Daily Business Report-Dec. 17, 2019
Visitors to Birch Aquarium test out different student-designed virtual reality mask prototypes. Summer EnVision Experience interns incorporated the feedback into their final VR exhibit design. (Photo credit: UC San Diego)
UC San Diego undergraduates design
Birch Aquarium’s first virtual reality exhibit
By Katherine Connor | UC San Diego News Center
Birch Aquarium at Scripps is breaking a barrier this spring. Instead of allowing visitors to just watch local marine life from behind glass, the aquarium is making it possible for visitors to experience life as fish do—thanks to a 360-degree virtual reality exhibit built by UC San Diego undergraduates.
The new exhibit will be Birch Aquarium’s first virtual reality experience and is made possible by campus-wide collaborations led by the Jacobs School of Engineering and its multidisciplinary Summer EnVision Experience program.
Visitors to the aquarium will don a mask shaped like one of La Jolla’s local marine animals—a bright orange Garibaldi fish, or a spotted Leopard Shark, for example. The mask is equipped with a VR headset, allowing visitors to tag along on a dive into kelp forests off of Channel Islands National Park. Future forays are planned into the San Diego-Scripps Coastal Marine Conservation Area, located just steps from the aquarium. This will allow aquarium visitors to experience life in one of California’s verdant Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).
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State cracks down on illegal loans
in settlement with auto title lender TitleMax
The California Department of Business Oversight (DBO) has finalized a settlement with auto title lender TitleMax of California Inc., continuing a three-year crackdown on illegal consumer loans.
The settlement will deliver nearly $700,000 in refunds to more than 21,000 TitleMax customers and require the Georgia-based lender to pay a $25,000 penalty to resolve allegations that it routinely charged excessive and illegal interest rates and fees. Consumers with questions about the refunds should call 888-485-3629.
“No one should take advantage of struggling consumers who are forced to take out loans on vehicles they desperately need,” said Commissioner of Business Oversight Manuel P. Alvarez.
TitleMax has 64 branches in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Sacramento, Alameda, Santa Clara, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Fresno, Kern, Stanislaus, Ventura, Solano, and San Mateo counties. The lender has advised the DBO that it will stop making new loans in California as of Jan. 1.
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Bank of Southern California completes capital
offering and plans to form holding company
Bank of Southern California N.A., a community business bank headquartered in San Diego, announced the successful completion of a capital raise of approximately $12 million through the issuance of common stock in a private placement to institutional and accredited individual investors at a price of $12 per share. The bank also announced its plans to reorganize into a holding company, Southern California Bancorp, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.
The new capital was raised in connection with the bank’s pending acquisition of CalWest Bancorp, the holding company for CalWest Bank, previously announced in October. Bank of Southern California entered into a definitive agreement with CalWest Bancorp on Oct. 21, 2019, which is expected to close in the first half of 2020, subject to customary closing conditions.
The bank is forming a holding company, Southern California Bancorp, to facilitate the CalWest transaction and to support the bank’s future growth.
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Chicago firm acquires San Diego’s
Environmental Lights
San Diego-based Environmental Lights a lighting solutions company, has been acquired by Pfingsten Partners L.L.C., a private equity firm headquartered in Chicago. Pfingsten has acquired 139 manufacturing, distribution and business services companies since inception in 1989.
“Pfingsten’s experience in the lighting industry, growth-oriented approach and focus on the customer will enable us to continue delivering industry-leading products and solutions with superior technical service,” said Jamison Day, CEO of Environmental Lights, who will continue leading the business.
Jordan Brooks, President of Environmental Lights, added, “With Pfingsten’s economic backing and operational expertise, we look forward to expanding our offerings and putting ourselves in position to serve our customers better than ever.”
Environmental Lights was founded in 2006 and has been listed on the Inc. 5000 as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America for seven years in a row.
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Kilroy Realty signs long-term lease for
all of its Towne Centre Drive project
Kilroy Realty Corporation has signed a long-term lease with a major technology company for the entirety of its 9455 Towne Centre Drive project, a 160,400-square-foot new development located in University Towne Centre. 9455 TCD is scheduled for completion mid-2020.
9455 TCD is a five-story, LEED Platinum targeted project designed to accommodate office and life science users, featuring approximately 30,000-square-foot, flexible floor plates, floor to floor heights of 15 to 16 feet and 600 parking spaces. The project incorporates an architectural design that includes numerous amenities, such as collaborative common areas, resource-efficient sustainable features, an indoor and outdoor fitness center and a roof deck.
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Pacific Building Group earns AGC Build San Diego
Award for Walkabout Australia at Safari Park
General Contractor Pacific Building Group has won a Special Project Merit Award from the Association of General Contractors of America Inc., San Diego chapter, for Walkabout Australia at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The honor was part of the Build San Diego Awards.
Walkabout Australia, an immersive 3.6-acre exhibit, is home to kangaroos, wallabies, tree kangaroo, cassowaries and other animals, who live among naturalistic habitats that simulate the native Australian environment’s desert outback, rich grasslands, dense rainforests and wetlands. Completed by Pacific Building Group in May 2018, the exhibit allows guests to walk among the wildlife.
Throughout the exhibit, Pacific Building Group created an 8-foot-wide path that guides park guests along several animal habitats and through the open grasslands where kangaroos and wallabies roam freely. To achieve an immersive experience reminiscent of vintage, rural Australia, Pacific Building Group created custom rock and water formations, repurposed wood and metal to construct the exhibit’s barns, incorporated the use of custom acid baths to create rust and stamped concrete with intricate leaves and other patterns.
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Apple’s latest tech acquisition give
hint about its future camera plans
Apple has acquired a technology startup named Spectral Edge, and in doing so has given us a hint at what it may be working on for future versions of the iPhone’s camera. Apple is known for being secretive regarding its company acquisitions, and this only became known when Apple’s corporate lawyer was named as a director of the company, and that Apple had taken control of the firm.
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Oceanside industrial park sold to
Orange County firm for $20.5 million
CBRE announces the sale of Copperwood Center, an industrial park in Oceanside, to Newport Beach-based CB Copperwood LLC for $20.5 million.
Located at 3365, 3375 and 3385 Mission Ave and 101, 102, 105, 106 and 110 Copperwood Way, the 140,945-square-foot industrial park was originally built in 1984 and is comprised of eight buildings. The property was 97 percent leased to 64 tenants at the time of sale across suites ranging from 886 to 7,397 square feet. Copperwood Center features visible signage for each unit and has more than 350 parking spaces.
Matt Pourcho, Anthony DeLorenzo, Gary Stache and Doug Mack of CBRE represented the seller, Newport Beach-based commercial real estate firm Focus Real Estate in the transaction.
Paul Lafrenz, Josh McFadyen and Joe Crotty of Colliers International San Diego Region represented the buyer CB Copperwood LLC.
