Daily Business Report-March 11, 2020
Cornerstone Corporate Center
Carlsbad’s Cornerstone Corporate Center
sold to Long Beach firm for $34.2 million
Long Beach-based Harbor Associates has acquired the Cornerstone Corporate Center, a 177,917-square-foot Class A office park in Carlsbad for $34.2 million. The four-building property is located at 1900, 1902 and 1903 Wright Place and 1917 Palomar Oaks Way.
Cornerstone Corporate Center is situated on approximately 14.19 acres located at the intersection of Palomar Oaks Way and Wright Place. Developed between 1998 and 2001, the buildings comprise a single (2)-story building and three (3)-story buildings.
The property has been institutionally managed and offers several social outdoor amenities, including shower/locker facilities, lap pool, barbecue and patio area, and sand volleyball court.
Rick Reeder and Brad Tecca of Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets in San Diego represented the seller, advised Salt Lake City-based Wasatch Global Investors. Matty Sundberg and Justin Halenza also of the firm provided leasing advisory services.
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As coronavirus spreads, fears of
taking down California’s economy
California’s top economic officials are working to remain calm even as coronavirus takes a toll on the world’s fifth-largest economy, CalMatters’ Judy Lin reports.
The Golden State is experiencing a significant drop in tourism, business travel, and trade and goods shipments, as well as a spate of conference and convention cancellations.
Its tourism economy has been disproportionately impacted by the quarantine of millions of people in China. Last year, California saw 1.8 million Chinese visitors; that number is projected to drop by 28 percent this year.
But enduring short-term economic losses by canceling large events might be preferable to continuing on with them and risking increased virus transmission.
Chris Thronberg of Beacon Economics: “You want people to overreact right now to nip this thing in the bud. If this thing does get out of control and starts to affect the third quarter, then we have deep, deep trouble.”
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NAIOP’s April 7 luncheon to cover
what’s happening in South County
NAIOP San Diego, the commercial real estate development association, will host a market snapshot luncheon on April 7 titled “What’s Happening in South San Diego County.”
A panel of experts will provide an exclusive look at the development happening in South County, which currently includes more than 30 projects already underway.
Who:
Todd Majcher, senior vice president of Lowe (moderator)
Lee Chesnut, principal and founder of Chesnut Properties
Hale Richardson, vice president of HomeFed Corporation
Eric Crockett, economic development director of City of Chula Vista
Kaitlin Arduino, executive vice president of Murphy Development
Where: San Diego Marriot Del Mar, 11966 El Camino Real, San Diego, CA 92130
Time: Registration 11:45 a.m., Lunch/Program noon–1:15 p.m.
Cost: Advance price members $60; $100 for nonmembers; $120 after March 31.
Attendees may register and pay online at https://www.naiopsd.org/upcoming-events/
Contact Karen Burges for more information at (858) 509-4110 or Karen@naiopsd.org.
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Public invited to take survey on future
branding of Chula Vista bayfront
The city of Chula Vista and the Port of San Diego invite the public to take an online survey that will help guide the branding of the Chula Vista bayfront. Feedback from the survey will be used in the development of signage and other materials that will welcome and guide visitors to and around the Chula Vista waterfront on San Diego Bay.
The survey will be available until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday March 29, 2020, and can be completed here.
The city and the Port are transforming 535 acres of largely vacant and underutilized landscape into a thriving recreational, residential and resort destination. When complete, the public will enjoy more than 200 acres of parks and open space, a shoreline promenade, walking trails, RV camping, shopping, dining and more.
The city and the Port are asking the public to provide constructive input on a short survey to help develop a brand that best represents the Chula Vista bayfront area.
Through the survey, the City and the Port hope to learn about the public’s preferences for the most important factors to be considered in a future brand, such as memorability, geography and longevity.
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SDG&E kicks off environmental
champions grant program
– San Diego Gas & Electric kicked off its tenth annual “Environmental Champions” grant program, which supports non-profit organizations and their missions to improve the environment in San Diego and southern Orange counties.
Nonprofits whose programs incorporate climate science education while working to improve water quality, reduce waste, and enhance natural habitats, are invited to
apply online now through April 24.
Grants will range from $2,500 to $25,000 for individual programs and projects. SDG&E plans to announce the grant recipients early this summer. This year, funding will also support urban greening projects, including tree planting and habitat restoration.
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Cubic appoints Min Wei as chief customer officer
Cubic Corporation announced the appointment of Min Wei as senior vice president and chief customer officer. Wei will be responsible for leading a new customer experience function that combines Cubic’s global quality, configuration management, logistics support and customer experience.
