOAA grant, to study the use of infrasound technology as a way to detect tornado.
The team will work to gather infrasound emissions produced during severe weather conditions with General Atomics-built Infrasound Collection Element sensors as part of NOAA’s Verification of the Origin of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiement-Southeast research program.
General Atomics and the University of Alabama will then correlate and verify the sensor data with information from dual polarization Doppler radar and other sources before they analyze the data and develop an algorithm for tornado detetion.
“Grants such as this are incredibly important in facilitating scientific and engineering researdh to validate the use and effectiveness of infrasound technologies to complement current detection methods,” said Nick Bucci, vice president of missile defense and space systems at General Atomics’ electromagnetic system unit.
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Alaska Airlines to Offer Nonstop Service
Between San Diego and Baltimore
Alaska Airlines announced plans to continue its expansion from the West Coast with new nonstop service between San Diego and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport beginning March 15, 2017.
“Our San Diego customers will soon enjoy nonstop flights to this historic seaport city, as well as easy access to the nation’s capital nearby,” said John Kirby, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of capacity planning. Baltimore represents the fourth East Coast destination added by Alaska from its Southern California focus city of San Diego since 2012. Other recently added destinations include Boston, Orlando and Newark, New Jersey, which begins service Monday.
Alaska currently serves Baltimore from two other West Coast cities: Seattle and Los Angeles.
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Private Rancho Santa Fe
Estate Going to Auction
A private estate located within Rancho Santa Fe’s exclusive community “The Covenant” will sell to the highest bidder next month through Concierge Auctions. The auction will take place via Concierge Auctions’ custom mobile bidding app Instant Gavel, which allows buyers to bid in real-time on their phone from anywhere in the world.
Previously listed for $12.85 million, Il Incanto — located at 6605 La Valle Plateada — will sell to the highest bidder on Dec. 15. Set on nearly six acres of rolling lawns, trees, koi ponds and lemon orchards, the 12,254-square-foot family estate features three structures: a single-level, five-en-suite bedroom main residence; a private guest home; and an eight-stall barn equipped with complete equestrian facilities.
The 10,000-square-foot main home is characterized by traditional and European finishes including herringbone wood floors and Venetian plaster walls. It boasts an open floorplan including a library, family room with French doors and a recently remodeled loggia with an outdoor kitchen, fireplace, pool and spa. Additionally, residents will have access to the community’s exclusive amenities including riding and tennis clubs, art and library guilds, parks and playing fields, a 50-mile equestrian trail system and world-class golf course.
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Stos Partners Acquires National
City Industrial Building for $12.2 Million
Stos Partners, a privately held commercial real estate investment and management firm, has acquired a 91,541-square-foot, single-tenant industrial building situated on 6.12 acres in National City for $12.225 million. During escrow, the firm secured a long-term lease with a credit tenant.
Stos Partners plans to invest in significant capital improvements for the facility. The firm will add a new roof, new exterior paint, and new landscaping, and will upgrade the parking lot and HVAC system.
The property is located at 901 Bay Marina Drive in National City. The seller, a public company, was represented by Colliers International in the transaction. Lee & Associates represented Stos Partners.
“This transaction is a win for us in many ways,” says CJ Stos, principal of Stos Partners. “The property was a rare find — a vacant industrial facility in close proximity to freeways and ports with approximately three acres of excess land.”
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Achieve UC Outreach Initiative
Aims to Recruit High School Students
Leaders from the University of California San Diego will be joining administrators throughout the UC system on Nov. 19 for the Achieve UC outreach initiative, designed to urge thousands of high school students and their families to aim for a UC education.
For UC San Diego’s Achieve UC event, the university has invited students from socio-economically disadvantaged high schools throughout San Diego and Imperial counties to campus from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Nov. 19 to share the message that a UC San Diego education is attainable and affordable. Hundreds of students and guests are expected to attend a series of workshops and panels where they will receive information about admissions, UC application personal insight questions and financial aid. In addition, they can participate in a campus tour and hear from UC counselors and advisors who will be available to discuss university eligibility requirements.
“We are pleased to welcome high school students throughout our community to our campus and we want them to see themselves at UC San Diego,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “Achieve UC is an important event to let students and their families know we are committed to remaining accessible and affordable to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds.”
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Study Finds Arthritis Drug Significantly
Effective in Treating Crohn’s Disease
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have shown that ustekinumab, a human antibody used to treat arthritis, significantly induces response and remission in patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease. Results of the clinical trial will appear in the Nov. 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
“A high percentage of the patients in the study who had not responded to conventional therapies were in clinical remission after only a single dose of intravenous ustekinumab,” said William J. Sandborn, professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at UC San Diego Health. “Finding effective new treatment options for this patient population is critical because Crohn’s disease can dramatically impact a person’s quality of life. Patients suffering from this disease may go to the bathroom up to 20 times a day and experience abdominal pain, ulcers and a reduced appetite.”
Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract that affects approximately 700,000 people in the United States.
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San Diego Home Prices Rising;
Mortgage Rates Could Dampen Sales
The recovery in the housing market continued in October with prices rising in San Diego and across California, but increasing mortgage rates may slow sales in coming months.
The California Association of Realtors said Wednesday sales of existing, single-family detached homes in California totaled a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 442,970 units in October, up 4.1 percent from September and 8 percent from October 2015. Statewide home sales remained above the 400,000 pace for the seventh straight month.
Sales in San Diego County fell 2.7 percent from September to October, but were up 7.1 percent from a year ago.
The median price of a single-family home in California stood at $513,520 in October, the seventh straight month that it was above $500,000.
Prices were even higher in San Diego County, with the median in October at $576,620, up from $569,000 in September and $520,500 a year ago.
“With prices continuing to increase amid a low supply of homes for sale on the market, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal regions, home buyers are migrating toward lower-priced homes in more affordable inland areas,” said Geoff McIntosh, president of the Realtors group. “As a result, home prices at the lower end of the market have risen significantly in the past year, challenging an already depressed home ownership rate.”
But rising mortgage rates could slow sales in coming months. The rate in October for a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 3.47 percent, up from 3.46 percent in September.
“Mortgage rates have already started to increase and are likely to rise higher as the Federal Reserve normalizes monetary policy,” the Realtors noted in their monthly report.
