Daily Business Report: Wednesday, July 21, 2021
Workforce Partnership and City of San Diego
unite to help San Diegans secure quality jobs
The San Diego Workforce Partnership, with support from the City of San Diego is expanding three workforce training programs designed to help San Diegans from underrepresented communities secure quality jobs and launch meaningful careers in the region’s public and private sectors: TechHire,Opportunity Youth Internships and City Mentorships.
These programs will provide young workers with the skills, training and experience they need to secure quality employment in two of the region’s growing priority sectors, information & communication technologies and public administration.
TechHire offers Black San Diegans, women, veterans and other underrepresented populations paid internships in quality tech positions.
The Opportunity Youth Internship program assists young workers from low-income backgrounds with securing paid internships in sectors like health care, education, law and retail.
Applicants can receive paid job readiness training, work experience and a one-on-one mentor through a paid mentorship with city departments through the City Mentorship program.
“As our local economy continues to rebuild, now is the optimal time for workers to reimagine their career,” says Peter Callstrom, Workforce Partnership CEO. “We thank the City of San Diego for their support in helping families and workers throughout our region identify new opportunities to secure quality educational and career opportunities.”
Thieves are stealing California’s scarce water.
Where’s it going? Illegal marijuana farms
As drought ravages California, water has become one of the state’s hottest commodities — pushing thievery to record levels. Bandits are pumping water from rivers and lakes to sell on a burgeoning black market, while other thieves plug into city hydrants under the cover of darkness and top up. But illegal cannabis growing operations appear to be the biggest culprit of them all, Julie Cart reportsin the next installment of CalMatters’ “Lessons Learned? Drought Then and Now” series. And it’s only gotten harder to prosecute them: After California in 2018 legalized recreational marijuana use for adults, it also downgraded the illegal cultivation of large quantities of pot from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Marina West, general manager of the Bighorn-Desert View Water Agency: “I don’t mean to be rude, but the state is taking the word ‘criminal’ out of the dictionary. … We’re here to provide water to this community, we’re not here to provide cheap water to an illegal business that’s making millions of dollars.”
Rancho Santa Fe Professional Center acquired
by Gildred Development Co. for $19.5 million
The Rancho Santa Fe Professional Center, a five-building, 18,663-square-foot property in Rancho Santa Fe, has been acquired by local real estate firm Gildred Development Co. for $19.5 million, or $1,045 per-square-foot. The seller was Huntington Hotel Company.
Located at 6002-6 El Tordo, 5951 La Sendita and 17008 Avenida De Acacias, the property is comprised of four office/medical buildings and one retail building. It was built in phases from 1975 to 1990. Two of the buildings have been 100 percent leased since the project was originally constructed and the other two buildings have averaged 99 percent occupancy.
CBRE’s Matt Pourcho, Anthony DeLorenzo, Gary Stache and Bryan Johnson represented the seller in the transaction. The buyer was represented by Joe Bernstein and Joe Anderson of JLL.
Two-story office building in Carlsbad sells
for $19.25 million to Orange County family
A Class A office building at 1800 Ashton Ave. in Carlsbad has been sold for $19.25 million to a private Orange County-based family.
The two-story building was completed in 2019 and is 100 percent leased to three tenants with staggered leases: Carlsmed Inc., Liberty Woods International and Brown & Brown, Inc.’s subsidiary, Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc., which occupies the entire 24,839-square-foot top floor.
The property is within the Carlsbad Research Center, North County’slargest business park.
Matt Pourcho, Anthony DeLorenzo, Gary Stache, Bryan Johnson, Roger Carlson and Blake Wilson with CBRE represented the seller, Burke Real Estate Group.
Pacific Biosciences of California signs
merger agreement to acquire Omniome
Pacific Biosciences of California has signed a definitive merger agreement under which it will acquire Omniome, a San Diego-based company developing a highly differentiated, proprietary short-read sequencing platform.
“When the merger closes, we believe PacBio will be uniquely positioned as the only company with both highly accurate long-read and short-read sequencing platforms,” the company said. “The acquisition of Omniome is completely aligned with PacBio’s mission of enabling the promise of genomics to better human health.”
San Diego city staff working on new ordinance for vendors
sdnews.com
City of San Diego staff is working on a new ordinance specifying rules and regulations governing vending on sidewalks and boardwalks, which have seen a proliferation of vendors.
SB 946, the Sidewalk Vending Ordinance, was passed by the state Legislature in September 2018. Under the new law, the state mandates local jurisdictions to support and facilitate sidewalk vendors. The law’s intent is to loosen restrictions making it easier for independent small businesses to operate.
