Daily Business Report-Aug. 15, 2018
Image from JLL’s Craft Beer Guidebook to Real Estate. (Courtesy of JLL)
How does San Diego County’s
craft brewing industry stack up?
With over 160 licensed craft breweries across the county, it is no secret that San Diego is known for its craft beer. Leading the state of California by a large margin, San Diego had 173 small beer manufacturing licenses in 2017, according to JLL’s Craft Beer Guidebook to Real Estate.
The pioneers of the San Diego craft beer industry, such as Stone, Ballast Point, and Karl Strauss have influenced an upsurge in the last five years. Many of the breweries and tasting rooms occupy the industrial and flexible warehouse sector of Carlsbad, Miramar, Vista, San Marcos, Mission Gorge, and Morena.
Size requirements for craft breweries can vary depending on the barrel system they use to produce beer. Microbreweries consider the space size based on the number barrel system. Typically, a 15-barrel system can support up to 30-barrel fermenters; microbreweries are mostly occupying the 1,000- 10,000 square feet range and using the 5 to 15-barrel system for production.
San Diego breweries have had a substantial direct impact on the county’s local economy. The thriving beer industry has also contributed to the increase of tourism and jobs.
With the addition of dynamic breweries opening up-and-down the coast attracting visitors, the San Diego Tourism Authority reported that overall tourism brought in $10.8 billion in 2017, which is a 29 percent increase from 2016. National University also recounted that the industry employs approximately 4,500 people and produces over $850 million in sales in the county.
Click here for the full JLL Craft Beer Guidebook.
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Better Business Bureau merges with
Greater Arizona BBB
to become BBB Pacific Southwest
The Better Business Bureau serving San Diego, Orange and Imperial Counties has merged with BBB Greater Arizona to become BBB Pacific Southwest, serving a territory containing nearly 12 million residents and more than 19,000 BBB-accredited businesses.
Matthew Fehling, who formerly led the Greater Arizona BBB with 23 years of BBB experience was named president and chief executive officer of BBB Pacific Southwest. “The merger is following a proven model of success that has generated positive results through over 30 BBB mergers in the past 20 years,” Fehling said. “The diligence and dedication of our 46 board members and 125 staff are the reason we reached this point of success.”
The merger makes BBB Pacific one of the largest of its kind in North America. BBB operates community campuses in Orange, San Diego, Maricopa (Phoenix), Mohave, Yavapai and Yuma counties providing services ranging from meditation and arbitration to business meeting and training space.
Boards of directors from of each previous organization were key players in the execution of the merger.
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NASSCO receives $147.7 million
contract for work onUSS Cowpens
General Dynamics NASSCO has been awarded a $147.7 million Navy contract for the maintenance, modernization and repairs to the guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens under a “long-term” availability basis.
This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $154.8 million. Work will be performed in NASSCO’s shipyard in San Diego and is expected to be completed by December 2019.
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Forecast: Lack of qualified workers
is greatest impediment to hiring
The San Diego County Business Forecast sponsored by CalPrivate Bank shows the Business Outlook Index remains comfortably in positive territory at 14.9. While not significantly lower than last month’s 19.1, optimism about the number of hours companies will be offering their employees has dipped as businesses anticipate transitioning from the busy summer season into fall. As staffing issues continue to top the list of challenging issues for county businesses, this month’s Forecast explores the topics of hiring and retention. The findings show that a lack of qualified workers is the main obstacle for hiring while retention affects one-quarter of businesses, mostly large firms.
“Evidence of the consequences of the region’s housing crisis on employers’ ability to grow and attract talent is directly reflected in this month’s survey,” said Jerry Sanders, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Chamber. “If we can reduce commute times and home prices, not only will hiring will become easier, it’ll be easier to get employees to stay here.”
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Northrop conducts radar fit check
on Marine Corps Hornet aircraft
ExecutiveBiz
Northrop Grumman has equipped the U.S. Marine Corps’ F/A-18C Hornet aircraft with a scalable agile beam radar during a fit check at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
The Falls Church, Va.-based firm said the installation showed how the APG-83 SABR can be used as an alternative active electronically scanned array on the fighter jet.
Northrop also provided an option to integrate the fire control radar with the Hornet’s power, cooling and avionics systems.
Greg Simer, vice president of integrated avionics systems at Northrop, said the APG-83 meets the Marine Corps’ plan of modernizing an in-production AESA while complying with the existing requirements of the F/A-18 C/D.
Simer added that the SABR also achieved the technical maturity needed for the service’s fleet insertion effort.
