Daily Business Report-April 9, 2021
Intel’s Habana Labs to supply AI chips for new UC San Diego research computer
Intel Corp.’s Habana Labs unit said that it will provide hundreds of artificial intelligence chips to the University of California at San Diego, which will incorporate them into an upcoming research supercomputer called Voyager. Voyager will be used by scientists for projects such as analyzing data from particle accelerator experiments.
Intel acquired Habana Labs for $2 billion in 2019, a mere two years after the startup had exited stealth mode. Habana Labs offers a pair of AI chips, called Gaudi and Goya, for training machine learning models and performing inference, respectively.
Habana claims its silicon can run AI workloads more cost effectively than graphics processing units in some cases thanks to a number of efficiency-boosting capabilities built into the architecture. The main highlight is a set of 10 100-gigabit Ethernet ports included in each chip.
As part of the project, Super Micro Computer Inc., UC San Diego’s technology partner, will incorporate the chips from Habana Labs into two sets of computing modules. Those systems will form the basic building blocks of Voyager.
La Mesa councilmember heads for the Assembly
Emily Hoeven | CalMatters
A new Weber is headed to the California Legislature.
The results aren’t certified, but it looks as though La Mesa city councilmember Akilah Weber easily won her race for the San Diego Assembly seat recently vacated by Shirley Weber. (Yes, relation).
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Shirley Weber, a Democrat, to be California’s secretary of state where she oversees, among other things, the state’s administration of elections. She’s also Akilah’s mother.
The younger Weber ran against five other candidates, but her victory was never much in doubt. In California, it helps to have family in high places.
UC San Diego to significantly increase campus density in fall 2021
The University of California San Diego has announced plans to have a campus nearly fully occupied for fall 2021. The plans center on the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines — the campus expects to have about 90 percent of students and 85 percent of on-site staff fully vaccinated by fall quarter.
Under this premise, campus residence halls will be near 100 percent occupancy, with no more than two students per room. Teaching will primarily be delivered through in-person instruction in campus classrooms. Appropriate remote learning options will be made available for students who are unable to arrive from abroad due to visa delays or travel restrictions.
Dwain Woodley appointed assistant district attorney in San Diego
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan has appointed Chief Deputy District Attorney Dwain Woodley as her office’s new assistant district attorney, making him the first African American to hold the number two spot in the DA’s Office. Woodley takes over for ADA David Greenberg, who retired in March.
Woodley helped develop and lead the DA’s Community Partnership Prosecutors program which has been connecting the public with much-needed services around domestic violence, child abuse and hate crimes during the COVID19 pandemic.
A former public defender, Woodley joined the DA’s Office as a deputy DA in 2001.
He began his management track in 2008 serving as assistant chief of Central Pretrial and Disposition Division, assistant chief of Superior Court Division, chief of Superior Court Division, chief of the Juvenile Branch, and chief of the South Bay Branch. In 2018, the first appointment newly-elected DA Stephan made was elevating Woodley to chief deputy DA.
New video educates viewers on the East County Advanced Water Purification Program
The East County Advanced Water Purification (East County AWP) Program released a new video,The Clear Solution, that can be viewed on the Program’s website at eastcountyawp.com/videos.
The four-minute video educates viewers about the importance of the East County AWP Program and how it will create a new, local, reliable and drought proof drinking water supply by recycling and reusing the region’s wastewater. The East County AWP Program is a collaborative partnership between Padre Dam Municipal Water District, County of San Diego, City of El Cajon and Helix Water District.
The East County AWP Program will provide up to 30 percent of East County’s drinking water demands, or almost 13,000 acre-feet of water per year, while eliminating the discharge of 15 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.
Tower 16 Capital Partners sells Colton apartments for $88 million
San Diego-based Tower 16 Capital Partners has successfully sold The District at Grand Terrace, a 352-unit apartment project located in Colton, Calif. The property was originally purchased in 2019 for $63,050,000 and was sold this month for $88 million. During its two-year hold, the company performed a $2.6 million capital improvement program including interior unit renovations and enhancing several exterior amenities.
