Daily Business Report-Oct. 17, 2018

Interior courtyard of C.W. Driver Companies’ Ampersand development. (Javier Laos Photography)

C.W. Driver puts a ‘30’ on completion

of new office center replacing

 Union-Tribune headquarters

C.W. Driver Companies on Tuesday celebrated the completion of Ampersand, a 330,000-square-foot office center located on the former site of the San Diego Union-Tribune in Mission Valley.

The redevelopment of the 13-acre campus included a major overhaul of a five-story office tower and a three-story industrial/office building. Each consists of 165,000 square feet. Re-imagined spaces incorporate the outdoors with parks throughout the property and along the adjacent San Diego River.

The three-story building originally held the Union-Tribune’s printing plant and was built to withstand the heavy load of printing presses and other equipment. Faced with all brick exterior and concrete interior elements, C.W. Driver Companies was tasked with cutting through the thick composition to open interiors to more natural light, adding new large glass windows and doors.

Designed by Wolcott Architecture, the Ampersand redevelopment project brings the two dated buildings, originally designed and constructed in 1973, into the new era by incorporating modern design elements that pay homage to the property’s unique past. Thirteen-foot ceilings and new oversized windows bring in natural light, while the interior design creates an industrial loft-style feel with exposed brick, concrete pillars and polished concrete floors.

The creative work space also incorporates the surrounding landscape to encourage working outdoors. The property now features nine patios and 64,000 square feet of outdoor collaborative space, in addition to an amphitheater for multi-function gatherings.

A massive ficus tree planted by a former owner of the Union-Tribune, Helen Copley, was preserved in the redesign process and now serves as a prominently featured central meeting space. Called the Treehouse, the unique space includes hanging chairs, hammocks and creative meeting areas. Other on-site amenities include a craft coffee café, indoor/outdoor fitness studio with spa-like lockers and showers for tenants, concierge services such as valet parking and a bike center that offers repair services and ride-sharing bikes.

Ampersand owner and developer Casey Brown Company acquired the Union-Tribune property in 2015 for $52 million from Doug Manchester, the former publisher of the newspaper. The property is named for the ampersand character, which is the last figure in the typesetter’s alphabet and the last character printed when the Union-Tribune shut down its presses in 2016.

(Editor’s Note: “30” has been traditionally used by journalists in North America to indicate the end of a story.)

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4 universities to manage nuclear

research centers under DOE

ExecutiveGov

The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has selected UC San Diego and three other universities to operate new centers of excellence under a shared allotment of $40.5 million. These new centers will work to foster collaboration between the NNSA and academia under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program.

The University of California San Diego will collect $10.5 million to oversee the Center for Matter under Extreme Conditions, which will focus on high-energy density physics research and development. Farhat Beg will lead this center.

George Washington University will collect $12.5 million to operate the Capital/DOE Alliance Center which will focus on high-pressure material science. Russell Hemley will lead this center.

Texas A&M University will receive $12.5 million to administer the Center for Research Excellence on Dynamically Deformed Solids, which will study how material microstructure affects the mechanical performance of 3D printed products. Michael Demkowicz will lead this center.

The University of Michigan will receive $5 million to administer the Center for Laboratory Astrophysics, which will  investigate high-energy density physics. Carolyn Kuranz and R. Paul Drake will lead this center.

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Paint companies face $400 million judgment

for peddling brain-damaging lead paint

By Dan Morain | CALmatters

The U.S. Supreme Court handed California cities and counties a big win Monday on liability for lead paint.

Without comment, the high court refused to hear  a major challenge by business and conservative organizations to a $400-million judgment against paint companies that promoted lead paint decades ago, knowing the product damaged children’s brains.

Attorneys for Santa Clara County, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and seven other localities defended state court rulings that lead paint on houses built in the first half of the 20th Century created a public nuisance.

Ann Ravel was the Santa Clara county counsel who filed the original suit almost 20 years ago: “These paint companies were marketing lead paint knowing that it caused permanent brain damage. … We had the responsibility to help those people who were impacted by it.”

The California Chamber of Commerce urged the high court to intervene, warning:

• The precedent that lead paint sold decades ago constitutes a public nuisance today could extend to many products.
• Oil companies, for example, could face suits over climate change.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned of a “wave of copycat suits that now threaten this country’s businesses.”

Republican attorneys general from Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming called on the court to step in because some states “have attempted to wield public nuisance lawsuits as a weapon.”

Politics: Three paint companies, ConAgra, NL Industries and Sherwin-Williams, spent $8 million to place an initiative on the Nov. 6 ballot to shift clean-up costs to taxpayers.  They dropped  the idea when Democratic Sen. Robert Hertzberg of Los Angeles sought a legislative solution. Talks collapsed in June.

Paint companies will have little choice but to settle, Hertzberg said, now that the Supreme Court has declined to hear the case.

