Daily Business Report-Feb. 22, 2021
San Diego’s tech fundamentals gaining
momentum throughout the market
San Diego’s innovation sector became even more diverse over the last 12 months, according to the JLL San Diego Technology Report:
Big Tech (Fortune 100/500 tech companies) continue to grow their footprint throughout the market. Several of these tech companies have either expanded or signed new leases of at least 100,000 square feet in 2020. Additionally, locally based Qualcomm executed one of the largest leases in 2020 in Sorrento Mesa for 143,639 square feet and ServiceNow expanded in UTC/Eastgate for 61,00 square feet, pushing their San Diego footprint to over 500,000 square feet. In fact, technology led office leasing volume at 34 percent of the market’s total leasing volume of 1.5 million square feet.
Despite COVID-19, the technology sector is still driving the office market with tenants seeking large blocks of space. Some of the tech sub-industries driving the growth include cloud, autonomous driving, aerospace and defense, e-commerce, telecommunications, electronics, hardware and software. Besides the telecom and software companies, autonomous and logistics software firms such as SmartDrive, LYTX and TuSimple are gaining steam. Flock Freight and TuSimple lead the market in tech VC funding in 2020, at $113.5 million and $350 million, respectively.
Life science and technology campus investors are moving into other submarkets including Downtown and the I-15 Corridor as the core biotech submarkets are becoming supply constrained. Historically, high biotech demand has and continues to absorb space in the North Cities area (UTC, Sorrento Mesa, and Del Mar Heights).
San Diego Tech Insight Q4 2020
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San Diego State University joins nationwide
study of COVID-19 risk and severity
Building on the expertise developed by health researchers at its South Bay Latino Research Center, San Diego State University has been invited to participate in a study of 50,000 people from diverse communities nationwide to explore COVID-19 risk factors, predictors of disease severity, and its long-term impacts.
This will help scientists understand why some people become so gravely ill they need to be hospitalized while others have a milder form of the disease.
Greg Talavera and Linda Gallo started the center in 2006 to focus on reducing health disparities in cardiovascular disease, diabetes and colon cancer in the Latinx community. Located in Chula Vista five minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border, the center has deep roots in South County and long familiarity with clinical intervention research for the local Latinx community.
A majority of the center’s funding comes from National Institutes of Health, and a portion from the American Heart Association.
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Legislation introduced to expand four-year
degree opportunities at community colleges
Legislation to make permanent and expand a groundbreaking pilot program allowing 15 California community colleges — including San Diego Mesa College — to offer bachelor’s degrees in critical workforce fields has been introduced in the state Assembly.
Assembly Bill 927, sponsored by Chair of the Committee on Higher Education Jose Medina (D-Riverside), would eliminate the 2026 sunset date on existing baccalaureate pilot programs in workforce fields where there is high demand and unmet need and allow for the number of such programs to grow throughout the state.
Approximately 60 percent of students in the baccalaureate program come from communities of color and students are paying less than $11,000 in tuition and fees for their four-year degrees, a fraction of what it would cost them at private institutions or public colleges and universities. On average, students who graduated in 2018 were earning a salary $28,000 higher than their salary prior to enrolling in their bachelor’s degree program.
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Design and outreach underway for
new county Southeastern Live Well Center
The public will soon have opportunities to participate in the next steps of creating the Southeastern Live Well Center, which will serve as a hub for community services in the San Diego neighborhood.
The County of San Diego, along with the PCL Construction + Steinberg Hart design-build team and Project Management Advisors Inc. as the acting owner’s representative for the county, are starting the design phase of the project at the corner of Market Street and Euclid Avenue. This phase is when details are refined for the concepts shared earlier and will include engaging groups that will work at the building along with community advisors on design.
In the coming months PCL will host outreach events for local businesses and community residents who are interested in learning more about the project and potential opportunities. For additional information and to be included in the upcoming bidder list please contact SELWCOutreach@pcl.com.
The Southeastern Live Well Center is expected to break ground in fall of 2021 and open in the summer of 2023.
For more information, click here
Academy of Our Lady of Peace senior wins
countywide Virtual Poetry Out Loud contest
Kate Linggi, a senior at Academy of Our Lady of Peace in San Diego, took first place in the 2021 countywide Virtual Poetry Out Loud competition on Feb. 10. Linggi will represent San Diego at the upcoming virtual state finals on March11-12. Sarah Datta of Canyon Crest Academy placed second at the event.
Write Out Loud — an organization founded in 2007 with a commitment to inspire, challenge and entertain by reading short stories aloud for a live audience coordinates the national program locally.
