Daily Business Report/Dec. 23, 2016

Rendering shows the bypass route from the Cabrillo Bridge.

SOHO Lawsuit Seeks to Stop

Balboa Park Plaza de Panama Project

The Save Our Heritage Organisation has filed a Superior Court lawsuit against the city of San Diego in an effort to stop the Balboa Park Plaza de Panama project.

The $79 million construction of a massive bypass bridge, roads and paid parking garage woue irreparably damage the historic park, an internationally renowned San Diego treasure that is also a National Historic Landmark District,” the lawsuit states.

SOHO claims the project violates the California Environmental Quality Act. It charges that the San Diego City Council illegally approved a substantially changed project in November by illegally amending the Plaza de Panama Project’s 2012 Environmental Impact Report. It said changes in the project made during the past four years requires new analysis.

“In addition,” the suit states, “the Plaza de Panama Project’s cost has doubled since first proposed, a development that requires reassessment of public benefit. Meanwhile, Balboa Park’s deteriorating historic buildings are in desperate need of restoration and stabilization at a cost preservationists estimate at $500 million.

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Port of San Diego Supports 68,000

Jobs, $8 Billion in Economic Output

Times of San Diego

A new report finds that the Port of San Diego drives $8.3 billion in total economic output and supports 68,300 local job.

The report prepared by Oakland-based Economic & Planning Systems for the San Diego Unified Port District and released Wednesday examined the sprawling port’s impact in 2015.

“This study reinforces what we see every day on the working waterfront; the Port of San Diego is an economic engine for the San Diego region and its impact continues to grow,” said Port Chairman Marshall Merrifield.

The study found a 9 percent increase in economic impact compared to 2013 as cruise and cargo business increased, and development of the waterfront continued.

Among other findings:

• Some 1.8 million tons of cargo moved through the Port’s Tenth Avenue and National City marine terminals
• There were 77 cruise ship calls, with each injecting between $600,000 and $2 million into the local economy
• Industrial and maritime commerce is a significant, but tourism and commercial activity supports more jobs and economic output
• There are now 14 major waterfront hotels and resorts offering nearly 8,000 rooms
• The port generates more than $100 million in combined tax revenues for Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego

The port, a public benefit corporation and regional government agency, administers 2,500 acres of land along 33 miles of waterfront.

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SD Sport Innovators to Open

Applications for Springboard Program

Bill Walton’s SD Sport Innovators (SDSI) organization will open its business accelerator Springboard Program to new applicants in January.

The application period will run from Jan. 2 to Feb. 13, 2017.

Springboard is SDSI’s 20-week business accelerator and mentoring program that helps sports and active lifestyle industry entrepreneurs create sustainable and scalable businesses based on a demanding curriculum and professional mentoring. Participants get a golden key to what is often 500 years of entrepreneurial know-how in mentorship from industry executives.

There is no cost to apply, but upon acceptance companies must be members of SDSI to participate.

Companies who are accepted are paired with a mentoring team including an Businessadvisor, finance mentor and marketing mentor. Entrepreneurs work weekly with their mentoring team, convening for each milestone to present their business opportunity to SDSI Springboard panel for feedback. Mentoring occurs in stages, starting with the development of the 15-minute presentation and then creating a five-minute Quick Pitch and 30-second Elevator Pitch. For more, click here

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CONNECT to Host Annual

International Demo Day

CONNECT announced that it will host its annual International Demo Day on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Companies from the CONNECT location in the Northern Ireland Science Park (NISP) will pitch their startups in an exclusive demo day luncheon at the CONNECT office in UTC.

“CONNECT has been modeled in more than 50 regions around the world and we’re thrilled to have the best CONNECT NISP startups joining us here in San Diego,” said Greg McKee, CEO of CONNECT. “To drive innovation in San Diego we need to have a broad world-view and hosting startups from other CONNECT locations and learning from them is an excellent way to advance and diversify the conversations in our innovation ecosystem.”

The event is an opportunity to bring startups from international CONNECT locations to the United States to pitch in front of investors, partners, and the San Diego innovation ecosystem. This is the second year that NISP CONNECT will bring a slate of startups to San Diego and San Francisco. Startups are selected through a vetting proces. A few pitching companies are Jumpack, TakeTen, AppAttic and BrainWaveBank. For more information, click here