Daily Business Report-April 15, 2021
Stirling Bay and Harrison Street acquire 2 life sciences properties in San Diego
A joint venture formed by Sterling Bay West and Harrison Street, an investment management firm, announced the acquisition of two life sciences properties located in Sorrento Mesa, the life science and biotechnology region of San Diego. Prices were not disclosed.
The properties:
• 5785 Oberlin Drive, a 62,800-square-foot office building that will undergo infrastructure redevelopment to create Class A office and lab space, offering future tenants access to flexible floorplates of up to 20,000 customizable square feet.
Redevelopment is expected to begin in 2021 with an anticipated delivery in 2022.
• 11010 Roselle/3560 Dunhill, a two-building, 28,000-square-foot office complex that will undergo infrastructure redevelopment to create Class A creative office and lab space, offering future tenants customizable floorplates of up to 15,000 square feet. Redevelopment is expected to begin in 2022 with an anticipated delivery in 2023.
California politicians owe $2 million in campaign fines, but don’t get punished
California politicians, judges, lobbyists and campaign donors owe the state more than $2 million for late campaign reports, according to the secretary of state’s office. But the office has allowed some of the largest fines to go unpaid for more than a decade without any consequences for those who owe the money — raising questions as to whether California is effectively enforcing its campaign finance law meant to promote transparency and prevent corruption, CalMatters’ Laurel Rosenhall reports.
The lax enforcement contrasts sharply with the punishment ordinary Californians face for neglecting to pay a traffic ticket, ranging from increasingly higher fines to misdemeanor charges.
County will pay SDSU $140,000 to review COVID-19 hotel program
The county announced Tuesday it will pay San Diego State University $140,000 to review a COVID-19 hotel program designed to provide shelter to those in need during the pandemic. The Board of Supervisors asked for the review eight days after inewsource reported gaps in services and a high volume of calls to police at the county’s main isolation hotel, the Crowne Plaza in Mission Valley. In one case, a man died in a room and wasn’t found for five days.
Illumina named one of Singapore’s Best Employers
Illumina Inc. announced that it has been honored as one of Singapore’s Best Employers for the second consecutive year, in a survey sponsored by The Straits Times and the marketing firm Statista.
Illumina was second in Health Care and Equipment Services and placed 30th on the overall list. Conducted in late 2020, the survey queried around 9,000 people employed in all different industries, giving them the opportunity to express their support for 1,700 local companies with more than 200 employees.
Headquartered in San Diego, Illumina’s first Singapore facility opened in 2008 with 10 employees and a 38,000-square-foot facility. Today, Illumina Singapore has increased the number of employees to more than 1,300 and grown to three buildings, occupying 10 times the original space—now totaling 385,000 square feet. An additional facility for research and development is expected to open in the first quarter of 2022.
Kai E. Ramer elected president and COO of Rick Engineering Co.
Kai E. Ramer has been elected president and COO of Rick Engineering Co. Ramer, who joined the firm in 1986, has held the position of COO since 2017. He is the fifth chief executive for the 65-year-old company, founded by Glen Rick, the former planning director for the city of San Diego.
Roger L. Ball, who has served as president of the privately held firm for the past 15 years, becomes chairman of the board and will coordinate the leadership transition and provide oversight of the board.
Ramer, a licensed civil engineer in California and Arizona and a licensed traffic engineer in California, is active in a variety of civic and professional organizations. He is a former president of the local chapters of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) and the Highway Development Association. He currently serves on several statewide committees for ACEC California and is active with the American Public Works Association.
A graduate of California State University, Chico, with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Ramer served for many years on the board of management of the East County YMCA.
LA Times’ Steve Padilla to offer writing tips April 20
Steve Padilla, editor of the Los Angeles Times’ Column One feature, will share his favorite writing tips at the San Diego Press Club’s next “Write Better Right Now,” a one-hour, writing webinar from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 20. The free webinar, held over the Zoom video-conferencing platform, is open to the public.
