Daily Business Report-July 11, 2019

Under the new state budget, the Department of Motor Vehicles will be making an administrative change to pass credit card fees on to customers, a practice that typically adds 2 percent or 3 percent to the cost of a transaction.

California wants to allow credit cards

at the DMV, but it will cost you a fee

By Judy Lin | CALmatters

Gov. Gavin Newsom wants credit cards to be accepted at all DMV offices. The bad news? Customers will have to pick up the tab on credit card fees

Got a driver’s license to renew or a vehicle to register? Well, if you were planning to pay for it with a credit card, you may want to do it this summer.

Under the new state budget, the Department of Motor Vehicles will be making an administrative change to pass credit card fees on to customers, a practice that typically adds 2 percent or 3 percent to the cost of a transaction. The switch, expected by October, means drivers will pick up $45.3 million a year in transaction fees currently absorbed by the department.

That cost is expected to grow to $71.8 million a year once the DMV adds field offices and expands self-service terminals. In a state with 27.1 million drivers, that works out to about $2.65 per driver.

DMV spokesman Jaime Garza confirms the change will be happening but says there’s not a set date for the switch. Plus, it’s unclear how much the fee will be.

“There are some technical requirements that are necessary to implement this process,” Garza wrote in an email. “We will be communicating with the public after we have determined a date for the passing of the fee.”

When Gavin Newsom released his goals at the beginning of the year, the new governor set his sights on improving the DMV. Newsom said he wanted to bring the department into the 21st century and singled out the DMV’s inability to accept credit cards in the year 2019.

“You can’t make that up,” Newsom said during the release of his budget in January.

The switch is the result of a performance audit that looked for ways to improve operations and customer service. For years, the DMV has not charged a fee when customers use Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover to make online payments or at self-serve DMV Now kiosks.

But as the administration pushes the DMV to embrace technology and battle long wait times, it means adding the capacity to process credit cards at 172 offices—and passing the fees to customers.

While it may be cold comfort to consumers watching each penny, Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said it’s common for government entities to pass transaction fees to consumers. A number of other state agencies such as the Franchise Tax Board, Department of Transportation and the Department of Consumer Affairs already charge credit card processing fees.

Of course, you can always avoid the fee by paying with cash, check, money order or debit card.

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Parallel Capital Partners acquires

office complex for $50.6 million

San Diego-based Parallel Capital Partners has acquired Sky Park Office Plaza — a two-building Class A office complex at 9275 and 9325 Sky Park Court in Kearny Mesa for $50.6 million.

Spanning 203,258 square feet on 5.8 acres, the property — acquired from Blackstone/Equity Office Properties — was built in 1986 and is comprised of a three- and four-story glass and concrete office complex with steel frame construction and large flexible floor plates, as well as an onsite café and full-service gym.

The property is 96 percent leased to a diversified tenant mix with major tenants including Union Bank, Qualcomm, Liberty Mutual Insurance, The Travelers Indemnity Company and Molina Healthcare.

For the immediate future, the buyer plan to invest approximately $1 million in renovations, including façade upgrades and improvements to building finishes.

HFF’s Nick Psyllos and Michael Leggett represented the seller and Parallel represented itself in the deal.

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DelMar Pharmaceuticals announces

relocation of headquarters to San Diego

DelMar Pharmaceuticals Inc.  a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel cancer therapies, said it has initiated the process of relocating the company’s headquarters from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Diego. The move is intended to optimally position DelMar to expand its corporate development, and its operational and scientific teams as the company prepares for its next phase of growth.

“We believe now is the appropriate time to relocate our headquarters to an internationally recognized center of excellence for biotechnology as VAL-083’s multiple Phase 2 clinical trials for recurrent, adjuvant, and first-line GBM patients advance to the latter stages of development, and we explore other solid tumor oncology indications for our first-in-class, small molecule, chemotherapeutic,” said Saiid Zarrabian, DelMar’s chief executive officer.

The transition to San Diego, which is expected to occur by Sept. 30, will not impact the company’s clinical operations which are based in Menlo Park, Calif.

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Simons Foundation commits $20 million

in quest to understand universe’s beginnings

Scientists may come one step closer to understanding the conditions of the universe moments after its inception, thanks to a future commitment of $20 million made by the Simons Foundation. The funds will support the operations of the Simons Observatory, contingent upon the successful completion of the design and construction of the project. An official groundbreaking ceremony for the Simons Observatory was held on June 30 at the observatory site in Chile’s Atacama Desert (at 17,200 feet in elevation).

The project was made possible with $60 million in funding previously provided by the Simons Foundation. The additional $20 million in operations funding would be made over a span of five years, beginning in 2022.

A consortium of researchers, including astrophysicists from the University of California San Diego, will use the observatory to measure the cosmic microwave background

which provides a window to the physics of the earliest universe, the nature of dark energy, the properties of neutrinos and how gravity imposed structure on the universe.

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Curio Collection by Hilton adding

new Carté Hotel San Diego in Little Italy

Curio Collection by Hilton is significantly expanding its presence in the western United States with the addition of five hotels, including one in Downtown’s Little Italy. The others are in Washington, New Mexico and Utah (two sites).

Carté Hotel San Diego Downtown, Curio Collection by Hilton (Opening August 2019) is situated in the Little Italy neighborhood. The hotel offers traditional sea-to-table cuisine at Watercolors restaurant, regional wine and spirits in its Fonte Di Vino tasting room, andcrafted drinks with a view from its Above Ash Social rooftop venue. At Carté, guests will enjoy a saltwater rooftop pool cabana seating as well as the FIT Athletic Club.

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Helen Woodward Animal Center’s new

Pet Adoptions Building opens July 17

Helen Woodward Animal Center’s new pet Adoptions Building opens to the public on July 17.

The new building offers many upgrades including a private entrance and evaluation area for transfer partners bringing in adoptable animals; a new treatment room; a second exam room; new recovery and ICU areas and a larger surgical suite with room for two surgery tables that can be utilized simultaneously.

Other improvements include kennels that can be completely enclosed to protect orphan pets from the weather while allowing easy cleaning and access by the staff, three large turfed play yards with shade gazebos and a lobby and pet adoptions area that is more aesthetically pleasing to encourage potential adopters to visit more often and stay longer to increase adoptions.