Daily Business Report: Monday, July 26, 2021
State budgets $30 million toward the redevelopment
of UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest
Rebuilding the UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest has been made possible by the allocation of $30 million in the state budget for the redevelopment, a project considered essential for continuing necessary health services for the region.
The transformation of the hospital campus in Hillcrest is part of a long-range development plan that will also include a 250,000-square-foot outpatient pavilion with specialty clinical programs, such as oncology, cardiology, neurosurgery and orthopedics, as well as ambulatory surgery operating rooms, gastroenterology procedure rooms, advanced imaging, infusion and radiation oncology.
The new hospital will be the cornerstone of a redevelopment project that will also feature a wellness center for campus and community and up to 1,000 units of workforce housing.
Construction for the project is anticipated to start in the fall of 2021 and continue over approximately 15 years in five major phases, implemented to reduce impact on the surrounding community while ensuring current, critical campus functions remain operational.
Enhance La Jolla envisions new
Prospect Steet plaza for Village
By Dave Schwab | sdnews.com
Enhance La Jolla has unveiled phase one of a long-range plan to improve community gathering spaces by reclaiming and increasing space for pedestrians, street furniture, and landscape.
On July 15, in its first in-person meeting since COVID, the coastal community’s maintenance assessment district’s 13-member board outlined its long-term vision for re-imagining La Jolla’s downtown Village. That update is to include a new Prospect Street plaza between Girard Avenue and Herschel Street.
The MADD’s objective is for infrastructure improvements to be a catalyst for business, socializing, and programming throughout the year. Enhancements to Girard Avenue will increase accessibility and safety while expanding the pedestrian realm with a mix of trees offering daytime shade and additional nighttime lighting fixtures. Various traffic-calming measures are also part of the infrastructure improvement package.
Read more…
San Diego Regional Chamber presents
2021 Small Business Award winners
The San Diego Regional Chamber recognized local small businesses for their significant contributions during the 2021 Summer Splash and Small Business Awards.
The 2021 Summer Splash and Small Business Awards winners are:
United Way of San Diego— Winner of the Community-Minded award which recognizes an organization dedicated to helping others.
New Leaf Biofuel— Winner of the Best Success Story award which recognizes the resilience and pride of a small business that was able to triumph above challenge.
Construction Service Workers— Winner of the Outstanding Minority, Woman, Veteran, DBE-Owned Business award which celebrates the success of a small business that is contributing to the growth and diversity of the American economy.
AJ Consulting Group— Winner of the Customers First award which recognizes a company that makes customer service their top priority and sets itself apart from the competition.
Danny Fitzgerald of the Center for Business Advancement at Southwestern Community College District— Winner of the 2021 Small Business Hero Award. The Chamber created this in honor of Fitzgerald’s exceptional partnership during the COVID-19 crisis.
UC San Diego receives $35 million from state
for new California coastal research vessel
California legislators have allocated UC San Diego $35 million to design and build a new coastal research vessel with a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-hybrid propulsion system.
The new vessel, which will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, will serve as a platform for essential education and research dedicated to understanding the California coast and climate change impacts to the coastal ecosystem.
The proposed 125-foot vessel will take three years to design, build, and commission, and replace Research Vessel Robert Gordon Sproul, which has served thousands of University of California students in its nearly 40 years of service but is nearing completion of its service life.
Home Start Inc. names Kevin Stafford
as chief operating officer
Home Start Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to child abuse prevention and providing evidence-based family strengthening services, has named Kevin Stafford as the organization’s first chief operating officer.
Stafford is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 13 years of management experience and has spent 23 years in the behavioral health sector.
Stafford’s professional vision encompasses growth, fiscal strategy, and organizational leadership, which has been cultivated over the years of his experience.
Previous strategies that he has developed and implemented have improved change processes, budgetary oversight, employee retention, and overall operations.
Born and raised in Torrance, Stafford moved to San Diego to attend San Diego State University to pursue a degree in Psychology.
He received his Master’s Degree in Marital and Family Therapy at the University of San Diego in 2002 and became a licensed marriage and family therapist in 2006.
Since then, Stafford has provided management and oversight for services that focused on adults with severe mental illness, substance use disorders, and those facing homelessness, along with mental health treatment for children.
Historic designation sought for iconic
Scripps Oceanography building
Scripps Institution of Oceanography has nominated the Munk Laboratory, a post-and-beam structure at the center of its oceanfront campus, for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
Nominators cite the redwood building’s organic character and mid-century modern post-and-beam style but also its significance as a locale at which history-making scientific discoveries took place. The building, completed in 1963, is named for iconic geophysicist Walter Munk, who was the first leader of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) center in La Jolla. Munk made fundamental observations of ocean waves, tidal forces, and acoustic properties that have influenced generations of scientists.
San Diego International Airport
opens new airline support building
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority marked the opening of a 93,000-square-foot building that provides a convenient location for the public to pick up and drop off live animals or bulky cargo items shipped in the bellies of passenger jets. The energy efficient building will house large cargo items, aircraft provisions, and live animals, providing Southwest, American, Delta and United airlines tenants with an efficient and sustainable building to carry out their cargo operations.
Qualcomm acquires AI startup Twenty Billion Neurons
Qualcomm has acquired Toronto-based Twenty Billion Neurons, a Microsoft-backed AI and computer vision startup that develops avatars with the ability to interact with people in a human-like way. The technology will provide Qualcomm with algorithms used to produce sharper photos, power on-device security, manage connectivity between cellular networs, and enable voice-to-text translation in voicemails.
Cellares and Poseida Therapeutics partnership
aims to accelerate cell therapy manufacturing
San Francisco-based Cellares Corp., which focuses on accelerating cell therapy manufacturing, is teaming with Poseida Therapeutics Inc. of San Diego as part of its Early Access Partnership Program. Poseida is the third company to join the program after PACT Pharma and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
“We’ve had relationships with several key stakeholders within Poseida for years,” said Fabian Gerlinghaus, co-founder and CEO of Cellares. “And Poseida shares our vision.”