“I am currently working with the mayor and our city departments to enforce existing law and reign-in street vending,” said District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell. “For vending that falls under gray areas of the law, my office is now taking the lead on a city-wide street-vending ordinance to provide clear enforcement guidelines.”
Brick-and-mortar small businesses in beach areas have complained of unfair competition from vendors selling on boardwalks and sidewalks who are presently not bound by the same rules and restrictions that they are.
DHS awards San Diego and Michigan firms money
to develop handheld passenger screening device
The Department of Homeland Security Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program awarded nearly $2 million in funding to two small businesses — Spectral Labs Inc. in San Diego and TeraMetrix LLC in Ann Arbor, Mich. — to develop an advanced, affordable, and compact handheld passenger screening device to help secure aviation against evolving threats.
Each business received approximately $1 million in SBIR Phase II funding to develop handheld advanced detection/imaging technology system solutions. The DHS SBIR Program selected Spectral Labs and TeraMetrix to participate in Phase II, the program subsequent to successful demonstration of feasibility in Phase I.
Under Phase II, Spectral Labs will continue its research and development efforts to produce and test the prototype of a compact and transportable handheld anomaly recognition tool capable of effectively locating anomalies in or under clothing of personnel passing through checkpoints and detecting a broad variety of threats, including explosives and non-metallic threats. TeraMetrix, will further its research and development efforts to produce and test a prototype handheld millimeter-wave advanced threat detection and imaging wand.
Element Biosciences bolsters leadership team
to advance development of DNA sequencing platform
Element Biosciences, developer of a new and disruptive DNA sequencing platform, announced the appointments of Brian Stolz as chief people officer, Diana King as vice president of customer support, and Jordan Neysmith as vice president of engineering.
The new leadership appointments follow the recent close of $276 million in Series C financing and support the company’s growth and strategic plans for the development and commercialization of a disruptive DNA sequencing platform.
Chief People Officer Brian Stolz will be responsible for human resources strategy, talent acquisition, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, organizational design and cultural development, employee education and development, compensation and benefits, and HR operations and technology.
Vice President of Customer Support Diana King is an accomplished service and support executive. She joins Element from MULTI INC, a global provider of advanced medical imaging solutions, where she served as chief business development officer.
Vice President of Engineering Jordan Neysmith is a dynamic and accomplished leader in research, development and product management at innovative technology companies. He joins Element from Bruker Nano Surfaces, where he served as senior director of development and engineering.
Denver firm Lerch Bates completes acquisition
Of San Diego-based AXIS Facades USA
Lerch Bates Inc., headquartered in Englewood, Colo., has completed the acquisition of AXIS Facades USA, a recognized expert in façade and curtain wall design based in San Diego. The acquisition broadens and strengthens Lerch Bates’ global leadership in technical consulting services for the built environment, which includes vertical transportation, façade access, building logistics and building enclosure consulting.
“As one of very few global technical consulting services firms that is an ESOP, we are thrilled to bring on AXIS Facades USA as employee-owners with us,” said Lerch Bates CEO Bart Stephan. “This acquisition allows Lerch Bates to offer an even wider range of services to our clients looking for comprehensive technical expertise from a single, expert source.”
AXIS Facades USA brings a superior track record of assisting owners, developers and architects in the design and construction of complex building facades around the world. The AXIS acquisition follows the January 2020 acquisition of PIE Consulting and Engineering by Lerch Bates. These strategic expansions are designed to fulfill the firm’s mission to provide technical consulting services that combine a wide breadth of service with an unmatched depth of expertise.
Ad Astra Ventures-backed Uqora acquired
By makers of Nature Made vitamins
Local investment fund Ad Astra Ventures of Solana Beach announced that one of its portfolio companies, leading urinary health brand Uqora, has been acquired by Pharmavite, the makers of Nature Made vitamins and supplements.
This is the first Ad Astra-backed company to achieve exit status, a significant milestone for both Uqora and the three-year-old investment fund focused on female-led startups. Born and raised in San Diego and founded by partners Jenna Ryan and Spencer Gordon, Uqora addresses urinary health issues with a combination of reactive solutions and proactive care.
“We immediately recognized the power and necessity of Uqora’s science-backed solution for urinary health challenges, as well as Jenna and Spencer’s (Jenna Ryan and Spencer Gordon) unwavering commitment to building a scalable company with accessible solutions,” said Allison Long Pettine, who co-founded Ad Astra Ventures in 2018 alongside Vidya Dinamani and Dr. Silvia Mah. “It’s been our greatest honor to play a small but impactful part in the success of their purpose-driven company.”
