Daily Business Report-April 19, 2017
Rendering of RAF Pacifica Group’s mixed-use project in Solana Beach.
RAF Pacifica Group Plans Mixed-Use Project
in Solana Beach’s Cedros Design District
RAF Pacifica Group has purchased a 40,000-square-foot land parcel in Solana Beach’s Cedros Design District to build a 26,000-square-foot mixed-use project of restaurants, retail, office and multi-family developments.
The planned development is to be located on the former site of Cedros Gardens and will include 3,200 square feet of high-end restaurant space, 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, 8,000 square feet of office, and eight multifamily units.
“This site is a rare find in the current market,” said Adam Robinson, founder and principal of RAF Pacifica Group. “The opportunity to acquire land that is fully entitled in the heart of such a vibrant district enables us to create a true lifestyle destination that will support Solana Beach’s ongoing revitalization and drive future economic growth, resulting in long-term value and higher quality of life for the community at large.”
RAF Pacifica Group’s project will be located on the same street as Cedros Avenue Design District, an open-air retail center featuring 85 boutique shops and restaurants. Home furnishings and design retailer West Elm plans to open its first Solana Beach store in this center, and a number of other redevelopments are underway within the Cedros Design District.
The Cedros Avenue project will break ground in 2017, with an estimated completion date in 2018. RAF Pacifica Group acquired the 40,000 square-foot entitled land parcel for $5.5 million from a private owner. Robinson said the firm plans to work with Sean MacLeod, a Solana Beach developer, who originally secured the entitlements for the property.
Elsewhere, RAF Pacifica Group broke ground this month on its “vec•tor” project, a two-story creative industrial/R&D facility totaling 169,087 square feet in Carlsbad. Development costs for the project total $30 million. Ware Malcomb has been selected as the architect, and TFW Construction is the general contractor. Vec•tor will be completed in the second quarter of 2018.
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Urban Land Institute Hosts
Healthy Places Awards Gala
Urban Land Institute San Diego-Tijuana District Council will host its Healthy Places Awards Gala on Thursday, May 18, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Corky McMillin Companies Event Center, 2875 Dewey Road, San Diego
The event will recognize development projects and public policies that demonstrate excellence in design, imaginative problem solving and incorporate key principles for creating healthy and vibrant communities.
The cost is$160 for members; $195 for nonmembers. Pre-registration ends May 15. After the deadline, all registrations will be handled at the door and will include an additional $25 fee.
Attendees may register and pay online by clicking here.
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Dagnostic Device Wins Qualcomm’s
$2.6 Million ‘Tricorder’ XPRIZE
San Diego-based Qualcomm’s $2.6 million competition to create a Star Trek-like medical “tricorder” was clinched by a Pennsylvania team led by two brothers.
The Qualcomm Foundation and the XPRIZE awarded the top prize to Final Frontier Medical Devices, led by brothers Dr. Basil Harris, an emergency medicine physician, and George Harris, a network engineer.
A second-place prize of $1 million was granted to a Taiwan-based finalist, Dynamical Biomarkers Group, led by Harvard Medical School Associate Professor Chung-Kang Peng, Ph.D. and supported by HTC Research.
Dr. Paul Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm, and Dr. Peter Diamandis, executive chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, announced the results at a ceremony on Friday in Los Angeles.
“It is very exciting that our vision of mobile, personalized patient-centric health care is getting closer to becoming a reality thanks to the great work of the Qualcomm tricorder XPRIZE teams,” said Jacobs.
“Creating technology breakthroughs in an industry as complex as healthcare is quite a milestone, and what these teams accomplished is a great stepping stone to making mobile healthcare a viable option across the world,” he added.
Launched in 2012, the global competition challenged teams to develop a consumer-focused, mobile diagnostic device inspired by the medical “tricorder” of “Star Trek” fame, first shown to TV viewers more than 50 years ago.
Final Frontier developed an affordable device named “DxtER” that can diagnose and interpret a defined set of 13 health conditions to various degrees, while continuously monitoring five vital health metrics.
A total of 312 teams were involved in the international competition, with six finalists emerging.
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VW to Debut the I.D. Crozz
Autonomous, All-Electric SUV
Volkswagen will debut its “fully-electric, fully-autonomous crossover utility vehicle,” called the I.D. Crozz Concept, this week in Shanghai. Volkswagen design boss Klaus Bischoff called the debut a “100 percent certain prediction of what the future will look like.” The design is based on an electric car platform shared with other companies developing autonomous vehicle technology, including Audi. The I.D. Crozz will reportedly have a range of 311 miles with a battery that charges to “80 percent in 30 minutes.”
