Daily Business Report-June 1, 2020
Rendering of developed Mission Valley site looking south from a new Aztec Stadium. (Courtesy of SDSU)
City Council approves agreement to sell
Mission Valley stadium site to SDSU
Taking another major step to deliver on a voter-approved vision for Mission Valley, the San Diego City Council on May 29 voted to move forward with a purchase and sale agreement between the city and San Diego State University for the purchase of the Mission Valley stadium site.
The historic agreement calls for the development of a world-class campus, multi-use stadium and river park.
“Today a new future for Mission Valley took shape, one with an expansive river park, a new stadium and a world-class campus that will serve our region for generations for come,” Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. “Both parties wanted to get this done right, and the time and thoughtfulness put into this agreement have created a final product San Diegans can be proud of. This agreement is fair and equitable, and I want to thank Council President Gomez, City Attorney Elliott and SDSU for their commitment.”
San Diego State University and the city have spent 18 months negotiating an agreement that is fair, protects taxpayers, and fulfills the spirit of Measure G passed by voters in November of 2018. The agreement allows for the expansion of SDSU, 80-acres of park and open space along the San Diego River, and up to 4,600 market-rate and affordable housing units.
City Council approval lays the groundwork for a final Purchase and Sale Agreement (PSA), which requires two City Council hearings for June 9 and June 23. Following those actions, a 30-day referendum period is legally required before Mayor Faulconer can sign the agreement and escrow can be initiated. SDSU expects to take ownership of the property in late July 2020.
Read more…
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Carlsbad’s ChromaCode raises $38 million
to pursue low-cost COVID-19 testing platform
ChromaCode, a Carlsbad startup that taps data science and signal processing to enhance molecular medical tests, has raised $38 million to support its low-cost assay for COVID-19. Founded in 2015 on technology licensed from Caltech, the 45-employee firm has developed a proprietary signal processing method that can pull more results out of molecular medical tests.
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Sitting, sunbathing at San Diego beaches
will be allowed starting Tuesday
Starting Tuesday, people will be allowed to sit and lounge at local beaches provided they maintain physical distancing or wear a face covering when close to others, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today.
Sitting on the beach will be allowed for sunbathing and relaxing with towels and chairs if you do it with people in your own household. However, no activities such as football and volleyball will be permitted. Also, all piers and parking lots will remain closed.
All beach communities agreed to ease this restriction starting June 2, but cities can decide if they want to proceed later and how the guideline is going to be enforced.
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Comic-Con sought deep discounts
before canceling this year’s event
Before Comic-Con’s organizers officially canceled this year’s event they sought – and received – concessions from local hoteliers and tourism officials.
As the festival’s organizers tried to decide whether to cancel, they reached out to local hotels and the Convention Center to try to get cancellation fees waived. In most cases, their request was granted. The Convention Center waived a $173,000 cancellation fee. Many hotels also agreed to waive cancellation fees, but also asked for extensions to their contracts with Comic-Con.
As Ashly McGlone reports, “The discussions offer a behind-the-scenes look at the wrangling over logistics and financial concessions tourism authorities sought from hotels as they juggled public health concerns and appeasing the leaders of one of San Diego’s biggest tourism draws.”
Comic-Con secured at least 14,000 rooms for this year’s convention, which was set to take place in July.
Organizers decided to cancel the festival more than a month after health officials declared a global pandemic and after the Padres season had already been indefinitely put on hold. Organizers said the timing of their decision was not related to their requests for concessions from local hotels and the Convention Center.
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San Diego nonprofit Clear Blue Sea develops
autonomous floating robot to clean ocean plastics
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P. Wesley Lundberg named
president of San Diego Miramar College
P. Wesley Lundburg, an experienced community college leader who for the past five years has been serving as executive dean and CEO of the Ammerman Campus at Suffolk County Community College on Long Island, N.Y., has been named the new president of San Diego Miramar College.
