Daily Business Report-Jan. 21, 2019
Rendering of the property at Front and Beech Streets in Downtown San Diego.
Affirmed Housing Group buys Downtown
property for affordable housing project
Affirmed Housing Group has acquired a 10,000-square-foot parcel located in Downtown San Diego for $3.75 million with plans to develop a new affordable housing community.
Affirmed Housing Group plans to develop 78 affordable units on what is currently a vacant parcel at the southeast corner of Front and Beech Streets, adjacent to the Little Italy neighborhood.
“Affirmed Housing will deliver much needed affordable housing in a good location near all the employment, shopping and transit options in Downtown,” said Victor Krebs, senior vice president at Colliers International. “The property had been owned by the same family since the 1960s, so the sale was a unique opportunity for Affirmed Housing to transform a vacant parcel into affordable housing.”
Colliers International represented the seller Central Auto Parks, LLC. Affirmed Housing Group was self-represented.
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PetDesk raises $12 to expand
into pet grooming industry
PetDesk, a San Diego-based pet care communication company, said it has raised $12 million from Silicon Valley-based firm PeakSpan Capital. PetDesk plans to use this Series B funding to expand from the veterinary industry into the pet grooming industry to drive better health outcomes for companion animals in North America.
“It is evident that the 800,000 pet parents currently using the PetDesk app have become more engaged with their pets’ health and are more compliant about their needs – and that means healthier animals,” said Taylor Cavanah, CEO of PetDesk. “But regular grooming is also a critical part of maintaining optimal health. This funding will allow us to expand our software application to professional groomers across the country, providing an easy-to-use tool to ensure that regular grooming is weaved into a pet parent’s calendar. And, pet parents will now be able to leverage the PetDesk app to book appointments both with veterinary practices and grooming shops.”
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Scripps cardiologist wins
prestigious innovation prize
Scripps Clinic cardiologist Richard Schatz, M.D., has won the 2019 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize, presented by the National Academy of Engineering and Ohio University, for his seminal role in the development of heart stents, which spurred a revolution in the treatment of coronary artery disease.
Schatz was among five physicians and researchers who received the prestigious honor this month for their various inventions and innovations that led to the widespread adoption of percutaneous coronary intervention. Also known as “PCI,” the catheter-based minimally invasive procedure uses stents and angioplasty to clear blocked arteries in the heart.
Schatz is research director of cardiovascular interventions at the Scripps Heart, Lung and Vascular Center in San Diego, and director of gene and stem cell therapy. He is a recognized international expert in interventional cardiology and has published and lectured extensively.
In 1988, Schatz and fellow Russ Prize recipient Julio Palmaz, M.D., received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the first study of stents in human coronary circulation. In 1994, the FDA approved the Palmaz-Schatz stent as the first such device to reduce restenosis, which is the arterial narrowing that can occur after a balloon angioplasty.
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Julio Estrada appointed executive officer
of Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board
Julio Estrada has been appointed to serve as executive officer of the county of San Diego Citizens’ Law Enforcement Review Board. Estrada has over 20 years’ experience in public safety and is a specialist in death investigations. He comes to CLERB from the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office, where he served as a supervising medical examiner investigator. Prior to that, he served as a special investigator with CLERB for two years.
Estrada is a medical doctor, receiving his training from the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. In his new capacity as CLERB’s executive officer, he will draw from a seasoned career responding to citizen inquiries, exercising leadership and conducting thorough investigations.
CLERB was established in 1990 by San Diego County voters to serve as an independent, citizen review panel to investigate complaints against San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies and probation officers.
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SDSU researcher receives
national award from NASPA
For significant research contributions advancing the student affairs field, Marilee Bresciani Ludvik will receive the 2019 Robert H. Shaffer Award for Academic Excellence as a Graduate Faculty Member, granted by NASPA — Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
The 15,000-member NASPA, the leading international association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of the student affairs profession, will honor Bresciani Ludvik and other national award recipients during its national conference in Los Angeles in March.
Ludvik, professor of postsecondary educational leadership at San Diego State University, relies on translational neuroscience and mindful compassion practices to inform the design and evaluation of workshops, curriculum and coaching practices to decrease stress and anxiety among students, faculty and administrators on campus. Her research also informs practices that help increase attention and emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility, as well as enhanced compassion towards self and other, inquiry, creativity and overall well-being.
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Triton Innovation Challenge:
Scripps entrepreneurs venture beyond barriers
Every year, changemakers from the Jacobs School of Engineering, Rady School of Management and Scripps Institution of Oceanography compete in the Triton Innovation Challenge. The competition brings together three groups in a challenge centered on the support of startups that showcase the intersection between innovation, sustainability, and entrepreneurship.
In December 2018, six teams presented their ventures on a night full of social and environmental innovation at the 7th annual Triton Innovation Challenge.
This year’s challenge welcomed the most educationally diverse class of competitors yet, consisting of postdoctoral scholars, staff, alumni and undergraduate and PhD students. Consistent with previous competitions, the program received twenty-five applications.
After two rounds of pre-screening, six teams were selected to present their final pitches in the Triton Innovation Challenge competition. This year, Scripps had a substantial presence: three out of the six startups were led by members of the Scripps community—and one of those three placed in the top three.
These Scripps startups participated in a rigorous four-week startup prep program, which matched them with external business mentors, a startup teaching team from the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, and expert coaching on their business and pitch in advance of the semi-finals and finals.
After each team presented its venture, a panel of guest judges determined the winners—first place received $10,000, second place received $5,000 and third place was awarded $2,500. Attendees used an online voting mechanism to vote for their favorite venture, which determined the $2,500 Audience Favorite Award.
First place and the Audience Favorite Award went to Rady School of Management-led startup Bevea—a naturally caffeinated and sustainably-sourced health beverage. Founded by Scripps PhD candidate Jack Pan, Ocean Motion Technologies—a company harnessing the energy from ocean waves and turning it into electricity and compressed air—placed second in the competition. Third place was awarded to Khepra, a startup that sustainably produces biofuel, which was led by undergraduate student Julie Kring. Kring studies Biochemistry and currently works in the Brian Palenik Laboratory at Scripps.
