Daily Business Report-June 30, 2017
Paula Sylvia, program manager of Aquaculture & Blue Tech, Port of San Diego, checks a basket of juvenile oysters from the Port’s Oyster Nursery Research Project in Tuna Harbor.
Port of San Diego Launches
‘Blue Economy’ Pilot Projects
The Port of San Diego is entering into agreements for four pilot projects that will assist in the creation, development and scaling of new business ventures on San Diego Bay that focus on aquaculture and blue technology.
The four agreements are the result of a competitive selection process of the Port’s Blue Economy incubator, which was established in 2016 as part of a five-year strategic vision to build a Blue Economy portfolio of companies that could deliver multiple social and environmental benefits to the region.
The Port’s Blue Economy incubator is a launching pad for new ideas and innovative projects by providing key assets and services such as pilot project facilitation, permit-ready infrastructure, entitlements, market access, and strategic funding.
The agreements, authorized by the Board of Port Commissioners, are with San Diego Bay Aquaculture LLC, Red Lion Chem Tech LLC, RentUnder AB and Swell Advantage LTD.
San Diego Bay Aquaculture’s agreement is for a five-year pilot project to demonstrate shellfish aquaculture nursery operations and to operate a floating upweller nursery system, also known as a FLUPSY, in San Diego Bay. The Port would invest $351,600 in a FLUPSY, which would be operated by San Diego Bay Aquaculture.
Red Lion Chem Tech’s agreement is for a one-year pilot project to demonstrate technologies to remove dissolved copper in seawater. The agreement is for $165,000 and would allow Red Lion to conduct a small-scale demonstration of copper mitigation using absorbent media filtration technologies.
RentUnder’s agreement is for a two-year demonstration of its technology for in-water boat hull cleaning using a custom-designed Drive-in Boatwash. The Drive-in Boatwash consists of driving a vessel less than 53 feet in length into an enclosed basin, which is engineered and equipped to mechanically brush the boat’s hull to reduce copper releases into the bay. The agreement is for $140,000.
Swell Advantage’s agreement is for a one-year pilot project to refine development of a smart marina software and smart phone app. The agreement for $100,000 is to create a mapping tool to automate and optimize dock management for marinas.
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USS Gabrielle Giffords Scheduled
to Arrive in Homeport San Diego on July 5
The Navy’s newest littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords is scheduled to arrive in San Diego July 5, completing her first voyage to her homeport.
Following construction and acceptance trials at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala., Giffords set sail to Galveston, Texas, where it was commissioned on June 10.
During her transit, Giffords has conducted Combat Ship Systems Qualification Trials, crew certification training events, regularly scheduled equipment and system checks, and transiting through the Panama Canal. It also visited Manzanillo, Mexico before heading to San Diego.
Giffords is the ninth littoral combat ship to enter the fleet and the fifth Independence-variant LCS. It is features a trimarian hull designed to offer stability for marine and aviation operations in severe sea states. It joins the other LCS ships in San Diego: USS Freedom, USS Independence, USS Fort Worth, USS Coronado, USS Jackson, and USS Montgomery.
The Giffords is named after former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who survived an assassination attempt in 2011. Former Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus selected the namesake and said it was appropriate to name the ship for Giffords, whose name is “synonymous with courage when she inspired the nation with remarkable resiliency and showed the possibilities of the human spirit.”
LCS vessels were designed to be high-speed, shallow draft multi-mission ships capable of operating independently or with an associated strike group. They are designed to defeat growing littoral threats and provide access and dominance in coastal waters.
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Assessor: San Diego County
Property Value Tops $500 Billion
The 2017 assessed value of all taxable property in San Diego County has topped the $500 billion mark, closing at $512.3 billion, County Assessor Ernest Dronenburg reported on Thursday. That’s an increase of 6.05 percent (or $29.2 billion) over last year.
The county’s net assessed value after the deduction of property tax exemptions for homeowners, disabled veterans and charitable organizations is $492.1 billion. Based on Proposition 13’s statutory 1 percent tax rate, this will produce approximately $4.92 billion to fund schools, law enforcement, parks and other public services.