He will also be a catalyst to further drive organizational alignment related to Cubic’s first strategic priority, Winning the Customer, which is critical to Cubic’s purpose of making a positive difference in people’s lives. The customer experience function will advocate for Cubic’s customers, enable quality engineering as well as manage all releases and deployments of products and services, while serving as the backstop for any issues.
Wei joined Cubic in 2009 and has held various leadership positions at Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS). He successfully led global service strategy and innovation which significantly improved customer service performance levels and resulted in remarkable service expansion and growth for CTS. Most recently, Wei served as the senior vice president of operations for CTS where he oversaw the business’ worldwide transformative initiatives for services, operations and quality. With the strategic relevance of customer experience and services, Wei will continue his services and operations leadership duties for CTS in addition to his new role.
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Tyler Hanson joins Kidder Mathews’ San Diego office
Tyler Hanson has joined Kidder Mathews’ San Diego office as a vice president. Hanson specializes office tenant advisory.
Clients he has worked with include AT&T, Farmers Insurance, Solar City/Tesla, and the State of California. Before joining Kidder Mathews, he was with Cushman & Wakefield in San Diego.
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Daymond John to Speak at San Diego Women’s Week
Powershift: Transform Any Situation, Close Any Deal and Achieve Any Outcome
Damond John, the bestselling author and star of ABC’s Shark Tank reveals how to master the three prongs of influence: reputation, negotiation, and relationships.
Have you ever wanted to make a big change in your life but weren’t sure where to start? In Powershift, Daymond John shares the answer. To take control of your destiny and drive the change you want to see, you need to lay the groundwork so you’re prepared to seize every opportunity that comes your way.
Whether you’re an innovator working to turn your big idea into a reality, a professional looking to land a major promotion, or a busy parent trying to find more time to focus on what’s really important to you, Daymond shows you how to shift your power and energy towards positive change.
San Diego Women’s Week events are March 16 -20. Everyone is invited, and tickets can be purchased at www.sdwomensweek.com
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Commentary:
We are nation’s ground zero for coronavirus
By Dan Walters |CalMatters Columnist
The economic transformation of California after World War II — first into an industrial powerhouse and later into a center of technology and trade — owed much to its geographic location on the eastern edge of the Pacific Rim.
As Asia recovered from the ravages of war to become its own industrial colossus, Southern California’s twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles became the nation’s primary gateway for imports of everything from children’s toys to cars. Handling, storing and shipping those goods — “logistics,” as it came to be known — developed into the region’s major economic driver
Meanwhile, the San Francisco Bay Area exploded with technological evolution, much of it coming from the minds of Asian-born techies who had been drawn to the region, and Silicon Valley’s major firms became dependent on Asia to produce its cellphones and other consumer gadgetry.
California’s role as a major crossroads in the global economy created enormous wealth and influence, so much that we were no longer compared to other states, but to other nations, boasting of the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Today, however, our global positioning makes us America’s ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak that threatens to become a pandemic disaster.
At this writing, California has the nation’s second-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases, a virus-infected cruise ship is docking in Oakland to discharge its passengers after days of sitting offshore, state officials are rapidly preparing to deal with the disease, and major California industries dependent on ties to Asia, and their workers, are beginning to feel the pinch.
With the stock market reeling, economists believe that if the virus continues to spread, recession is a looming possibility, or even a probability, and were it to occur, California would likely feel its impacts more than any other state because of its high level of involvement in international trade and travel.
Crises put the spotlight on political executives such as presidents and governors — in this case, President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump appears to be minimizing, or even denying, the severity of the situation, while Newsom, at least so far, is taking a measured approach — not minimizing its potential effects but not blowing it out of proportion either.
“The State of California is deploying every level of government to help identify cases and slow the spread of this coronavirus,” Newsom said last week in declaring a state of emergency. “This emergency proclamation will help the state further prepare our communities and our health care system in the event it spreads more broadly.”
On Sunday, he agreed to allow the Grand Princess cruise ship to dock in Oakland to discharge its passengers and ill crew members, but also warned that it may be a one-time thing and urged would-be ocean cruisers to postpone their travel.
Newsom’s engaged but calm approach would serve him well were coronavirus to trigger a serious recession that would slash state revenues and force him to adjust downward his ambitious plans for expanding public services from health care to early childhood education. Voters would see him as a victim of circumstance who is making the best of a bad situation and not hold him accountable for recession’s impacts.
Newsom’s budgetary staff is already working on what’s known as the “May revise” of the 2020-21 budget proposal he unveiled in January and by then, two months hence, we’ll have a better grasp of both the disease’s human impact and its economic fallout.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
