Daily Business Report-Feb. 8, 2019
More than 14,000 Girl Scouts in San Diego and Imperial counties are taking part in the Girl Scout Cookie Program. (Photo courtesy of Girl Scouts San Diego/Imperial Counties)
Smart Cookies: Girl Scouts partner
with local businesses in annual cookie sales
Local Girl Scouts will begin hosting cookie booths in front of businesses today, making it easier for consumers to stock up on their favorite confection. A total of 148 companies at 346 locations are partnering with Girl Scout troops this cookie season.
Participating entities include grocery outlets like Albertsons and Vons, 7-Eleven stores, restaurants, banks and other financial institutions, including Mission Federal Credit Union. More unusual venues include Dorothy’s Military Shop, Genie Carwash, Macho Tacos, Moo Time Creamery, PetSmart, Ransom Brothers Lumber-True Value, and Rockin’ Jump San Diego. Customers can locate a nearby booth with the Girl Scout Cookie Finder app, available at sdgirlscouts.org/cookies.
More than 14,000 Girl Scouts in San Diego and Imperial counties are taking part in the Girl Scout Cookie Program, the nation’s largest annual financial investment in girls. They began going door to door on Jan. 27.
The cookie program is a powerful entrepreneurship incubator for the next generation of female leaders. Girl Scouts learn the goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills, and business ethics that will prepare them for their future as the next generation of female leaders. It works: more than half (53 percent) of female entrepreneurs and business owners are Girl Scout alumnae.
All net revenue from the cookie program stays local to fund camp, outdoor adventures, programs in science and technology, and the financial assistance that keeps Girl Scouting available and affordable.
For the fifth year, Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Tagalongs and Savannah Smiles are priced at $5 per box. Two other varieties—Girl Scout S’mores and gluten-free Toffee-tastic—are again priced at $6 because of higher production costs. Toffee-tastic is the country’s fourth-best-selling gluten-free cookie, while Whole Food-certified Girl Scout S’mores are made with natural ingredients, specialty flavors, and no GMOs.
San Diego cookie customers can also support the military with “a taste of home and a note to show we care.” Through Operation Thin Mint, a local service project that started in 2002, the public sends cookies to deployed U.S. military troops and local veterans. More than three million boxes of cookies and countless notes of support have been donated since Operation Thin Mint began in 2002.
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California’s new online community
college taps tech entrepreneur for top job
By Felicia Mello | CALmatters
A tech entrepreneur and former Gates Foundation official has been tapped to run California’s controversial new online community college.
Heather Hiles, CEO of a venture capital fund, founder of digital portfolio platform Pathbrite, and an academic outsider was the almost-unanimous choice of the state’s community college board on Wednesday. One trustee, Cosumnes River College professor Man Phan, abstained because he objected to her $385,000 salary.
Board President Tom Epstein: “Nobody better understands the communities the college aims to serve — the needs of both working adults and hiring managers in the modern economy — than she does.”
Hiles: “I think it’s the biggest challenge I’ve had the opportunity to take on … There are easily 10 million Californians who are underemployed or have to work multiple jobs to survive. People are looking for the information and the social networks that can get them the kinds of jobs they want.”
Faculty unions have objected to the online college, signed into law last year by Gov. Jerry Brown and granted $100 million in startup costs provided it enroll its first class by this fall.
Aimed at training and credentialing for adult workers, it won’t be Internet-only, Hiles tells Mello: “A pure online offering does not work well with people who haven’t been successful in education in the past.”
Read Felicia Mello’s full report
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Homelessness plan creates 3,000-plus
housing opportunities in San Diego
The San Diego Housing Commission’s homelessness action plan — Housing First-San Diego — has created more than 3,000 housing opportunities for San Diegans experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, achieving its three-year goal in just 18 months, according to city officials.
Launched on July 1, 2017, the current phase of Housing First-San Diego directs $79.7 million in federal, city of San Diego, and SDHC resources over three fiscal years (2018-2020) toward programs to create permanent housing opportunities for individuals and families experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness in the City of San Diego.