Padilla will share his best writing tips he’s learned during his 39-year career, followed by a question-and-answer time. Moderator on April 20 will be Luis Cruz, community and public relations director, The San Diego Union-Tribune and The San Diego Union-Tribune en Español.
The April 20 webinar will be recorded and a web link will appear on the Press Club website for viewing at a later date. To register, visit www.sdpressclub.org.
City of San Diego acquires 100 new works of art by local artists
The City of San Diego announced the acquisition of 100 works of art from 89 local artists, which will be added to the Civic Art Collection through the SD Practice initiative. The initiative aims to support artists affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acquisition of these new works was made possible through a $500,000 gift from the estate of Thomas O. Rasmussen, an avid contemporary art collector. Rasmussen, who died in 2014, desired to expand the presence of artwork in public facilities.
“With these artworks, many of which are the first by these artists to enter the Civic Art Collection holdings, we will be able to ensure that the collection continues to grow and deepens understanding of contemporary art and local art histories,” said Christine E. Jones, chief of civic art strategies of the city’s Commission for Arts and Culture. “It’s also important to grow awareness of San Diego artists and to help support them at such a difficult time.”
The new acquisitions span artistic media from painting, sculpture, drawing, print, photography and video, installations and textiles. They reveal key aspects of San Diego’s art practices and, in most cases, are the city’s first works by the respective artists.
Power Plus Productions opens new offices in Salt Lake City, Utah
Vista-based Power Plus Productions announced the opening of new offices located in Salt Lake City, Utah. This new location represents Power Plus Productions’ strategy to position itself as a competitive player in emerging markets.
Power Plus Productions’ move to expand into the Salt Lake market is based on opportunities presented by the growth of the tech sector, the need for production company options and existing clients opening offices throughout the Greater Salt Lake area, the company said in a statement.
“Salt Lake is my hometown, where I started my career over 38 years ago,” said Lane Rickard, president and owner of Power Plus Productions. “I moved my operations to San Diego to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in Southern California. Today, I am proud of what we have accomplished, and very excited about opening additional offices in the area where I was born and raised, to provide our services, experience and expertise in a market that has grown exponentially.”
New coalition formed dedicated to fostering synthetic biology manufacturing
San Diego-based Genomatica has joined two other companies to launch the Synthetic Biology Coalition to promote investment and support for the American synthetic biology industry. The other firms are Antheia, based in Menlo Park, and Ginkgo Bioworks, based in Boston.
Synthetic biology is a field of science that involves redesigning microorganisms for useful purposes. It is already being leveraged across many industries, including pharmaceuticals and medical treatments, food and agriculture, plastics, apparel, energy, consumer electronics, and personal and home care items, and is poised to have a significant impact on American economic growth over the coming years, according to the coalition.
Working in collaboration with the federal government, the SynBio Coalition aims to support the development and growth of the world’s advanced biomanufacturing industry in the United States, contributing to technologies that will improve access to medicine, create more sustainable and productive farming practices, help transform industrial manufacturing, and unlock a next generation of products across numerous industries.
ImmunoScape raises $24 million to advance
Singapore and San Diego operations
ImmunoScape, a Singapore biotech company with a laboratory in San Diego, has completed a $14 million fundraising round led by existing investors Anzu Partners, University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners and new investor EDBI, an investment arm of the Economic Development Board of Singapore. The new round brings ImmunoScape’s total funding in the past year to $25 million.
ImmunoScape will use the funding to enlarge its Singapore-based team, further its expansion into the U.S., and scale up its newly announced San Diego laboratory. The company will also be able to continue advancing the capabilities of its Deep Immunomics platform that enables the characterization of a patient’s immunome at ultra-high resolution. ImmunoScape will be working to increase its capacity for in-house R&D activities and to expand its partnerships with biopharma and leading academics in drug development efforts within immuno-oncology, infectious disease, and autoimmune disease.
