Daily Business Report: Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021
Large Otay Mesa industrial complex acquired
by LaSalle Investment Management for $18.5M
LaSalle Investment Management has acquired a 665,229-square-foot, Class A industrial complex on nearly 37 acres in Otay Mesa for $158.5 million. The seller was Murphy Development Company.
Known as The Campus at San Diego Business Park, the project consists of three freestanding buildings located at 2001, 2055 and 2065 Sanyo Ave and was nearly 98 percent leased to eight tenants at sale..
Built in the late 1980s (2001 Sanyo), early 1990s (2055 Sanyo) and most recently 2020 (2065 Sanyo), the project features functionally divisible spaces with a variety of bay sizes, 24’-34’ clear heights, grade and dock-high loading doors, ESFR sprinkler systems, and concrete truck courts. There is also gas service at the site.
Jeff Chiate, Jeffrey Cole, Bryce Aberg, Ed Hernandez, Mike Adey and Zach Harman of Cushman & Wakefield’s National Industrial Advisory Group represented the seller in the transaction. The firm’s Brant Aberg, along with Andy Irwin and Joe Anderson of JLL, provided leasing advisory.
TOP PHOTO: The Campus at San Diego Business Park
Tribal land bill passes House of Representatives
Legislation authored by Rep. Darrell Issa
The House of Representatives has passed legislation authored by Congressman Darrell Issa (R-50) that facilitates the Pala Band of Mission Indians’ work to protect a sacred site in San Diego County.
H.R. 1975 – The Pala Band of Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2021 – was cosponsored by Congressman Juan Vargas (D -51). The legislation will authorize the Secretary of the Interior to transfer approximately 720 acres of land – which includes a sacred site known locally as Gregory Mountain – that was acquired by the Pala into trust for the benefit of the tribe and its members.
“This bill enjoys broad and bipartisan support because it is the product of government and tribal communities working together to extend the reservation and ensure the culture and legacy of these lands are protected for future generations.” said Issa. “My thanks to my friend Rep. Vargas for his support in making this legislation a reality.”
“Putting these lands into federal trust through H.R. 1975 ensures that the people of Pala can continue to steward our lands and traditions as we have since time immemorial,” said Pala Chairman Robert Smith.
Court says insurance commissioner cannot force
State Farm to pay refunds for overcharges
The state insurance commissioner cannot force insurance companies to repay consumers when they charge excessive rates, the state Court of Appeal in San Diego ruled late Friday.
Rejecting the express language, purposes and intent of voter-approved Proposition 103 – and two previous decisions by the California Supreme Court – the court held that State Farm will not have to pay over $100 million in refunds plus interest to Californians who were overcharged by the company for its homeowners, condo and renters coverage.
Also at stake as a result of this decision is an estimated $3.5 billion in overcharges that insurance companies imposed on California motorists alone during the pandemic in 2020 that have not been repaid.
The vast majority of insurers have failed to refund premiums that were collected based on rates that were set before the pandemic closed down the state’s economy and left millions of cars in their driveways. Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has repeatedly notified insurers that their rates and premiums were excessive and they must refund the overcharges.
The ruling creates a loophole in California’s comprehensive regulation of insurance rates—a loophole only available to large, multi-state companies that set up a separate California-only subsidiary like State Farm General, whose books the parent can cook to raise the rates to California consumers. Under the ruling, State Farm’s customers will pay $100 million more for homeowners insurance every year from now on.
San Diego leaders divided over plan
for free transit and new taxes on driving
Elected leaders clashed Friday over one of the most ambitious and controversial proposals in San Diego’s history — taxing drivers by the mile and making transit free for all riders by 2030. The proposal is part of $160 billion transportation blueprint drafted by the San Diego Association of Governments, which received conflicting feedback on Friday from its diverse 21-member board of directors.
“There’s been a sense for quite a while that SANDAG wants to make driving so pricey and painful that folks are forced out of their cars, whether gas or electric, and onto public transit,” said a frustrated Poway Mayor Steve Vaus, who vehemently opposed the plan, calling it a “shell game.”
San Diego selects CGI for citywide application
development, maintenance and IT support
The City of San Diego has awarded an $84 million, four-year contract to CGI to provide long-term IT support to meet requirements of key business applications operated by the city. The contract has additional option years for a potential 10-year contract term.
The agreement continues a partnership between San Diego and CGI that began in 2012. CGI currently provides maintenance and system enhancements in support of nearly 300 citywide applications, and deploys local technical staffing for operational support and development.
Moving forward, CGI will support new digital services including San Diego’s online permitting system and a paperless real-time vaccine management solution used at city-run vaccination sites.
Epic Sciences Inc. expands leadership team
to address liquid biopsy demand
Epic Sciences Inc., developer of novel diagnostics to personalize and advance the treatment and management of cancer, announced the appointment of Jason Christiansen as chief technology officer, Mark Aguillard as vice president/general manager of the Oncology Business Unit, and Amara Siva as vice president of laboratory operations. These three new executives bring a combined 60 plus years of delivery experience to the Epic Sciences team.
