Daily Business Report-May 6, 2021
Cubic Corporation boasts new headquarters for its ‘Cubes’
San Diego-based Cubic Corporation calls its employees “Cubes,” a staff that now has a newly constructed headquarters in Kearny Mesa.
“We are excited that most of our San Diego Cubes will be located on one campus, further enhancing our One Cubic culture which focuses on teamwork and collaboration,” said Bradley H. Feldmann, chairman, president and CEO of Cubic Corporation. “Cisterra Development was a vital partner in creating our new headquarters that will allow for continued growth and strengthening of our teams.”
Cubic considered several options for the development of a new headquarters, including options outside of San Diego. Ultimately, it chose to consolidate two separate office campuses into a new, single campus with Cisterra Development as the company’s development partner. Cisterra Development delivered two new three-story, buildings that total 250,000 square feet with the entire campus now able to accommodate 1,500 employees.
Steven Black, founder and chairman of Cisterra Development, said construction of the new headquarters was completed under-budget and ahead of schedule.
Located at 9233 Balboa Ave., the LEED Silver-certified buildings include energy efficient lighting, solar panels across the 687-space parking facility and electric vehicle charging stations. The campus also includes numerous meeting and outdoor gathering places, a full-service café, state-of-the-art fitness center and a basketball court.
PHOTO: Rendering of Cubic’s new headquarters buildings.
Scripps research chemist Donna Blackmond
elected to National Academy of Sciences
Donna Blackmond, a renowned Scripps Research professor who has expanded the world’s understanding of the chemistry of life, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”
Blackmond, who joined Scripps Research in 2010, also serves as chair of the Chemistry Department on the California campus.
Among her many accomplishments, Blackmond pioneered the development of a technique called Reaction Progress Kinetic Analysis, or RPKA, a method for streamlining chemical reactions that is now becoming an industry-wide standard for pharmaceutical research and development. In addition, Blackmond’s groundbreaking work on the molecular geometry that exists in the building blocks of the natural world—a property known as “chirality”—has implications ranging from designing effective therapeutics to the very origins of life on earth.
“Donna has made extraordinary contributions to chemistry and science at large,” says Scripps Research President and CEO Peter Schultz. “This well-deserved recognition places her among an elite group of scientists and the Institute is proud to have Donna on our faculty. We congratulate her on this well-deserved honor.”
Airport Cell Phone Lot to reopen on May 8
The Cell Phone Lot at San Diego International Airport, which was closed in April because of COVID-19, will reopen on May 8, offering about 100 parking spaces for drivers to park and wait for arriving passengers.
“The opening of our Cell Phone Lot is a sign of recovery at our airport,” said Kimberly J. Becker, president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “With the traveling public getting vaccinated and schools on break for spring vacation, we saw some of the highest passenger volumes since the start of the pandemic in March and April. We continue to see a steady increase in travelers and we hope the reopening of our Cell Phone Lot will reduce curbside traffic and make picking up arriving passengers hassle-free.”
The Cell Phone Lot is located at 3015 N. Harbor Drive, with the entrance at the intersection of N. Harbor Drive and Liberator Way. The hours of operation are from 5 to 12:30 a.m. seven days a week. For more information, please visit www.san.org/Parking.
Estate planning and tax attorney Julie Dewberry
returns to Higgs Fletcher & Mack
Trust and estate planning, tax, and nonprofit attorney Julie Dewberry has rejoined Higgs Fletcher & Mack. In her practice, Dewberry advises domestic and international families, entrepreneurs, and executives on the tax-efficient accumulation, preservation, and transfer of assets.
In addition, her work includes mitigating interfamily disputes, planning for spendthrift children, and creating practical solutions to novel problems. She has experience in the design, operation, and succession of family-owned businesses, and she also represents nonprofit organizations, assisting them in their formation, obtaining tax-exempt status, and their ongoing operations. Dewberry is licensed in both California and Virginia.
Dewberry returns to HFM after spending two years further developing her international estate planning practice. Active in the legal, estate planning, and charitable communities, Dewberry is a member of the Korean American Bar Association of San Diego, the Trusts and Estates Section of the San Diego Country Bar Association, North County Estate Planning Council and the Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation Estate and Trusts Council. She earned her law degree from George Mason University School of Law, and previously earned a Bachelor of Science degree from The College of William and Mary.
First retail leases announced at Civita in Mission Valley
Sudberry Properties announced that it has leased or is in negotiation on nearly half of the 18,000-square-foot first phase of retail at The Row at Civita in Mission Valley.
El Tianguis Rolled Taquitos has leased a 1,376-square-foot site. This will be the third fast casual restaurant for the San Diego-based chain.
Southpaw Veterinary, a family-owned and operated clinic, has leased 2,068 square feet located adjacent to El Tianguis. Both tenants are scheduled to open in the fall.
Keg N Bottle shops has leased 1,848 square feet for an upscale bottle shop called Cork and Barrel, that will specialize in premium wines, beer and spirits. It is expected to open by yearend. Additional leases are being finalized.
This initial phase of The Row at Civita is located in Purl, a mixed-use residential neighborhood with 434 apartments and extensive recreational amenities.
The current state of the hospitality Industry
By Robert Rauch
Current conditions in the state of the hospitality industry include leisure travel, employee challenges and reinvented guest programming.
While I do not know how we are going to pay for the government spending plans, I do know that in the short-term, we will see huge growth in gross domestic product with some forecasters projecting over 6 percent for this year. Lenders are back in the game and traffic on the roads seems to me like an increase in business overall. To date, all of the hotel business, by and large, is leisure business. Longer weekends have been created by travelers who are working remote on Fridays and Mondays.
Leisure Travel Demand
What is missing from the travel growth is still business travel, group meetings and international travel. Those hotels and markets that rely on these sectors are still likely a year away from a meaningful recovery. The pent-up leisure demand is here to stay due to consumer confidence.
This is based on “revenge travel” as well as savings and vaccine success to date. Business travel will begin to improve this fall but there will be some travel budget cuts from many companies. Group and convention business will be based on meeting restrictions in each market area and international business is a year away. If business is generally coming back, what is not? Employees.
ALS Association to host virtual 2021 ALS Fiesta
The ALS Association Greater San Diego Chapter will host its sixth annual ALS Fiesta as a virtual online fundraiser from 7 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 19. Attendance to the 2021 ALS Fiesta is free and open to the public. Online viewing will be available at www.alsfiesta.com or Facebook. Proceeds will provide services to ALS families, including medical equipment loans, referral services, support groups, education, advocacy for access to care and research toward slowing the progression of ALS and finding a cure. Carlsbad-based Ionis Pharmaceuticals is the presenting sponsor of the 2021 ALS Fiesta.
TuSimple and Liberty Mutual Insurance
partner to study benefits of autonomous trucks
TuSimple, a self-driving technology company based in San Diego, and Liberty Mutual Insurance, the sixth largest global property and casualty insurer, announced a partnership to assess the comparative safety of autonomous trucks.
TuSimple and Liberty Mutual will work together to better understand how autonomous technologies perform in comparison to the same types of trucks driven manually by human drivers, the companies announced.
“We believe the benefits of autonomous vehicles are powerful and will play a vital role in reducing the number of truck-related fatalities in the future,” said Jim Mullen, chief administrative and legal officer for TuSimple. “Given most accidents are caused by distracted, impaired and fatigued driving – factors that are eliminated by autonomous trucks – we expect the data to reveal significant safety advantages when TuSimple’s autonomous driving technology is applied.”
TuSimple’s Autonomous Freight Network operates a fleet of 50 L4 autonomous trucks across the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