“The 3,051 housing opportunities created so far through Housing First-San Diego provide a path to permanent housing for individuals and families in San Diego who otherwise would be in shelters or on the streets. This is a tremendous step forward in our partnership efforts to address homelessness, and I look forward to the additional housing opportunities that will be created in the next 18 months and beyond,” said SDHC President & CEO Richard C. Gentry.
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2019 housing market forecast: prices
remain flat, sales pull back, buyers on sidelines
The California housing market will continue soft in 2019 as prices remain flat and sales pull back because buyers are expected to remain on the sidelines throughout the year, according to California Association of Realtors (CAR) senior economist Oscar Wei. At CAR’s recent “2019 Housing Market Outlook” Feb. 6 presentation to members of the Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors (PSAR), Wei said, “The overall market will continue on a declining trend. Any growth will be at a very modest pace.”
Wei said current market fundamentals, including positive job growth, income growth and household formation, are still solid even though sales are down double-digits despite recent declines in interest rates. He also said if a second government shutdown occurs, similar to the recent 35-day partial shutdown which exacerbated partisan divisions, then the real estate market and U.S. economy could be negatively impacted.
Wei also told PSAR members that a window of opportunity is currently open for buyers as price growth remains near its lowest levels since early 2012. “Many should buy now before interest rates climb higher in the near future,” said Wei. “Inventory levels are improving, yet a tight supply led to one third of sales closing above asking price in 2018. The Fed has raised interest rates nine times since December 2015. If interest rates increase too fast, then economic growth will come to a halt.”
PSAR, a 3,200-member real estate trade group for San Diego-area Realtors, operates three service centers in Chula Vista, El Cajon and San Diego’s Clairemont Mesa area.
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Sudberry Properties creates
Residential Management Division
Sudberry Properties has established a new Residential Management Division and hired a staff of more than 20 property management professionals to manage the company’s portfolio of multifamily apartment communities that consists of 1,350 existing apartments and 525 more under construction that will open by 2020. The division will be headed by Diana Longoria, who was recently hired as vice president/asset management – residential.
“With our growing residential multifamily portfolio, we’ve decided to bring property management in-house,” said Colton Sudberry, president of Sudberry Properties. “Property management is already one of our core competencies. We currently manage nearly 5 million square feet of commercial and mixed-use properties throughout San Diego County.
Multifamily landholdings include entitlements for approximately 5,000 more units to be developed throughout Southern California and Nevada.
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Deadline Feb. 15 for $1 million health competition
The deadline for The Alliance Healthcare Foundation’s Innovation Initiative (i2) Funding Challenge 2019 is midnight on Friday, Feb. 15, with $1 million at stake. The largest health and wellness prize competition in the U.S., the i2 Challenge seeks the most promising innovations to advance health and wellness in vulnerable populations in San Diego and/or Imperial Counties. Winning innovations will demonstrate a sustainable way to reduce cost and poor outcomes, improve quality, and increase capacity in a segment of the health continuum.
The competition is open to innovators with transformative ideas and existing or new social enterprises (nonprofits, B Corps, or for-profits that advance health and wellness of those in need). The innovation must initially target populations within San Diego and/or Imperial counties.
Competitors can enter the competition simply by filling out a simple online IDEA application found at https://alliancehf.org/programs/i2-innovation-initiative/.
“The i2 challenge represents our commitment and therefore willingness to take risks by funding innovations that can dramatically improve the health paradigm in vulnerable populations,” said Alliance Healthcare Foundation Interim Executive Director Elizabeth Dreicer.
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UC San Diego celebrates Gilman Bridge completion
UC San Diego celebrated the completion of the Gilman Bridge, which spans across Interstate 5, at Thursday’s Gilman Bridge Ribbon Cutting and Community Celebration. More than 500 attendees gathered on the new bridge, which unites Gilman Drive on the west and Medical Center Drive on the east, making it quicker and more efficient to get across the UC San Diego campus without using congested city streets. The bridge will officially open to traffic on Feb. 8, weather permitting.
