Daily Business Report-Jan. 17, 2020
Rendering of The Campus at Horton. Completion set for 2021. (Courtesy of Stockdale Capital Partners)
Stockdale Capital Partners reaches agreement
for redevelopment of Horton Plaza Mall
Resulting entity to become The Campus at Horton
Stockdale Capital Partners announces that it has reached an agreement with Macy’s for the redevelopment of the existing Horton Plaza Mall in Downtown San Diego. Stockdale Capital Partners will continue with its redevelopment plans to transform the nearly vacant mall into The Campus at Horton, an innovative creative office, entertainment and retail center.
The Campus at Horton will include 700,000 square feet ofoffice space that will be home to 3,000-4,000 new high-quality jobs. Plans, which are slated for completion in 2021, also include creating 300,000 square feet of curated retail space and an activated and reimagined Horton Plaza Park. In May 2019, the San Diego City Council unanimously approved reducing the previous retail deed restriction on the property and Stockdale Capital Partners’ redevelopment vision.
“The Campus at Horton will be a civic treasure for all San Diegans that will revitalize that area of Downtown, just as Horton Plaza once did decades ago,” said Mayor Kevin Faulconer. “I look forward to continuing to work closely with Stockdale Capital Partners and the community to bring forward this transformative and exciting project.”
“We are making a long-term commitment to Downtown San Diego and plan to quickly deliver The Campus at Horton as an urban hub for San Diegans to gather and a catalyst for thousands of high-paying tech jobs, defining the future of Downtown,” said Steven Yari, managing partner at Stockdale Capital Partners.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom gets to appoint
his first California Supreme Court justice
Dan Morain | CALmatters
Gov. Gavin Newsom, the son of a judge, will get his first California Supreme Court appointment as Justice Ming Chin is stepping down from the seven-member court.
Appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1996, Chin, 77, is the longest tenured justice on the current court. He announced his decision Wednesday, effective in August.
Chin was seen as a moderate early in his tenure. But as appointees of Wilson and Gov. George Deukmejian retired over the years, Chin was more of a conservative voice, though most California Supreme Court decisions are unanimous.
Newsom: “Justice Chin’s success exemplifies the promise of California, where a son of potato farmers could become a Supreme Court justice, and in turn help grow the next generation of lawyers and jurists in our state.”
Unlike federal justices, California Supreme Court justices are not appointed for life. They must face voters every 12 years in retention elections. Still, Supreme Court appointments are among governors’ most lasting legacies.
Newsom’s father, William Newsom, was a Superior Court and Court of Appeal Justice, who died in December 2018, shortly before his son was sworn in as governor.
Newsom installed Martin Jenkins, a longtime Court of Appeal justice, as his judicial appointments secretary. One trait Newsom seems to value is “humility.”
Newsom promised to make the judicial appointments process more transparent.
Newsom’s chief of staff, Ann O’Leary, is an attorney who was married to California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu.
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City of San Diego suing San Diego Gas & Electric
for refusing to honor legal obligations to San Diegans
The city of San Diego is suing San Diego Gas & Electric for refusing to honor promises it made when it obtained the exclusive rights to provide gas and electricity to San Diegans in 1971, City Attorney Mara Elliott announced.
As the city moves forward with its Pure Water San Diego Program, which will reduce ocean pollution and increase San Diego’s water supply, SDG&E has failed to relocate at its own expense its underground infrastructure that obstructs the city project, which it is required to do under the terms of its contract with the city, according to the lawsuit.
In June 2018, SDG&E refused to undertake design and relocation work for Phase 1 of the program unless the city fronted the money. To avoid a costly delay, the city provided initial funding of $35,578,521 to SDG&E to begin the work. Despite months of discussion, the parties have been unable to resolve this dispute short of litigation.
The lawsuit, approved by a unanimous vote of the City Council on Oct. 22, 2019, seeks to recoup the city’s $35,578,521 and force SDG&E to honor the explicit terms of its franchise agreements.
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2 San Diego County firms must pay penalties
for failing to protect public from exposure to lead
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced settlements with Home Remodeling Center in San Marcos and Kaminskiy Design and Remodeling for failing to take steps to protect the public from exposure to lead.
Home Remodeling Center must pay a penalty of $22,275 and Kaminskiy must pay a penalty of $20,454, according to the settlement. The companies were charged with violating the Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule.
“Exposure to lead-based paint is one of the most common sources of lead poisoning in children,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Mike Stoker. “It is important that contractors be EPA certified and use lead safe work practices when working on homes with lead-based paint.”
EPA inspections found that Home Remodeling Center and Kaminskiy Design and Remodeling performed renovations at multiple homes in the San Diego area without being EPA-certified to conduct such work in pre-1978 housing, where lead-based paint is assumed to be present. The companies also failed to keep records indicating compliance with lead-safe work practices and did not ensure that a certified renovator was involved as required.
In addition to the penalties, each company committed to make corrections to their operations, including becoming EPA-certified.
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Mosquitoes engineered to repel Dengue Virus
An international team of scientists has synthetically engineered mosquitoes that halt the transmission of the dengue virus. Led by biologists at the University of California San Diego, the research team describes details of the achievement in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the insects that spread dengue in humans, on Jan. 16 in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
Researchers in UC San Diego Associate Professor Omar Akbari’s lab worked with colleagues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in identifying a broad spectrum human antibody for dengue suppression. The development marks the first engineered approach in mosquitoes that targets the four known types of dengue, improving upon previous designs that addressed single strains.