Christiansen brings 20 years of experience leading the development of new technologies for research, clinical diagnostics, and novel targeted therapy companion diagnostics development.
Aguillard joined Epic to drive commercial growth in the clinical oncology market, and also brings more than 20 years of revenue-generating experience in genomics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
With more than 20 years of molecular diagnostic development experience, Siva has brought multiple diagnostic tests from concept through validation, successful clinical trials, commercial launch, and life-cycle delivery.
Mitchell Diagnostics platform
surpasses 3 million scans
Mitchell, a provider of technology, connectivity and information solutions to the property and casualty claims and collision repair industries, announced that its Mitchell Diagnostics platform has exceeded 3 million total scans.
Introduced in 2017 as the firs diagnostic system designed exclusively for the collision repair and automotive claims markets, the platform surpassed 1 million scans in 2019, 2 million in 2020 and 3.2 million in October 2021.
Created specifically for today’s complex vehicles, the Mitchell Diagnostics platform can help collision repair facilities increase workflow efficiency, reduce cycle time and generate additional revenue by performing scans and calibrations in-house instead of subletting the work.
SDSU named a Fullbright HSI Leader
San Diego State University has been named a Fulbright HSI Leader by the U.S. Department of State, becoming one of only 35 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) in the nation to receive the first-ever recognition.
The selection by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) follows SDSU’s demonstrated engagement with Fulbright exchange participants during the 2019-2021 academic years.
Since 2005, a total of 94 SDSU students have been selected for the prestigious Fulbright Program.
The Fulbright HSI Leaders initiative is part of the U.S. State Department’s longstanding commitment to build diversity and inclusion within the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. 2021 marks the 75th anniversary of the program.
Grossmont College named ‘Champion of Higher Education’
for Associate Degree for Transfer program
Grossmont College has been named a 2021 Champion of Higher Education for its exemplary work in implementing the Associate Degree for Transfer program that provides a streamlined pathway between California’s community colleges and four-year colleges and universities.
Grossmont College will be honored at a Nov. 16 Champions of Higher Education Celebration sponsored by the Campaign for College Opportunity, which noted the El Cajon campus is among the state’s top performers in associate degrees for transfer awarded per 50 full-time students.
The California Community Colleges system and partnering institutions created the transfer program to make it easier for community college students to have a guaranteed saved spot at a participating four-year college or university. Grossmont College served as an impetus for 2009 legislation that led to the Associate Degree for Transfer program, which has played a critical role in boosting the number of California community college students transferring to a California State University campus from 67,284 in 2011-2012 to more than 100,000 in 2020-2021.
Gift of $2.1 million launches comprehensive
breast cancer database at UC San Diego Health
Philanthropists Richard and Carol Dean Hertzberg have committed $2.1 million to develop and maintain the Dean-Hertzberg Breast Cancer Database System (BCDS) Initiative at UC San Diego Health Moores Cancer Center to support the work of Anne Wallace, M.D. and her collaborators at Moores Cancer Center.
The interactive database will further UC San Diego Health’s efforts to advance the understanding of breast disease and develop new treatments. The BCDS will combine biological, biographical and demographic data in novel ways that will allow researchers to study breast cancers with similar clinical features, as well as rare subtypes.
Previously, the Hertzbergs contributed two gifts of $100,000 and $200,000 to help create the BCDS. Their latest gift ($1.8 million) brings the BCDS initiative fully to life, and includes the addition of a clinic data manager to support work.
Cloudbeds raises $150 million in funding
to support rapid company growth
San Diego-based Cloudbeds, a hospitality industry technology provider, announced it has raised a $150 million Series D round from new and existing investors as it continues growing its team, accelerating customer acquisition, expanding its product offerings, and investing heavily in delivering best-in-class technology to the industry.
The funding was led by new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, joined by Echo Street, Walleye Capital, and returning investors Viking Global Investors, PeakSpan Capital, and Counterpart Ventures. The Series D round brings the company’s total venture funding to $253 million.
The additional financing will support Cloudbeds’ ongoing research and development efforts and its growth strategy
Micronoma wins fourth innovation award
Micronoma, a San Diego cancer detection biotech company, added the Health Tech Challengers award in the diagnostics category to the list of accolades it has earned for its groundbreaking work this year. Health Tech Challengers identifies and brings together top global digital health tech startups that are innovators in one of six tracks fostering the digital health revolution. The award marks the fourth Micronoma has achieved this year.
One of the company’s past awards was the Bio-IT World Innovative Practices Award Grand Prize, received in July 2021. This elite awards program highlights outstanding examples of how technology innovations and strategic initiatives can advance life sciences research, from basic biomedical research to drug development and beyond.
