Daily Business Report-Dec. 26, 2019

Aerial view of the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) headquarters in Old Town. (U.S. Navy photo)

SANDAG and Navy explore plans to develop

transit center with direct connection to airport

as part of Navy Old Town Campus upgrade

SANDAG, the San Diego Association of Governments, has committed $50 million to study the feasibility of developing a transit center with direct connection to San Diego International Airport at the Navy’s Old Town Campus, home to the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR).

The transit center would be part of a Navy proposal to revitalize the 70.5-acre NAVWAR property, a World War II-era complex where more than 3,500 people use it for lab and storage space.

SANDAG has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Navy to collaboratively draft a redevelopment plan for the property. The agreement opens the door to potentially use the complex as San Diego’s “Grand Central Station” to connect public rail transit to the San Diego International Airport.

One concept being explored includes a Central Mobility Hub at the Old Town Campus property, with supportive land use such as housing, retail, and office space.

The Central Mobility Hub concept would include a state-of-the-art transportation center with a direct connection to the airport including connections to the Trolley, COASTER, Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, Rapid transit, local bus, and future transportation options, offering San Diegans a one-transfer connection to the airport from major destinations in the region for generations to come.

For decades, San Diego has explored ways to improve regional connectivity to San Diego International Airport. With future traffic impacts to current San Diego International Airport roads projected to exceed capacity, combined with insufficient transit access to the airport, SANDAG has made it a chief priority to identify a solution for a direct transit connection to the airport.

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Realtors organization and San Diego

MLS partner with economist Alan Nevin

The Greater San Diego Association of Realtors and San Diego MLS announced a partnership with Alan Nevin, a San Diego demographic and real estate economist, to provide the Association and MLS members with monthly and quarterly updates outlining the market conditions and trends for San Diego County.

The exclusive partnership with Nevin will provide members with the latest insights and information from an economist with an extensive background in real estate economics, lending and market analysis.

With over 40 years of experience, Nevin holds a master’s degree in statistical research from Stanford University, as well as MBA and bachelor’s degrees from American University. He has been an instructor at UC San Diego Extension since 1980 and is a founding member of the UCSD Economics Roundtable.

Nevin is a guest lecturer and member of the curriculum committee at the University of San Diego Burnham-Moores School of Real Estate and a member of the Advisory Committee at the School of Business at National University.

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Barnhart-Reese Construction awarded contract

for new San Diego Fire-Rescue Repair Facility

Barnhart-Reese Construction has been awarded a contract from Calico LLC to manage the construction for a new Fire-Rescue Repair Facility for the city of San Diego.

The $10 million Fire-Rescue Repair Facility will be located at 7970 Othello Ave., at the previous Hawthorne Cat Machinery site in Kearny Mesa. It will be built as a repair and maintenance facility for the city’s Fire-Rescue apparatus fleet.

The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFRD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of San Diego. Its fleet has outgrown its current facilities on Miramar Road, which it also shares with the city’s Public Works department.

The new six-acre site and facility will be dedicated to vehicle maintenance and operations and will meet current and future needs for the fleet trucks.

The project will consist of three existing buildings totaling approximately 79,733 square feet with most improvements for Building A — a repair center with a capacity of working on 3 fire trucks, 15 fire engines, and 4 brush rigs at the same time. Exterior improvements include additional space for 49 fleet vehicles, a vehicle wash, vehicle fueling, fleet storage and parking. The one-story entry of Building A includes an existing office space which will receive updates to both the interior and exterior.

The project architect is Walt Conwell Architects, and the property is owned by Calico LLC.

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University of San Diego Undergraduate

Business Programs Ranked #2 in California 

The University of San Diego School of Business is now ranked the second-highest undergraduate business school in California, according to the latest ranking from Poets & Quants for Undergrads, a leading news site for business education.

After jumping another five spots to #42 in the nation, the school remains a top-50 undergraduate business school in the U.S. for the third year in a row and the only one from San Diego out of 97 schools.

The ranking is based equally on admission standards, academic experience from alumni surveys, and career/employment outcomes. The USD School of Business reported that 96 percent of recent undergraduates found jobs within 90 days of graduation.

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USAF awards General Atomics $327 million

Reaper unmanned aircraft support contract

A General Atomics’ aeronautical systems business unit will provide logistics services for the U.S. Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper remotely piloted aircraft under a two-year, $327.2 million contract.

Work under the sole-source contract will include sustaining engineering, depot repair and maintenance, configuration management and inventory control point and warehouse support, the Department of Defense said.

DoD added the company will maintain technical data and software as well as deploy field service representatives to support the MQ-9 fleet. The department expects all services to be completed Dec. 31, 2021.

The service branch is obligating $59.6 million in fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds at the time of award.

General Atomics designed MQ-9 with sensors, a multimode communications suite and weapons to support military strike, reconnaissance and coordination operations.

— GovCon Wire

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Brain Corp names Moudy Elbayadi as

senior vice president, product and technology

Brain Corp, a San Diego-based AI company creating transformative core technology for the robotics industry, announced that Dr. Moudy Elbayadi has joined the company’s executive management team as senior vice president, product and technology. Elbayadi will be responsible for driving the strategic roadmap and growth plans of the company’s technology portfolio.

With more than 20 years of experience, Elbayadi has worked with a number of high-growth companies and across a variety of industries. Prior to joining Brain Corp,  Elbayadi held the position of executive vice president, technology, at mobile app pet care company Wag! While at Wag!, Elbayadi oversaw product development, technology operations, security, and DevOps, and was responsible for building the organization’s data insights platform.

Prior to Wag!, Elbayadi became part of Symantec in 2017, where he held the role of vice president and chief information officer for its Consumer Business Unit, following the successful sale of LifeLock to Symantec for $2.3 billion. In that role, Elbayadi was responsible for leading the transformation of a $2 billion dollar business, Norton and LifeLock, to run all services across two global public cloud providers while helping the business integrate acquisitions and prepare for rapid growth and delivery of a new digital safety platform.