The buyer of the property is MG Properties, a privately held real estate investment firm based in San Diego. Real estate brokers Tyler Martin, Alex Garcia, Chris Zorbas and Chris Copenhaver of Institutional Property Advisors represented Tower 16 in the transaction.
UC San Diego approves new undergraduate degree in Black Diaspora and African American Studies
UC San Diego has established the first bachelor of arts degree in Black Diaspora and African American Studies. Accepting new majors beginning in fall quarter 2022, the African American Studies Program within the Institute of Arts and Humanities will administer the new degree, while continuing to offer the established minor.
“One of the overarching goals of the new degree is to help students understand the critical spaces Black people hold in society: culturally, politically, economically and socially,” said program director Thandeka Chapman. “It will also provide theoretical and conceptual tools for students to learn about the complexities of race and racism, capitalism, colonization and imperialism.”
Students will have the option to major in one of three concentrations: the first focusing on the Africa and Black Diaspora, the second on African American Studies, and the third will be interdisciplinary, allowing students to design a focus across selected topics or issues through multiple departments.
Brixton Capital promotes Kim Masayko to senior VP of operations
Commercial real estate investment firm Brixton Capital has promoted Kim Masayko to senior vice president of operations. Masayko is responsible for establishing procedures and best practices to achieve operational excellence for both the physical and fiscal performance of Brixton’s real estate portfolio. She manages approximately $1 billion of retail and office assets for Brixton.
Among her achievements, Masayko created an in-house property management department for Brixton when she joined the team in 2016. Previously, she spent 17 years with another national real estate investment firm, where she managed an in-place net operating income of $50 million annually.
Masayko is involved with the International Council of Shopping Centers and has participated on its RetailGreen conference planning committee. In 2019, Masayko was named to The Daily Transcript’s annual list of Influential Women.
Majestic Sunroad Center reaches 100 percent occupancy
Majestic Sunroad Center in San Diego’s Otay Mesa neighborhood has reached full occupancy following the recent closing of four lease transactions prior to the completion of construction, Colliers San Diego Region announced. Majestic Sunroad Center is a three-building, 227,268-square-foot industrial business park developed by Majestic Realty Co. and Sunroad Enterprises. Final construction and tenant improvements will be completed next month with the last tenant moving into its new space in June. The four new tenants are Vidal Import Export Inc., R.L. Jones-San Diego Inc., Watkins Manufacturing Corporation and Republic Moving and Storage.
Mark Lewkowitz, Chris Holder and Will Holder of Colliers San Diego represented the lessor, Majestic Realty Co. and two of the four of the lessees.
Maravai LifeSciences announces public offering pricing
Maravai LifeSciences Holdings Inc., a global provider of life science reagents and services to researchers and biotech innovators, announced the pricing of an upsized public offering of 18,000,000 shares of Maravai’s Class A common stock by certain selling stockholders that was previously announced, at a public offering price of $31.25 per share. The offering was upsized by 3,000,000 shares of Maravai’s Class A common stock from what was previously announced. Maravai will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.
U.S. marijuana retail market worth $45.9 billion by 2025
The newly released Annual Marijuana Business Factbook, 9th Edition, forecasts U.S. sales of recreational and medical marijuana to reach $45.9 billion by 2025.
Other key findings from the report:
• In 2021, U.S. cannabis sales are expected to reach $22 billion-$26.4 billion.
• 100 percent of investors expect the industry to do better in 2021 than in 2020.
• The cannabis industry will offer over 400,000 full-time jobs in 2021.
• The new, adult-use market in New York should reach sales of $2.5 billion by year five.
“2020 was an important year in cannabis,” says Annual Marijuana Business Factbook editor Jenel Stelton-Holtmeier. “Many marijuana businesses were declared essential during the pandemic, and more states legalized cannabis markets. 2021 will see more states join in, and their programs are getting started faster than we’ve previously seen.”
