Daily Business Report-Feb. 7, 2018
Rendering of the Jefferson Pacific Beach project at Mission Bay Drive and Rosewood (Courtesy of Carrier Johnson + Culture)
Jefferson Pacific Beach Project Viewed
as Major Addition to Mission Bay
Jefferson Pacific Beach, a $103.5 million apartment, retail and office development under construction at the former site of the Guy Hill Cadillac dealership in Mission Bay, is being promoted by developer JPI as a major revitalization of the area.
“We believe that this project will provide quality product in an area that has a strong demand for new development,” said Michael Hoyt, vice president with PCCP LLC, a Los Angeles-based real estate finance and investment management firm that provided the construction loa for the project.
Jefferson Pacific Beach will provide 172 luxury apartments, and 14,000 square feet of ground floor retail and office space. Carrier Johnson + Culture was the architect. Amenities will include a surfboard repair/DIY station, and watersport storage space.
One of the major selling points of the project was the decision to upgrade seven existing traffic signals and to add an additional traffic signal in the Mission Bay Drive corridor with an “Adaptive Traffic Signalization” system. The state-of-the-art system allows real-time traffic coordination to achieve more efficient traffic flow and will relieve congestion on Mission Bay Drive.
“Jefferson Pacific Beach will be the catalyst for great improvements to the Mission Bay corridor,” said Councilwoman Lorie Zapf.
Jefferson Pacific Beach will be a neighbor to the iconic flagship Rubio’s restaurant on Mission Bay Drive. Rubio’s founder, Ralph Rubio, said of the project: “Jefferson Pacific Beach will bring a fresh, community-oriented development to the Mission Bay corridor, while preserving the uniqueness of our neighborhood. I think it’s only the beginning of greater, well-deserving things to happen here.”
Construction on Jefferson Pacific Beach is expected to be completed in 2019.
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VRP Skyport Design for Hoover High
Moves Forward for Construction Proposals
Historic Campus to Receive Needed Upgrades
AVRP Skyport announce that its design for two major buildings at Herbert Hoover High School, located at 4474 El Cajon Blvd., is moving forward to the next step in the development process. On Jan. 23, short-listed construction companies began the proposal process by touring the project site.
AVRP’s design for Hoover High will feature a new performing arts theater and a new administration and classroom building. The project will pay homage to the original historical buildings from 1929 while including state-of-the-art facilities for present-day students. AVRP’s design for a new theater will replace the existing undersized facility with a 24,500-square-foot new building consisting of a 500-seat auditorium, theater support space, and two drama classrooms adjacent to costume and scenery workshops which also serve as learning venues.
AVRP’s design also includes a new 45,500-square-foot, three-story building which will consolidate administrative offices, counseling offices, and 20 new classrooms into one structure. Construction for the new facilities is estimated to cost $37 million.
The nearly 90-year old Hoover High campus includes buildings dating back to the 1930s. The school provides education for more than 2,000 students every year.
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Chicago’s Tronc Confirms Sale
of San Diego Union-Tribune to LA Investor
Los Angeles biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong has agreed to purchase the San Diego Union-Tribune and Los Angeles Times from the Chicago-based newspaper chain Tronc, the company confirmed this morning.
“We are pleased to transition leadership of the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune to local ownership, and we are certain that the journalistic excellence in Southern California will continue long into the future,” said Justin Dearborn, CEO of Tronc.
The newspapers are being sold to Soon-Shiong’s investment firm Nant Capital for $500 million in cash plus the assumption of $90 million in pension liabilities.
“We look forward to continuing the great tradition of award-winning journalism carried out by the reporters and editors of the Los Angeles Times, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the other California News Group titles,” said Soon-Shiong.
The acquisition is the San Diego newspaper’s fourth change in ownership since March 2009, when private investment group Platinum Equity of Beverly Hills took over from the Copley family, the longtime local owners.
The deal, which was leaked and widely reported on Tuesday, came together over the past five days and took many observers by surprise.
Tronc, whose name is short for “Tribune online content,” had fended off previous efforts to buy the company outright or peel off the California newspapers. Tronc had insisted The Times was key to its growth strategy given its proximity to Hollywood, technology hubs and the Pacific Rim.
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Rancho Del Oro Commerce Center
in Oceanside Sells for $12.75 Million
Courtyard Mira Mesa LLC, an Irvine-based investor, has acquired Rancho Del Oro Commerce Center in Oceanside for $12.75 million. The multi-tenant industrial project totals 93,160 square feet and consists of four single-story buildings located at 4055, 4059, 4061 and 4065 Oceanside Blvd. The seller was MAJ Investors LP. The center was 92 percent leased at the time of sale.
Mark Avilla of Cushman & Wakefield’s San Diego office represented the buyer in the sale, with Josh McFadyen of Colliers International representing the seller.
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Former NBC News Anchor Susan Taylor
to Present Health Care Talks in La Mesa
San Diego Oasis, a nonprofit organization with office locations in La Mesa and Escondido, will be hosting Susan Taylor at its Lifelong Learning Center in Grossmont Center for two classes focused on health care.
After more than 15 years as an award-winning San Diego news anchor for NBC, Susan joined Scripps in 2011 and raises awareness and understanding of Scripps’ programs, facilities, and services.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21 and April 25 at 10:30 a.m., Taylor will be discussing “Gadgets, Gizmos, and Good Health.” These free presentations will review the latest in technological advances while introducing a multitude of devices that are helping people live longer, healthier, and more productive lives.
Also on those dates, Taylor will present a free presentation at 1 p.m. titled “Do Pigs Fly?” and will review the state of health care today, which is going through its biggest shift in more than 100 years. With technology leading the changes that will drive down costs, this presentation will explain how all this will change the face of medicine.
San Diego Oasis is an award-winning nonprofit organization serving people over the age of 50 throughout the San Diego region by promoting successful aging through lifelong learning, healthy living, and community service
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Tasty and Pink, Sea Urchin Species
May Be a Climate-Tolerant Food Source
A hardy urchin species shows potential to relieve pressure on more vulnerable species, according to new research by California Sea Grant-funded scientists. Read more…
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2 Halves of NASA’s James Webb Space
Telescope Arrive at Northrop Grumman
The two halves of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope now reside at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, where they will come together to form the complete observatory.
“This is a major milestone,” said Eric Smith, program director for Webb at NASA. “With the arrival of the science payload at Northrop Grumman’s Space Park facility, we will now carefully test the observatory to ensure the work of thousands of scientists and engineers across the globe is ready for launch and will enable people to seek the first luminous objects in the universe and search for signs of habitable planets.”
The optical telescope and integrated science instrument module of Webb arrived at Northrop Grumman on Friday, Feb. 2. It was previously at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it successfully completed cryogenic testing.
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Scripps Institute Receives $10 Million Grant
to Study Effects of Alcohol on the Brain
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has awarded scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) a $10 million grant to study how long-term alcohol use changes basic mechanisms of brain function. The researchers will then investigate how novel medications derived from this work may reverse those changes to treat alcohol addiction.
The five-year grant will support five individual research projects and three core resources at the TSRI Alcohol Research Center and will be led by Barbara Mason, the Pearson Family Chair and center director of TSRI-ARC. Together, the projects—involving molecular pharmacology, neurochemistry, electrophysiology, neurocircuitry and clinical studies—aim to better understand what happens in the brain during the extended withdrawal phase a person goes through when they stop drinking, and to develop ways to treat that phase and prevent relapse.
