Daily Business Report-Dec. 7, 2018
Procopio’s Downtown offices at 525 B St. (Credit: Bycor)
Procopio law firm expands operations
in Downtown and Del Mar Heights
Procopio law firm said it has expanded its operations in Downtown San Diego and Del Mar Heights, occupying additional office space to better accommodate its attorneys and staff while ensuring more state-of-the-art client meeting and event space.
About 62,000 square feet of office space was either added or refurbished in the expansion.
Procopio expanded in its Downtown San Diego location at 525 B St., a 22-story office building known as the Procopio Tower. Previously occupying five floors as the building’s largest tenant, the firm now occupies a sixth floor, the 18th. The buildout resulted in a 22 percent growth to 107,957 square feet of office space. The 18th floor underwent a custom buildout prior to occupancy, and includes a state-of-the-art conference and training center. Procopio’s public reception area remains on the 22nd floor.
Significant expansion has also occurred at Procopio’s Del Mar Heights office at 12544 High Bluff Drive. Previously occupying the entire third floor of the four-story building, Procopio now occupies the entire fourth floor while also maintaining third-floor office space. Both the third and fourth floor of the Del Mar Heights office underwent a significant remodel before occupancy.
KCM Group oversaw construction. Bycor General Contractors was the contractor. Architectural services were by Carrier Johnson.
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New SANDAG chief to attend first board meeting today
Hasan Ikhrata, the new executive director of SANDAG, the San Diego Association of Governments, will attend his first board of directors meeting this morning. Ikhrata, the former head of the Southern California Association of Governments, stepped into his new role on Monday.
During Ikhrata’s first meeting, the SANDAG board is scheduled to approve the creation of a steering committee to identify future transportation solutions to improve connectivity to San Diego International Airport.
Ikhrata, who holds a master’s in Civil and Industrial Engineering from UCLA and is a PhD candidate in Urban Planning and Transportation from the University of Southern California, has been the executive director of SCAG for 10 years. The metropolitan planning organization is the largest in the nation, covering six counties (Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, and Ventura), 191 cities, and 19 million people.
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Salk Institute’s Nicola Allen receives
$2.5 million as part of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Nicola Allen, an assistant professor in Salk’s Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, has received a five-year, $2.5 million Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Award from the Chan Zuckergerg Initiative (CZI), as part of a $51.95 million effort launching the CZI Neurodegeneration Challenge Network. This new network brings together experimental scientists from diverse research fields—neuroscience, cell biology, biochemistry, immunology and genomics—along with computational biologists and physicians, to understand the underlying causes of disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease and ALS.
As part of the network’s effort to understand the fundamental biology of what causes these diseases and how they progress, Allen will study the role of brain cells called astrocytes. These star-shaped support cells have recently been identified as being critical for the health of the brain, and more insight into their activities could reveal details into potential causes—and treatments—for dementia.
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Survey: Few millennial renters can
afford down payment on a home
88 percent of millennial renters in San Diego say that they plan to purchase a home at some point in the future, but just 3 percent expect to do so within the next year, while 37 percent say that they won’t buy for at least five years. That’s according to an Apartment List survey of 6,400 millennial renters on their plans for homeownership.
The 2018 Millennial Homeownership Report found that while the overwhelming majority of those surveyed would like to purchase a home at some point in the future, far fewer are financially prepared to do so in the near term.
Of the millennial renters in San Diego who plan to purchase a home, 59 percent have zero down payment savings, while just 14 percent have saved $10,000 or more, according to the survey,
Apartment List estimates that 80 percent of prospective millennial homebuyers in San Diego will need more than two decades to save a 20 percent down payment on the median priced condo in their area, while just 7 percent can save a down payment within the next five years.
Click here for the full report.
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Binational leaders urge legislative
approval of new trade agreement
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, together with business and community leaders across the border, are urging legislative approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a pact that would replace the North American Free Trade Agreement if NAFTA is terminated.
The agreement, signed Friday by the leaders of the United States, Mexico and Canada, now enters the critical ratification process. To take effect, each country’s legislative body must approve the new agreement. The chamber said it will continue working with cross-border partners to seek the support needed for ratification.
“Our mission as champions for cross-border commerce starts with ensuring our region’s businesses have access to our top trade partners: Mexico and Canada,” said Chamber President and CEO Jerry Sanders. “The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement will bring certainty to businesses and preserve the trilateral trading bloc that has brought economic vitality to our region for more than a quarter century.”
The Chamber’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to support the updated trade agreement at its meeting on Oct. 25.
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HiCaliber Horse Rescue being evicted,
sued for more than $4 million
By Brad Racino | inewsource
HiCaliber Horse Rescue, which has faced animal cruelty and fraud allegations for months, is being evicted from its Valley Center ranch and sued for more than $4 million. Brenda Markstein filed the lawsuit in Vista Superior Court on Nov. 26, alleging damage to the property, breach of contract and negligence. The suit names HiCaliber and its founders, Michelle Knuttila and Romney Snyder. The Brenda Markstein Living Trust owns the property and has leased it to HiCaliber since September 2014.
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Illumina announces new genotyping array
Illumina Inc. announced the launch of its new high-density genotyping array, the Infinium Global Diversity Array, developed for and inspired by the All of Us Research Program. The All of Us Research Program is a historic effort to gather data from 1million or more people living in the United States, to accelerate human disease research and improve health.
The program is one of the country’s most ambitious biomedical research efforts ever undertaken. It aims to build a nationwide community of at least one million participants from all walks of life, including groups that have been historically underrepresented in research.
Recognizing the significant impact that this project will have on the future of health care, Illumina is making a scientific contribution to the program by providing the new Infinium Global Diversity Array to process up to 1 million samples to three genome centers, at no charge. The new array will be a high-density chip that has been designed to enable achievement of the primary genotyping-based goals of the project.
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San Diego Eater Awards announced
Eater, the food and dining network, has announced its annual Eater Award honorees in San Diego for 2018 — dining standouts that have made a name for themselves in the community.
Topping the list is El Jardin and Chef of the Year Claudette Zepeda-Wilkins, co-owner.
Says Eater: “Claudette Zepeda-Wilkins is used to the spotlight, having survived two grueling seasons on ‘Top Chef,’ but her biggest stage to-date is El Jardin in Liberty Station, a partnership with Rise & Shine Restaurant Group. After toiling tirelessly in several local kitchens, this is a full-circle moment for a chef who is getting national notice for her “matriarchal” perspective on running a restaurant and earning acclaim for a menu that is equally informed by years of cooking with her family in Mexico and time spent traveling and discovering world cuisines.”
Also on the list:
- Restaurant of the Year: Dija Mara
- Design of the Year: Raised by Wolves
- Casual Restaurant of the Year: Lola 55
- Bar and Food Combo of the Year: Bivouac Ciderworks
Click here for the full San Diego report.
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Commentary
California doesn’t have a budget surplus
By Todd Royal
It’s become common folklore that California is booming and incoming Governor Newsom and the Democratic supermajority have more taxpayer money than they will know how to spend, save, or invest. Nothing could be farther from the truth; and it’s the California voters and taxpayers who will continue to be pay for this mistake. We literally owe trillions that isn’t being discussed. Just the estimated payments on public employee pensions in California will increase from $31 billion in today’s dollars to $59 billion in 2024; and this number is based on non-recessionary conditions or a major correction in the stock market. And California immediately needs $800 billion to over $1 trillion worth of infrastructure repairs, upgrades and new construction.