P.S. At least 50,000 kids in 10 cities and counties had elevated lead levels, a study that became evidence in the lawsuit showed.

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San Diego American Indian Health

Center receives $1.25 million grant

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has awarded a grant of $1.25 million to the San Diego American Indian Health Center (SDAIHC), to be allocated over a five-year period.

“This funding is intended to establish and integrate, within the health center’s existing model of care, and in partnership with allied service providers, a culturally responsive behavioral health program focused on substance use prevention and early intervention services while decreasing suicidal behaviors among American Indian and Alaska Native youth through the age of 24 years,” said Dona James, the organization’s interim chief executive officer.

To implement the grant, the project staff will work closely with the local Native American community to establish a community advisory council made up of native youth and adults to advise project development, said James.

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SDSU students graduating at record

high rates across all colleges

San Diego State University students are graduating at record high rates across all seven colleges, and SDSU now ranks No. 1 nationally in graduation rate performance, based on U.S. News & World Report’s most recent college rankings.

The top rank for graduation rate performance acknowledges the university’s success in serving students of many different economic, racial, ethnic and gender affiliations, said SDSU President Adela de la Torre.

.S. News & World Report adjusted its ranking algorithm this year to include social mobility, thereby advantaging  universities that have narrowed the achievement gap—the difference between educational outcomes for low-income and minority students compared to their white peers and students from more privileged socioeconomic backgrounds.

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San Diego Convention Center Wins Best in the West

The San Diego Convention Center has won the Gold Award for Best Convention Center in the Western United States by the 2018 Prevue Visionary Awards.

This is the first time the Prevue Visionary Awards has included a category for convention centers, specifically recognizing venues that are forward-thinking and innovative.

The annual awards acknowledge destinations, hotels and resorts, cruise lines, convention and visitors bureaus, convention centers and airlines of the industry. Prevue’s meeting and incentive planner audience and advisory board voted for winners in 30 categories.

San Diego Convention Center Corporation president and CEO Clifford “Rip” Rippetoe and Vice President of Sales and Services Andy Mikschl were presented the Gold Award at the IMEX America Exhibition in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

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Rising interest rates send mortgages

climbing twice as fast as home values

Buyers’ monthly housing costs are growing rapidly as mortgage rates have risen significantly since the beginning of the year. A new Zillow analysis finds that higher rates are responsible for about two-thirds of the increase in buyers’ monthly mortgage payments compared with what those costs would have been a year ago had home values remained constant at their current level.

Monthly mortgage payments for the typical home are 15.4 percent higher than they were in August 2017. The median home value is 6.5 percent higher over the past year. For someone buying the median U.S. home, their monthly mortgage payments are $118 higher, or $1,416 each year.

These higher mortgage payments reflect the combination of increased home values as well as the higher interest rates for buyers.

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Cal State San Marcos and MiraCosta

team up to help undocumented students

Cal State San Marcos and MiraCosta College have received a $235,000 grant as part of a collaboration to support undocumented students and their families. The grant is called UPRISE, which stands for Undocumented People Rise In Solidarity and Empowerment.

The one-year grant is part of the new California Campus Catalyst Fund, a nearly $10 million, three-year grantmaking initiative to expand support for undocumented students and their families across the state’s three public higher education systems: California Community Colleges, California State University and the University of California.

CSUSM and MiraCosta College are among 32 campuses throughout California that received support this year, and CSUSM is one of four California State University campuses to receive funding.

“Our campus has long been a beacon of hope and opportunity,” said Dr. Geoffrey Gilmore, CSUSM’s assistant vice president of student affairs. “We have seen how education gives people the power to improve their own lives and community. As educators, we are not satisfied with only some people doing well. Everyone should have the support, resources and environment they need to realize their full potential.”

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Personnel Announcements

Jessica White joins Cavignac & Associates

Veteran human resources expert Jessica White has been appointed human resources risk adviser at Cavignac & Associates. In her new role, White provides pragmatic advice to Cavignac & Associates’ clients to help them reduce the frequency and severity of their employee claims.  She primarily interacts with corporate executives and their companies’ respective human resource professionals, counseling them on human resources best practices, presenting practical training, and drafting and/or reviewing human resource materials for compliance.

White has more than 15 years of experience in human resources, 10 of which were in corporate management.  After becoming a licensed attorney, she founded her own firm, JW Employment Law Center, which provided human resources consulting and employment litigation services primarily to the small business community.  

After serving in the U.S. Army, White graduated summa cum laude from the College of St. Scholastica in St. Paul, Minn., with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management, with an emphasis in human resources. She earned her Juris Doctor degree from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minn. 

White began her law career by completing internships with the Minneapolis office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she evaluated charge investigations and mediated disputes; and with the Minnesota Court of Appeals, where she drafted several court decisions.