They then designed the antibody “cargo” to be synthetically expressed in female A. aegypti mosquitoes, which spread the dengue virus.
“Once the female mosquito takes in blood, the antibody is activated and expressed—that’s the trigger,” said Akbari, of the Division of Biological Sciences and a member of the Tata Institute for Genetics and Society. “The antibody is able to hinder the replication of the virus and prevent its dissemination throughout the mosquito, which then prevents its transmission to humans. It’s a powerful approach.”
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Via Vera Cruz office park in San Marcos
sells for $7.07 million
Windsor Projects Inc. has acquired the two-story, 32,687-square-foot Via Vera Cruz multi-tenant office building in San Marcos for $7.07 million, or $216 per square foot. The seller was the LaMont Revocable Trust.
Mark Avilla of Cushman & Wakefield’s Private Capital Group in San Diego represented the seller. Bob Cowan, Director, also with Cushman & Wakefield San Diego provided leasing expertise.
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Museum of Contemporary Art awarded $750,000
from the National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded a grant of $750,000 in federal matching funds to The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego to support construction expenses for the expansion of the museum’s La Jolla campus, creating capacity for display of the permanent collection alongside temporary exhibitions.
The project, led by Annabelle Selldorf of Selldorf Architects will quadruple interior galleries while also creating outdoor gathering spaces, including seaside terraces and an art park.
MCASD is the only grantee in San Diego and has received the largest grant dollar award in California this year. This is the fifth NEH grant awarded to the museum since 1994.
“We are honored to be the recipient of NEH grant funds that will go towards the transformative expansion of our La Jolla flagship. This is an endorsement of the organization as a whole — it recognizes our 75-year history, our vision for the future, and our sound operations,” said Kathryn Kanjo, the David C. Copley director and CEO.
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Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike
Group to depart for deployment
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) will depart from San Diego for a scheduled Indo-Pacific deployment today. More than 6,000 sailors are assigned to the ships.
TRCSG consists of Carrier Strike Group 9, USS Theodore Roosevelt, Carrier Air Wing 11, the Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill, Destroyer Squadron 23, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Russell, USS Paul Hamilton, USS Pinckney, USS Kidd and USS Rafael Peralta.
The TRCSG last deployed for a seven-month deployment supporting Operations Inherent Resolve and Freedom’s Sentinel, as well as maritime security cooperation efforts in U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations October 2017 to May 2018.
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is part of U.S. 3rd Fleet.
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Felicia Shaw appointed interim executive
director of of the Women’s Museum of California
The Board of Trustees of the Women’s Museum of California announced the appointment of veteran arts leader Felicia W. Shaw as interim executive director.
Shaw returns to San Diego, her home of 35 years, after serving as executive director of the Regional Arts Commission of St Louis for nearly five years. Prior to that position, she had a long history of service as an arts administrator and nonprofit leader with the San Diego Foundation and City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture as well as state and national arts acvocacy organizations.
The museum is among a small group of cultural institutions, including the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C., that provides a platform for celebrating the broad achievements of women. Located since 2012 in the Liberty Station Arts District, the museum offers exhibitions, educational programs, and special events that give voice to women’s stories, from every moment in the nation’s history through today.
Plans for 2020 include a year-long centennial celebration of the Constitution’s 19th Amendment with a kick-off on Jan. 19, the National Women’s March on Jan. 18, the annual Women’s Film Festival (April) and the 18th Annual San Diego County Women’s Hall of Fame on March 15.
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Mary Salamone joins Procopio
law firm as newest partner
Construction Law attorney Mary A. Salamone has joined the Procopio law firm as its newest partner. Salamone has represented a wide array of public and private entities in major construction projects, from the earliest stages of development to high-stakes dispute resolutions.
She joins Procopio’s growing Construction Law practice, which represents all segments of the construction industry and is ranked by Chambers USA for California.
Salamone previously was a partner at Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Rudd & Romo in Irvine.
Salamone is individually ranked by Chambers USA in the field of Construction Law and is AV Preeminent-rated by Martindale Hubbell. She has also been recognized by Best Lawyers in America and in 2019 was named a Best Lawyers “Lawyer of the Year” in Construction Litigation in Orange County. She is a Fellow of the Construction Lawyers Society of America and a Litigation Counsel of America Fellow.
She handles a wide array of construction industry matters and has handled multi-million dollar disputes on high profile, complex construction projects and achieved favorable settlements and judgments on behalf of her clients.
She represents a wide array of public clients, including counties, municipalities and governmental agencies. She has also represented large contractors and influential designers in construction-related disputes in California and nationally.
Salamone earned her J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from the University of Rochester.
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San Diegans to honor Martin Luther King Jr.
legacy at 32nd annual All Peoples Celebration
The 32nd annual All Peoples Celebration, honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will take place onMonday, Jan. 20 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Balboa Park Activity Center. The event brings together more than 1,000 San Diegans for an inspiring program featuring civil rights activist and leading Sikh American voice, Valarie Kaur.
The event is organized by Alliance San Diego, a community empowerment organization that builds coalitions to promote justice and social change. The celebration includes the following:
Community Space with local nonprofit organizations and an interactive art project free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon.
Ticketed program is from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. featuring keynote speaker Valarie Kaur, with performances by poet Francine Maigue, recording artist Marvina Porcher, and JT-On-Tour, from the oldest youth theater company in the U.S., the San Diego Junior Theatre.
