Daily Business Report-Feb. 7, 2020
Rendering of MERGE 56, Sea Breeze Properties’ 40-acre development.
Sea Breeze Properties starts building
40-acre mixed-use development
Merge 56 to hold office and retail space and boutique hotel
Construction has started on MERGE 56, a 40-acre mixed-use project in the Torrey Highlands area of San Diego by developer Sea Breeze Properties.
Adjacent to State Route 56 at Camino Del Sur, MERGE 56 will be comprised of approximately 450,000 square feet of Class A office and retail space, a boutique hotel and 242 residential units, including single-family homes, townhouses, and affordable units.
“This development has been 20 years in the making and we are very excited to be finally breaking ground,” said Gary Levitt, founder and president of Sea Breeze Properties and the master developer of MERGE 56. “MERGE 56 will be a welcomed addition to the growing demand along the 56 corridor, providing a true live-work-stay village atmosphere and experience.”
The land was originally approved in 2004 as a big box retail center, before Sea Breeze Properties acquired the land in 2013 and redesigned it into a pedestrian-centric mixed-use environment. The project received unanimous approval from the Rancho Penasquitos Community Planning Group, city of San Diego Planning Commission and San Diego City Council.
CBRE’s Chris Pascale, Mike Hoeck and Ellycia Halden will be leasing the Class A office space and Steve Avoyer of Flocke & Avoyer will be leasing the retail space.
________________________
League of Women Voters celebrates centennial
100 years of league activism to empower voters, defend democracy
Feb. 14 is the 100th anniversary of the League of Women Voters, and the San Diego League is celebrating with a public proclamation by the San Diego Board of Supervisors and the San Diego City Council declaring the date “League of Women Voters Day.”
On Feb. 11, members of the League of Women Voters, San Diego (LWVSD) will gather at the Board of Supervisors meeting at 9 a.m. to receive the honor, sponsored by Supervisor Nathan Fletcher. Afterward, they will attend the 10 a.m. City Council meeting, where Councilwoman Barbara Bry will sponsor the proclamation.
“This is a historic, once-in-a-lifetime occasion, and we’re honored to build on the longevity and good works of the League members who have gone before us,” says LWVSD President Lori Thiel. “We recognize and accept the responsibility of bringing the League forward into the next century, and we intend to lay the foundation for our future sisters to continue to empower voters and defend democracy.”
The League of Women Voters was founded on Feb. 14, 1920 by suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt in anticipation of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Catt was prescient: In August of that same year women’s right to vote was written into the Constitution. The League helped provide this new voting block the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate in their democracy.
LWVSD hosts monthly voter information sessions and, during election cycles, conducts candidate forums and presentations on ballot measures and propositions, as well as voter registration events. Its committees conduct research and advocate for issues and policies.
Says Thiel, “We are delighted to celebrate the centennial of our organization, but we are clear-eyed about the work still left to do to make this a democracy by and for the people.”
________________________
Kaleidoscope Award for Good Governance
presented by USD Nonprofit Institute
San Diego Workforce Partnership and the San Diego chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals have been honored with the Kaleidoscope Award for Good Governance by the Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego.
The award was presented during the opening plenary session at The Nonprofit Institute’s 16th Annual Nonprofit Governance Symposium: “Governance 2020: To Infinity and Beyond—Launching the Next Decade of Governance.”
The award recognizes organizations that demonstrate what strong nonprofit governance looks like. Good boards are groups of dedicated volunteers who understand which lens to apply at any given time in order to provide leadership that enhances an organization’s ability to fulfill its mission.
________________________
San Diego Opera honors Sarah Brenda Marsh-Rebelo
as Honorary Life Director
, San Diego Opera board member for the past 28 years and Opera Ball Chair for the past two years — and affectionately known to her friends as Sarah B. — has been named Honorary Life Director of the San Diego Opera.
This marks only the seventh Life Director honor that the company has bestowed in its 55-year history, which was voted on unanimously at a board meeting on Jan. 27, 2020.
Sarah’s support of San Diego Opera began over 33 years ago when Esther Burnham, a Life Director, invited her to the opera. Her love of the arts began much earlier. Sarah was raised in England in a home filled with books, music, and art. “In those days all children, from all walks of life, were raised with an awareness of poetry, reciting and memorizing their favorite poets and listening to music on the radio. The magic of words and music were part of life,” she recalls.
Marsh-Rebelo studied gemology in California, earning her Graduate Gemology degree, and obtained a degree in literature at the same time. She also designed and manufactured a line of women’s clothing named Anything Gauze.
After moving to San Diego in 1981, she married her husband John and completed her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at UC San Diego. Working as a gemologist for 25 years, she built her own business before retiring in 2002.
________________________
Fish & Richardson welcomes associates
Jeff Burton, Tim Rawson to San Diego office
Fish & Richardsonannounced the addition of Jeff Burton and Tim Rawson as associates in the firm’s San Diego-based office.
Burton, a former Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer who completed two overseas deployments, focuses his patent litigation practice on electrical and computer technologies, telecommunications, medical devices and nanotechnology. During law school, he served as a law clerk for both the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the U.S. House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Today, Burton maintains an active Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance.
Rawson’s practice involves all aspects of IP litigation and advising, with an emphasis on patent litigation. He works predominately with clients in the telecommunications, gaming, automotive, food and beverage, consumer products and semiconductor industries. He has also represented low-income startups and nonprofits on a pro bono basis regarding intellectual property matters. Before joining Fish, Rawson practiced IP law in the Los Angeles office of a large international law firm for three years.
________________________
Mark Selman hired as president
of Brixton Capital in Solana Beach
Brixton Capital, a private real estate investment firm, has hired Mark Selman as president. In his post, Selman is responsible for the overall operations of the firm including acquisitions, financing, asset management and investor relations.
Selman has over 25 years of real estate, investment, operations and capital markets experience with a number of private and public platforms. Throughout his career, he’s been instrumental in the fund raising, management and ultimate disposition of over $10 billion in real estate portfolios to both public and private buyers.
Most recently, Selman served as managing director of portfolio oversight at CIM Group, where he was responsible for portfolio management, property re-positioning and yield maintenance for a $7 billion portfolio of REITs.
Prior to joining the CIM Group, Selman served in a similar capacity as senior vice president of portfolio management at VEREIT, a publicly traded REIT. Selman served as vice president with McMillin Commercial, where his responsibilities included raising equity, acquisitions and asset management.
He also held the position of senior vice president of portfolio management at Realty Income Corporation, a publicly traded REIT, where he was responsible for managing its portfolio. Prior to joining Realty Income, Selman was a senior manager with KPMG Peat Marwick’s Real Estate Consulting Group.
________________________
Medical Marijuana subsidiary Kannaway
welcomes Daniel Miller as spokesman
Nutrition coach and wellness expert Daniel Miller has joined Medical Marijuana Inc. subsidiary Kannaway as its new spokesman.
Miller, in partnership with Kannaway, has created the world’s first cannabis fitness program and is developing a new fitness-based product line to support that program, according to a Medical Marijuana announcement.
According to the announcement, Miller is an internationally renowned nutrition and fitness expert that specializes in developing customized health and wellness programs for a variety of clientele. He bases his programs around modern medical science with the goal of helping others live longer and healthier lives, reduce health care costs and achieve greater overall productivity.
Miller is a Certified Nutrition Coach through the International Board of Nutrition & Fitness Coaching and is a member of the Venice Nutrition Coaches Network. He holds a master’s degree in business administration, strategic leadership and project management.