At the county competition, Linggi recited “What You Have To Get Over” by Dick Allen and “Envy” by Mary Lamb.
The winner at the state level will move on to represent the Golden State in the national finals in Washington, D.C. A total of $50,000 in awards and school/organizational stipends will be given at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, including a $20,000 award for the National Champion, $10,000 for 2nd place, $5,000 for 3rd place, and $1,000 for 4th-12th places.
Carlos Zuniga joins San Diego County Credit Union
has joined San Diego County Credit Unionas executive vice president of consumer lending. Bringing with him over 20 years of experience in consumer lending, underwriting and debt solutions, Zuniga’s understanding of all consumer lending activities will allow him to provide strategic oversight of SDCCU’s lending strategy to better serve customers.
In this role, Zuniga is responsible for all consumer lending, including collections and business lending activities, as well as the strategic planning related to consumer lending portfolios, both direct and indirect channels.
Before joining SDCCU, Zuniga served most recently as the assistant vice president, consumer lending operations and underwriting at USAA. Throughout his banking career, Zuniga has led teams whose purpose is to create and deliver seamless, best-in-class, end-to-end employee and customer experiences. His extensive financial services career spans consumer loan and real estate operations and support, credit risk and portfolio management, collections and recovery, business transformation, product management, and vendor relations.
Zuniga is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio Texas, with an MBA in International Business, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management. He has been accepted at Harvard Business School and plans to begin a Business Analytics Program in 2021.
GEICO opens second San Diego office
GEICO has opened a new local office at 6615 Flanders Drive Suite B-1 in San Diego. This is GEICO’s second local office within San Diego, and it will serve customers living in the city’s northern neighborhoods as well as the Sorrento Valley. Vu Muth will lead a team of licensed agents at the new location.
Prior to opening his GEICO local office, Vu worked for another insurance carrier for 14 years, and served in a leadership position. He also has 27 years of experience as a financial adviser.
Vu and his staff members—Diana Mei, Danny Nguyen, Nancy Thai and Chris Bryan Nguyen—can help customers purchase car insurance, as well as coverage for homeowners, renters, condos, RVs, motorcycles, boats, umbrella, identity protection, jewelry, commercial auto insurance and more.
The office also can assist customers in the following languages: Vietnamese, Cantonese, Japanese and Tagalog. Office phone: (858) 293-6910
Northrop Grumman provided key components
to NASA’s Perseverance Rover
Northrop Grumman Corporation provided key navigation and critical components to support NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Perseverance Rover, which landed on Mars’ Jezero Crater last Thursday.
The Perseverance Rover utilizes Northrop Grumman’s LN-200S inertial measurement unit (IMU) to provide attitude and acceleration information for guidance, as well as pressurant tanks for the Rover’s gas dust removal tool (gDRT) and propellant tanks for the Rover’s controlled descent element. The company has provided mission critical components on all previous Mars Rovers missions, including 2003’s Spirit and Opportunity, and 2012’s Curiosity.
Northrop Grumman’s tanks enable the Rover’s gDRT to blow away dust particles after grinding rock samples to allow a better look at the polished sample surface.
Dexcom unveils new corporate venture
fund for sensor, health monitoring startups
San Diego-based Dexcom, which makes wearable continuous glucose monitors for people with diabetes, is launching its first corporate VC fund to invest in sensing, data analytics, remote patient monitoring, and population health. Initially, the fund will focus its support on both early and later stage startups working on glucose sensing technologies and metabolic monitoring.
Balboa Park is first historic landmark
to earn LEED sustainability honor
San Diego’s renowned Balboa Park has become the first cultural district and historic landmark in the U.S. to be awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Cities and Communities certification, which recognizes green building practices that are sustainable, cost efficient and energy saving. The park joins 115 other LEED-certified cities and communities worldwide.
Sam Attisha to head California Cable &
Telecommunications Assn. board
Sam Attisha, senior vice president and region manager for Cox Communications’ California operations, will serve as the board chair at California Cable & Telecommunications Association (CCTA). Attisha will serve a two-year term.
“Sam’s wealth of experience in the industry and his commitment to communities throughout California will be an asset as our board and organization continue to reshape how our industry innovates and supports our state’s future,” said Carolyn McIntyre, CCTA president. “He’s been an active and engaged member of our association for years, and we’re thrilled to have him take on this new role.”
Attisha, who has been with Cox for 13 years, leads employees and day-to-day operations for the company’s California region. He also co-chairs Cox’s California Diversity Council, which supports inclusion, diversity and equity in the company and community.