APG-83 is designed with modern fighter features that can help counter advanced attacks from adversaries.
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City wins undergrounding case; Judge dismisses lawsuit
A lawsuit to unravel the portion of the city’s Utilities Underground Program that undergrounds utility lines in San Diego neighborhoods was short-circuited when Superior Court Judge Judith F. Hayes granted the city’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing the suit before it got to trial.
Had it succeeded, the lawsuit would have essentially stopped the neighborhood portion of the program in its tracks by forcing the city to return to SDG&E ratepayers more than $200 million SDG&E collected from ratepayers and paid to the city for use by the Utilities Undergrounding Program, according to the City Attorney’s Office. It said much of that money has already been spent by the city on undergrounding projects in neighborhoods across the city, and most of the remainder is earmarked for specific neighborhood projects.
The lawsuit asked that the surcharge imposed on ratepayers by SDG&E be declared an illegal tax imposed by the city without voter approval. The plaintiff, Jesse Willard Mahon Jr., claimed to represent all persons and entities that are customers of SDG&E that paid the surcharge to SDG&E going back to March 2014. Mahon had tried to settle the case with the city for $210 million and agreement to abandon the neighborhood portion of the Utilities Underground Program. With this ruling, he gets nothing.
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General Atomics expands presence
at UAS research and development park
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) will “significantly expand” its presence on Grand Sky, the first and only fully operational civil UAS-focused research and development park in the U.S.
Under the agreement, GA-ASI will expand its current leased space of 5.5 acres to 20 acres, all located along Grand Sky’s “beachfront,” which provides immediate access to Grand Forks Air Force Base’s 12,351-foot runway. Terms of the lease are in place for 10 years.
“This announcement is validation of the value Grand Sky provides to Grand Forks, N.D., and the industry as a whole,” says Thomas Swoyer Jr., president of Grand Sky Development Company.
“Our vision from the beginning was to attract world-class companies to Grand Forks and help them grow their UAS businesses here. Today’s announced expansion certainly demonstrates that vision has become reality.”
GA-ASI currently operates a Flight Test and Training Center in Grand Forks. Flight operations take place at Grand Sky, along with other research activities.
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Personnel Announcements
Ryan Purdy, Courtney Pittam and Natalie Kessler
Join staff of Southwest Strategies
Public affairs firm Southwest Strategies has added three new hires in San Diego: Manager of Public Affairs Ryan Purdy, from San Diego Councilwoman Lorie Zapf’s office; and Account Executives Courtney Pittam and Natalie Kessler, who previously worked with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Purdy joins Southwest Strategies after serving as Zapf’s director of policy. He brings extensive land use and intergovernmental relations experience to Southwest Strategies’ growing team. Purdy also advised the Councilmember on the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) Board, SANDAG Regional Planning Committee and San Diego Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO).
Pittam is a published political journalist, having composed articles on the bipartisan Independent Voter Network. Prior to joining Southwest Strategies, she worked as an economic development, communication and marketing intern with the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. Pittam graduated magna cum laude from Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) with a Bachelors in International Studies.
Kessler joins Southwest Strategies with a background in public service and nonprofit administration. After completing her undergraduate degree in Planning, Public Policy and Management from the University of Oregon, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA Member both in San Diego and Washington D.C. Kessler also supported the Economic Opportunities Program at the Aspen Institute by coordinating policy research and events on topics pertaining to the workforce.
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Tawnya Arteaga joins DuChâteau as director of talent and culture
DuChâteau has named Tawnya Arteaga as its first director of talent and culture. Serving as a key member of the executive leadership team, Arteaga will work to develop new programs that support DuChâteau’s long-term growth plan and ensure the company continues to offer a positive cultural experience for all employees. She will oversee DuChâteau’s human resources and talent acquisition functions, including recruiting and hiring, rewards and benefits programs, employee training and engagement, compliance and process optimization.
Arteaga has more than 20 years of experience in HR and talent development for public and private companies in multiple sectors, including software, banking and management consulting. She is based at DuChâteau’s headquarters in San Diego and reports to co-founders Misael Tagle and Benjamin Buzali.
Arteaga previously served as the president and founder of Evolution HR Consulting, a management consulting firm that worked with businesses to strengthen their human resources functions and align performance with organizational goals. She consulted with DuChâteau on its talent and culture development strategies for close to a year before joining the company full-time this summer.
Prior to starting Evolution HR Consulting, Arteaga spent nearly 15 years in the software field, serving as the director of client services for Equal Parts and previously as an HR business partner with BBSI. Her career has also included held high-level HR roles with Leadfusion and Document Sciences.