UC San Diego structural engineering alumnus Tony Sanchez of global infrastructure firm Moffatt & Nickel is the engineer of record for the project
The 406-foot long bridge was built as part of a series of regional transportation projects, including the trolley and the Genesee/I-5 interchange enhancements, all designed to ease street traffic and parking demands, improve air quality and better connect the university with the greater San Diego community.
To facilitate smooth traffic flow, the bridge and intersections on both sides have a three-lane configuration: one lane of traffic each way with a protected left-hand turn lane. Sidewalks and bicycle lanes are included. In addition, a new pedestrian bridge connects graduate housing in the Mesa Neighborhood to Gilman Bridge at Medical Center Drive.
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Watermen Investments opens Escondido boutique office project
Watermen Investments and Colliers International San Diego Region announce the opening of 704 E Grand, a recently completed 8,844 square foot boutique office property located in the heart of downtown Escondido.
704 E Grand is currently listed for sale or lease with representation by Chris Williams, Marc Posthumus, and Hank Jenkins of Colliers International San Diego Region. Jake Hicks Construction was the contractor.
The property, which features two buildings connected by a courtyard, has been updated with an open, industrial feel that can be customized with any blend of contemporary and traditional office space. Large glass doors and pivoting windows integrate the courtyard with adjoining office space, creating a collaborative indoor and outdoor space. 704 E Grand has also been equipped with new LED lighting, foam roofing, drought tolerant landscaping, new parking, ductless HVAC and a new electrical system, among other features.
“Watermen Investments completely overhauled an outdated 1970s building, taking it down to the studs and transforming it into a vibrant, contemporary office space,” said Matt Belshin, rincipal of Watermen Investments. “We’re proud to bring new life into a space that couples the vintage character of the building with the functionality of new construction.”
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Sharp HealthCare CEO and Friends of SDSU
receive awards ar chamber anniversary celebration
Mike Murphy, president and CEO of Sharp HealthCare, received the Herb Klein Spirit of San Diego Award Wednesday night at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 148th Anniversary Celebration. The award honors someone who has made a significant and lasting impact on the region. In Murphy’s more than 20 years as president and CEO of Sharp HealthCare, he has grown annual revenue from $745 million in 1996 to more than $3.4 billion today and transformed the health care experience through his visionary initiative, “The Sharp Experience.”
The chamber also honored Friends of SDSU, which received the “Moving San Diego Forward” award, which recognizes work that is improving San Diego, and putting it on the map. The Friends of SDSU represent the largest and most diverse coalition of San Diegans who joined together to ensure the future growth of SDSU and bring opportunity to the entire San Diego region.
Lance Armstrong backs Carlsbad fitness startup
A fitness startup in Carlsbad has attracted the interest of infamous cyclist Lance Armstrong, who revealed in January that he’s launching a startup investment fund to finance sports-related companies. The local business, PowerDot, says it was chosen as Armstrong’s first investment. PowerDot CEO Eric Glader said the company received funds “well in the seven figures,” but declined to share the full financial details.
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CORRECTION
The address of the new Mission Hills-Hillcrest/Harley & Bessie Knox Library was incorrect in Wednesday’s Daily Business Report. The correct address is 215 W. Washington St.
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Personnel Announcements
Michele Vives promoted to VP of Douglas Wilson Companies
Douglas Wilson Companies has promoted Senior Managing Director Michele Vives to the position of vice president. In her new position, Vives will also serve as an officer of the company.
Vives joined DWC in 2014, bringing experience and expertise in feasibility analysis, entitlement and zoning processes, and oversight of budgets, financials, permits, and regulatory compliance. Over the course of her career, she has successfully provided real estate development and advisory services for more than three million square feet of construction in office, hotel, senior housing, research, and retail projects, with a combined value of more than $1 billion.
In her new role, she will expand leadership and oversight in her two primary areas of responsibility: DWC’s new ground-up Senior Living division, and DWC’s Real Estate Advisory and Legacy Asset Management business platforms.
Vives is the co-chair of the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s Public Policy Committee, and the vice president of the San Diego chapter of Lambda Alpha International, a global land economics professional organization. She is also active in the Urban Land Institute and Circulate SD.