Dronenburg attributes this increase, the fifth annual increase in as many years, to the slow and steady growth in the real estate market. “The real estate market and median home prices have been steadily increasing in the range of 5-6 percent annually for a number of years. This consistent growth is sustainable and will likely continue into the near future,” he said.
While the total assessed value for the county increased by over 6 percent, 81 percent of taxpayers will see an increase of only 2 percent due to the protections offered by Proposition 13.
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Major Tree Planting Project
Slated for Balboa Park
The Balboa Park Conservancy has received a $378,297 state grant to plant 500 trees in Balboa Park over the next two years, helping restore the park’s depleted tree canopy. The project is titled Tree Balboa Park.
Funded by CAL FIRE, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Tree Balboa Park was selected as part of CAL FIRE’s urban forest expansion and improvement initiative through the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The project is in partnership with the city of San Diego Department of Park and Recreation, whose participation and in-kind contributions are $337,702 for a project total of $715,999.
Adding 500 trees to the region’s largest urban park represents a significant contribution to the city’s Climate Action Plan, a core component of which is its Urban Tree Canopy Plan, whose goal is sustaining a resilient urban forest.
The grant helps reestablish Balboa Park’s historic tree canopy, badly depleted, in part by the recent drought. Drought-tolerant trees will be planted to maximize greenhouse gas reduction and provide other environmental benefits, including improved air quality and reduced storm water runoff.
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Personnel Announcements
NoteVault Names John Roshala President
NoteVault announced the promotion of John Roshala to president from chief revenue officer. Roshala will lead all operations globally, as well as explore strategic opportunities to support the company’s growth.
Roshala joined the company in 2015 as senior vice president of global sales before being promoted to chief revenue officer in 2016. Prior to NoteVault, Roshala served as executive vice president of sales at National Powersport Auctions. His career also included stints at XO Communications, where he served as the company’s general manager, and as vice president of sales for Anonymizer.
“The construction industry is at a pivotal state right now with technology on the job site,” said Roshala. “This is an exciting time for NoteVault and to have the opportunity to lead some of the brightest individuals in helping build tools to make companies more successful and safe, is a lifelong dream.”
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Shea Thornbury Joins Environmental Science Associates
Shea Thornbury has joined Environmental Science Associates, an environmental consulting firm, as a strategic business development director — a new position.
She will be working to grow ESA’s practices in the Southern California marketplace, with a focus on infrastructure and utilities.
Shea’s background is rooted in technical water and wastewater infrastructure engineering, with a decade of practice in the United States and abroad in England, Scotland, and Australia. After her return to San Diego, she shifted her career path to focus on strategic business development and client service. Shea is particularly astute in anticipating potential project challenges, facilitating open lines of communication, and developing approaches that meet clients’ varying needs and perspectives. .
In addition to developing business savvy during the past 23 years of her career, Shea also holds master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering and in business administration, both from San Diego State University.
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Hughes Marino Staffs New Seattle Office
Hughes Marino will open its newest office in Seattle on July 5 staffed by CBRE brokers Owen Rice, executive vice president, and Gavin Curtis, vice president.
Rice, a graduate of the University of Washington, was named the state’s office broker of the year at age 36. Other accolades include being CBRE’s top-ranked leasing broker statewide for two of the last three years and top 10 since 2011, as well as being nominated as a 40 Under 40 business leader in the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Owen has been responsible for managing both domestic and international real estate portfolios in aggregate of 3 million plus square feet, representing Fortune 500 companies and the most sophisticated life science and biotech tenants in the region.
Curtis was raised in Seattle and also came up within the local commercial real estate world, where he followed in the footsteps of his father, Ed Curtis (who last year sold his firm, Washington Partners to publicly-traded commercial real estate company, JLL).
The Seattle office will occupy 7,300 square feet on the 25th floor of the downtown Russell Investments Center.