Ammerman is the largest of Suffolk County Community College’s three campuses with more than 17,000 credit and non-credit students. Suffolk County Community College is the largest community college in the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
Miramar College, with an enrollment exceeding 16,000 students, offers more than 160 degrees and certificates and is a hub for transferring to a University of California and California State University campus. A center for workforce training in the region, Miramar College also is home to the Southern California Biotechnology Center, Advanced Transportation, and Fire Technology & EMT programs. Since 1969, it has provided training for nearly all law enforcement officers and firefighters working in San Diego County.
At Suffolk County Community College, Lundburg oversaw the Ammerman Campus’s development and continued growth of a new cybersecurity program, an expanding Automotive Technology program certified by numerous automobile manufacturers, the completion of multiple capital improvement projects, and annual increases in enrollment. He also served as an adjunct English professor who taught composition and literature courses.
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Take a trip inside the novel
coronavirus, cause of COVID-19
In this animation, learn about the key proteins that make up the novel coronavirus. To help uncover treatments for COVID-19, Salk scientists are aiming to uncover insights into the mechanisms of this virus, as well as around the immune system.
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Deadline June 11 for San Diego
Promise free tuition program
With uncertainty surrounding how four-year colleges and universities will hold classes this fall, a record number of graduating high school seniors are registering for the San Diego Community College District’s (SDCCD) tuition-free San Diego Promise program.
The deadline for priority registration is June 11. Students can apply after June 11, but only on a space-available basis.
By mid-May, more than 1,600 students had applied to enroll at either San Diego City, Mesa, or Miramar College for the fall, 2020, San Diego Promise cohort, an increase of more than 25 percent from same period in 2019.
The SDCCD was among the first community college districts in California to launch a Promise program, which began as a pilot with a cohort of 186 students in the 2016-17, has served 4,360 students since its implementation, and is now one of the largest in the state.
The San Diego Promise provides not only two full years of tuition-free education, but also book grants, individualized counseling, and hands-on support to help students develop an educational plan meeting their career and academic goals. And all at no cost; the program is funded through state funding as well as the support of generous donors who have contributed more than $1.2 million to the initiative
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San Diego publicist wins Bronze Stevie
in 2020 American Business Awards
Aly Jamison, public relations manager for RAIN Group, a sales training company, has been honored with a Stevie award in the 18th annual American Business Awards.
With 13-plus years of public relations experience, Jamison received Bronze for Communications Professional of the Year for her achievements in the last year.
Since 2019, Jamison has secured media placements in top tier business and industry outlets such as Entrepreneur, American Express, MarketingProfs, Selling Power, Training Industry, ATD, and others.
She nominated the firm for numerous awards, winning four gold Stevies in the 2020 Sales & Customer Service Awards, Top 20 Sales Training Company by Selling Power and Training Industry, bronze Brandon Hall Group Award for Best Unique or Innovative Sales Training Program, gold in the B2B Killer Content Awards, and numerous accolades in the Top Sales World Awards.
In addition, her articles and industry insights have been featured on sites like Forbes, BuzzFeed, CommPRO, American Express, Bulldog Reporter, PR Daily, PR News, PRSA Tactics, and others.
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Tyson & Mendes promotes
three attorneys to partner
Civil defense firm Tyson & Mendes LLP announced the promotion of Sitar Bhatt, Kathryn Lee Colgan and Andrew Smith. Bhatt joins the firm’s partnership in Phoenix, and Colgan in the San Diego and Orange County offices. Smith, meanwhile, was named branch managing partner of the firm’s Los Angeles office.
Previously senior counsel and a team leader in San Diego, Colgan has more than 10 years of litigation experience and leads two multi-attorney litigation teams in the areas of general liability and labor and employment practices. She specializes in insurance defense, including catastrophic accidents, personal injury, premise liability and business litigation. She also handles medical malpractice cases and labor and employment defense, including wrongful termination, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, retaliation, wage/hour claims, class actions and PAGA representative actions.
Bhatt, formerly an associate who focuses on general liability, personal injury, premises liability and bad faith litigation, has successfully resolved a variety of cases representing individuals and businesses in state and federal district courts as well as arbitrations throughout Arizona.
Smith leads a multi-attorney litigation practice focused on labor and employment and has extensive experience in the defense of public and private entities in general liability, personal injury, trade secrets litigation, premises liability and contractual disputes.
