Daily Business Report: Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2021

San Diego Comic Convention begins

construction on new Comic-Con Museum

San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the nonprofit organization that produces the annual popular arts and culture celebration Comic-Con, announced the start of construction on the new Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park with the opening and daily operations set to begin Nov. 26. The event will coincide with Comic-Con Special Edition, a reduced-sized fall version of the Comic-Con convention held each summer in San Diego.

The Comic-Con Museum will allow fans and the public to see exciting and fun exhibits, art, and images connected to comics and related popular art while serving as a meeting place for the community of fans and lovers of popular art in all its unique forms.
One of the two classrooms scheduled to open in the museum’s educational center at this time is the Cox Innovation Lab. Cox contributed $175,000 to create the Cox Innovation Lab in the museum’s education center. 

The museum will continue to expand its interior display space and educational area over the next several months leading to a grand opening scheduled for July 2022.

TOP PHOTO: Rendering of the new Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park.
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California voters rushing to cast ballots 

in recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom

CalMatters

More than 3.5 million Californians have already returned their ballots for the Sept. 14 recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom, representing 16 percent of ballots mailed to the state’s 22.2 million registered voters, according to figures compiled by Political Data Inc. These early voters are disproportionately Democratic (54 percent), white (69 percent) and age 65 or older (42 percent). That tracks with trends observed during the November 2020 election, in which Democrats rushed to vote early while Republicans — often citing concerns about fraud — waited to cast their ballots in person on Election Day.

Golden Vista Apartments in Golden

Hill neighborhood sells for $7.5 million

CBRE has announced the sale of Golden Vista Apartments, a 24-unit multifamily community in the Golden Hill neighborhood of San Diego, to an undisclosed buyer for $7.5 million.

Located at 2420 B St., Golden Vista Apartments was originally constructed in 1968. The unit mix is comprised of one- and two-bedroom apartments. It is two blocks from Balboa Park and approximately one mile from Downtown San Diego.

John Newton of CBRE represented the buyer in the transaction. The seller, Susan and Morton La Pittus Trust, was represented by an outside firm.

Carlos O. Turner Cortez to lead regional

community colleges association

San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) Chancellor Carlos O. Turner Cortez is the new president of the San Diego & Imperial Counties Community Colleges Association (SDICCCA), a collaboration between six community college districts in a two-county area.

SDICCCA serves more than 200,000 students each year at its 10 community colleges. The organization works closely with San Diego State University, UC San Diego, Cal State San Marcos, and other four-year universities to develop and maintain effective programs that promote student success and transfer. 

Cortez is assuming leadership of SDICCCA at an important moment for California community colleges as they struggle with historic enrollment declines and budget challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the region, the stakes are high. Nine out of 10 of SDICCCA graduates transfer to a university or transition into the local labor force. Along with these alumni, SDICCCA institutions contribute more than $8.1 billion dollars annually to California’s economy.

Business development veteran joins NP Digital

as vice president of strategic partnerships

Jennifer French, a 20-year veteran of business development, has joined NP Digital as vice presiden of strategic partnerships. French will negotiate and acquire new strategic partnerships and increase technology partner engagements. 

The new position will ensure the optimization and growth of sales channels through co-marketing and partnership initiatives across NP Digital, NP Accel and Ubersuggest.   

French represented agencies and software companies in her career. She comes with expertise in building strategic partnerships to feed leads to sales teams and has helped thousands of small to medium-sized businesses embrace technology to help them succeed. 

Prior to joining NP Digital, French served as the VP of strategic partnerships at FMG Suite. There she managed over 100 key strategic partnerships while continuing to identify new opportunities for growth. French was also the VP of business development for MarketingPro for over 16 years and played an integral role in preparing the organization for acquisition by FMG Suite. 

William Fischer promoted to vice president,

platform services, at TechFlow

William Fischer has been promoted to vice president, platform services at TechFlow, a logistics and digital services company.

 Fischer is a proven business leader with a track record of successes and demonstrated excellence in program management, cross-functional team leadership, building customer relationships, business development, and contract management for federal, commercial and international customers in high technology and service industries. 

His experience spans over 30 years, with the last two decades focused on aviation, port, and border security.

Prior to joining TechFlow, Fischer spent 14 years with Smiths Detection, a provider of threat detection and screening technologies for aviation, ports, and borders, urban security, and military markets. As Smiths’ vice president, program management, he led the integration and formation of Smiths’ Americas program management organization. Programs executed under his leadership included the aviation security, ports, and border security, DOD CBRNE, and commercial market sectors.

Hite Digital to be an official sponsor

of San Diego’s Traffic & Conversions Conference

Hite Digital, a digital marketing franchise, is the official sponsor of the VIP lounge for the Traffic & Conversions Conference. The event will take place at the San Diego Convention Center from Sept. 13-15. Guest speakers will include, Grammy-nominated Artist, Snoop Dog, award-winning chef Martha Stewart and many more. 

More than 20 Hite Digital team members and franchisees will be in attendance, supporting a booth of its own and serving as the official sponsor of the VIP lounge. This year, the VIP lounge is now bigger, hosting an exclusive meet and greet with Snoop Dogg, Martha Stewart & Marie Forleo and Chip Wilson.The lounge also provides the opportunity for guests to meet and interact with decision makers, and it allows for additional private on-site meetings for those with a networking pass. 

 Pathfinder Partners acquires Seattle apartments

Pathfinder Parners, a San Diego-based private equity firm specializing in multifamily real estate investments, announced the acquisition of Hiawatha Apartments in Seattle, Wash. for $28,775,000. Pathfinder made the investment through Pathfinder Partners Opportunity Fund VIII, L.P., a fund focused on multifamily investments in the Western U.S.

Hera Hub Temecula to hold grand

reopening ceremony on Sept. 9

After a year of groundbreaking success in the wake of COVID-19 and in an effort to further transform experiences for entrepreneurial women, Hera Hub Temecula — the first international, woman-owned, and female-focused coworking space and business accelerator in the Inland Empire — will host its Grand Re-Opening, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, from 4–6 p.m., at 41765 Rider Way, Temecula,  92590.

This in-person event, sponsored by Hera Hub Temecula with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony courtesy of the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce, will feature complimentary refreshments and hors d’oeuvre, as well as pastries from renowned pastry chef Robin McCoy. 

Sunrise Management expands Portland footprint

Portland-based Urban Asset Advisors has tapped San Diego-based Sunrise Management – which has specialized in the management of residential real estate since 1978 – to direct all leasing and day-to-day operations for three Portland area multifamily properties: Artisan Apartments, Abernethy Flats and Broadway Flats. 

Totaling 103 units, all three communities – owned by UAA – are newly upgraded and located in the downtown Portland area.

Smith+Nephew to feature new sports medicine

technology at AAOS annual meeting

Smith+Nephew, the global medical technology business, announced it will showcase its latest sports medicine innovations for joint repair and arthroscopic enabling technologies during the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 2021 annual meeting being held today through Friday in San Diego. 

SDSU named ‘Best of the Best’

for LGBTQ  students

San Diego State University is listed as Campus Pride Index’s Best of the Best Colleges and Universities in the United States for its support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) students.
Only 30 four-year institutions were included on the list, which is considered the definitive benchmarking tool tracking LGBTQ-friendly institutions. To be included on the “Best of the Best” listing, institutions must have the highest percentages in the LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks for policies, programs and practices.
“We are so proud of this recognition, which celebrates our SDSU community as a leader in both commitment and action to support our LGBTQ community,” said SDSU President Adela de la Torre. 

SDSU received a perfect 5 out of 5 score to make the list, becoming the only public university in California to receive the high score.