Daily Business Report-June 20, 2018
Deck overlooking the bay. (Photos courtesy of Bosa Development)
Nat Bosa opens his newest, most lavish
Downtown residences — Pacific Gate
Pacific Gate by Bosa, downtown San Diego’s newest big residential building, has opened. The 41-story building at Pacific Highway and Broadway has 215 residents and is more than 70 percent sold.
Amenities include an original piece of public art by world-renowned artist Jaume Plensa, and Puffer Malarkey Restaurants’ newest restaurant concept, Animae.
The building and design team include Bosa Development, New York-based architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox, and interior design firm Hirsch Bedner Associates.
“We have built a great and timeless building that people should be proud of and enjoy for a long time; there is nothing else like it,” said Nat Bosa, chairman of Bosa Development.
Residents have been taking advantage of the curated amenities designed specifically for enhanced luxury waterfront living in Southern California. One of the most unique offerings is the exclusive access to Pacific Dream — a 45-foot Cruisers Yacht. Residents and their guests have already been enjoying their time on the San Diego Bay with the yacht. Additional amenities include access to a private luxury fleet of cars, chef concierge and porter services to facilitate residents’ needs, from restaurant or entertaining assistance, as well as a 24-hour attended lobby. Pacific Gate also includes a residents’ lounge with full kitchen, a screening room for owners’ private movie viewings, a conference/meeting room, business center, guest suite, fitness center, steam/sauna rooms, a pool terrace with poolside cabanas and an outdoor pet retreat.
Residences range from approximately 1,276 to 2,450 square feet and are priced from the $1.1 millions. To learn more visit www.PacificGatebyBosa.com
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Optimism among county businesses
retreats to five-month low
Optimism waned significantly between April and May, as the Business Outlook Index (BOI) dipped six points to 15.9 in this month’s Business Forecast sponsored by CalPrivate Bank. County business people also weighed in on flexible work schedules this month with overwhelmingly positive responses. Eighty percent of firms believe they help both companies and employees, and 82 percent say flexible schedules benefit the company’s employee retention and recruitment efforts, as well as overall productivity.
“As businesses adjust to the changing dynamics of office culture and employee needs, companies that offer flexible schedules will have an advantage over other companies competing for the same talent,” said Jerry Sanders, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber. “Our survey shows some industries are more receptive to these types of schedules, but when they work, many organizations agree they can help increase innovation and productivity of employees.”
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Port to install solar-powered microgrid
with $5 million grant from the state
The Port of San Diego has secured a nearly $5 million grant for the installation of a renewable, solar-powered microgrid at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, one of the Port’s two marine cargo terminals.
The Board of Port Commissioners authorized a grant funding agreement for the microgrid project with the California Energy Commission. The grant agreement includes $4,985,272 from the CEC, $4,427,973 in matching funds from the Port, and an additional $201,963 in matching funds from the University of California San Diego, a partner with the Port on the project. The total cost of the project is anticipated to be approximately $9,600,000.
Solar photovoltaic panels will power the microgrid, which will also include battery energy storage, efficiency improvements, electrical infrastructure improvements, and a centralized microgrid controller. The microgrid will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal, save the Port an estimated $168,000, or 60 percent, per year over current utility rates, and enable the operation of critical terminal infrastructure for approximately 12 hours without being connected to the larger electrical grid, according to Port officials.
The microgrid, which is anticipated to be installed in spring 2020, will provide back-up power to Port-operated facilities, including security infrastructure, lights, offices, and the existing jet fuel storage system.
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General Atomics conducts successful
lightning tests on MQ-9B drone
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. used its second full-scale MQ-9B to conduct successful lightning tests at its facility in Poway last month. The test was conducted jointly between engineers from General Atomics and NTS Pittsfield, a leader in the development of sophisticated lightning protection systems for the aerospace industry. MQ-9B is Cubic’s latest evolution of the multi-mission Predator B fleet of Remotely Piloted Aircraft. The same lightning protection technology will be used by General Atomics for its proposed MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueling tanker for the U.S. Navy.
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Bank of America awards $532,500 in grants
to more than 40 groups to fight homelessness
Bank of America announced $532,500 in grants to more than 40 nonprofits that help address the needs of those at risk for or experiencing homelessness across San Diego. The grants focus on increasing access to shelter and wraparound supportive services, in addition to job skills, education and other basic needs that are fundamental to establishing financial stability.
San Diego has the fourth largest homeless population in the United States according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. More than 9,100 people are homeless, a 5 percent increase from the previous year.
One of the grantees, Alpha Project For The Homeless, will use the funding for their Rapid Re-Housing program that provides rental assistance, landlord advocacy and assistance with finding affordable housing and case management for homeless families and/or individuals. Their primary goal is to move people into permanent housing.
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Nurses Week results from AMN
Sponsorships in Haiti, Africa
During National Nurses Week 2018, AMN Healthcare provided donations to community programs in Haiti and South Africa as awards in the names of travel nurses who won AMN Commitment to Excellence Awards. The donations provided approximately 1,250 hours of employment in Haiti and nearly 70 meals to impoverished children in the Central African Republic.
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Chula Vista’s Stone Creek Apartments
sold for $35 million
Stone Creek Apartments, a recently constructed, 97-unit luxury apartment community in Chula Vista, has sold for $35 million. The buyer is Oktogon Stone Creek LLC. The seller was 3875 Main St. Investors LLC.
Stone Creek Apartments was completed in April 2018 and features park space with BBQ’s and outdoor seating, a clubhouse, and oversized pool. The community is located on a 4.68-acre parcel at 3875 Main St.
Colliers International San Diego represented the buyer. The seller was represented by California American Realty Advisors.
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Personnel Announcements
Mike Kennedy joins PointPredictive
PointPredictive announced that Mike Kennedy has joined the company as vice president of analytics to spearhead the growing team of data scientists in its San Diego offices. He has more than 20 years of machine learning experience across credit card, retail banking, small business and auto lending with a focus on leveraging advanced data science to stream-line lending decisions while driving down fraud and misrepresentation risk. He previously held key leadership positions at Mulligan Funding, Opera Solutions and Fair Isaac Corporation.
Kennedy will focus on driving performance improvements in the company’s automotive, mortgage and retail artificial intelligence solutions that power stream-lined decisions in lending that also reduce fraud and misrepresentation risk by more than 50 percent using a modern, real-time, predictive scoring approach. By leveraging innovative techniques such as deep neural networks, he plans to reduce fraud and misrepresentation losses for PointPredictive customers by an additional 20 percent over the next year.
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Eric Thies joins Kidder Mathews
Eric Thies has joined Kidder Mathews’ San Diego office as a senior vice president where he will focus on investment properties.
Thies has 38 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. His expertise is in institutional and government property sales and leasing. Prior to joining Kidder Mathews, he was with Burnham Real Estate in San Diego. His notable clients include Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Federal Housing Administration and Government Services Administration.
