Daily Business Report: Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021
SOARS readies for flight
The world’s most sophisticated ocean simulator, under construction
at Scripps Oceanography, will be operational in 2022
By Rob Monroe
A new miniature ocean is being constructed on UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus, housed under the distinctive wave-shaped roof of its iconic Hydraulics Laboratory.
The Scripps Ocean Atmosphere Research Simulator, or SOARS, will provide an ability unmatched in the world to replicate what takes place in the seas of today. It is envisioned to be a national and international resource that enables scientists to get a preview of the oceans and atmospheres of the future in which climate is altered even further by human activities.
To Grant Deane, an oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a SOARS principal investigator, the instrument’s most important constituency is the younger researchers who will need to know what the planet will be like for them and their children.
“This is about the future,” said Deane. “This is about what choices we are going to make as a species on the planet over the next 10 years and 20 years and 30 years. We can’t make those choices well if we don’t understand the consequences of our actions. We need to understand the complexity of the world. And we need a whole community of scientists and people to do that. SOARS is a call to action and that’s why we built it.”
SOARS is expected to become available to researchers from Scripps and researchers around the world in January 2022, five years after the National Science Foundation first awarded $2.8 million for its construction with the rest of the $4 million total price tag being supplied by UC San Diego.
TOP PHOTO: The Scripps Ocean Atmosphere Research Simulator, or SOARS. (Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego)
Snapdragon grabs naming rights
for new San Diego State stadium
Snapdragon, a brand of semiconductors used to power smart phones and a division of wireless technology giant Qualcomm, will hold the naming rights to San Diego State University’s new football stadium, according to Venues Now.
No public announcement has been made and it’s unclear whether a deal has been signed, but an image circulating locally and viewed by VenuesNow shows a rendering with Snapdragon Stadium branding on the facility’s exterior wall.
The phrase Bashor Field is underneath it. The playing surface at the new stadium is named for donor Dianne L. Bashor. In December 2019, she provided a $15 million gift to help pay for construction.
The 35,000-capacity venue is under construction and is currently called Aztec Stadium. It’s scheduled to open Sept.3, 2022 for the Arizona-San Diego State game.
Urban Corps of San Diego
increasing its North County presence
A program that has provided job training and education to young adults for more than three decades in San Diego County is beefing up its North County presence with the opening of a new training center in Escondido. A grand opening was recently held to announce its new Escondido training facility at 2200 Micro Place, though planned renovations at the center won’t be completed for several months.
Urban Corps offers people from ages 18 to 26 the opportunity to earn their high school diploma, while also working 32 paid hours per week to gain job skills. Once corps members have graduated from the program, they are assisted with getting a job or preparing for college, said Kyle Kennedy, the group’s CEO. The group’s website notes that 70 percent of corps members land jobs after graduation, and 22 percent go on to college.
Carlsbad manufacturer Fluidra pays
$78 million for water testing firm
Carlsbad-based Fluidra North America announced its third major acquisition in 2021 —the $78 million purchase of Taylor Water Technologies, a leading manufacturer of water-testing solutions. The company’s North American base is a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Carlsbad where 320 are employed. That facility also includes a 70,000-square-foot test lab.
“Not only does this acquisition expand Fluidra’s product portfolio, it also strengthens our position in the water chemistry sector, enabling us to innovate in new product categories,” said Troy Franzen, president of Fluidra North America.
New meeting spaces completed
at Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina
Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, a waterfront resort, has completed the first phase of an $88 million renovation of 97,000 square feet of meeting space – encompassing two main ballrooms, a new outdoor pavilion, a lower level ballroom/foyer and multiple breakout rooms – in the hotel’s Marina Tower.
Sheraton San Diego has partnered with local AV integrator, Fluid Sound, to create a Zoom Broadcast Room featuring a built-in Zoom system allowing users to join a Zoom meeting by simply typing in a meeting code. Also featured are an 85-inch Samsung Flip screen (can also be used as a whiteboard), built-in ceiling microphone and speakers along with a camera for easy collaboration with a remote audience. Other meeting rooms feature similar technology to support this new hybrid meeting trend.
Under the direction of ForrestPerkins, a residential and hospitality interior design firm, the new meeting spaces have a new design aesthetic.
Hallmarks of the new meeting spaces include signature art pieces and a 3-by-3-foot screen video wall that is customizable to address different organizations’ messaging/branding as attendees enter the meeting space.
Mission Valley office development that replaced
Union-Tribune Publishing Co. property adds new tenants
AMP&RSAND, the office development replacing the former San Diego Union-Tribune Publising Co. property in Mission Valley, has completed leases totaling approximately 23,000 square feet with two new tenants. The pair of tenants are Hoyle Cohen, a financial services firm, and The Honest Kitchen, a healthy pet food company.
AMPR&SAND resulted from the overhaul of a five-story office tower and a three-story printing press facility, both constructed in 1973. The property was named for the ampersand character, the last figure in the typesetter’s alphabet and the last character printed when the Union-Tribune shut its presses in 2016.
Cushman & Wakefield’s Derek Hulse, Brett Ward and Morgan Reno represented the landlord in the leasing transactions. Cushman & Wakefield’s Asset Services team also provides property management.
Mayor’s COVID-19 small business relief
grant program aids over 1,000 businesses
Continuing his efforts to support small businesses and get San Diegans back to work, Mayor Todd Gloria announced the impacts of his grant program t with The San Diego Foundation, which has provided $6 million to more than 1,000 San Diego small businesses hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “Back to Work SD” budget allocated $10 million in financial assistance to small businesses and non-profits hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and in historically underinvested communities. The San Diego Foundation provided an additional $2 million to support local nonprofit organizations and increased the total program funding to $12 million. So far, $6 million in grants has been awarded to San Diego businesses.
College district seeks public input
on redistricting process
The San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees is seeking public input as it moves forward with a redistricting process that will include updates to the maps used to elect its five-member board.
A virtual public forum with the board redistricting subcommittee is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 29 via Zoom webinar, to provide the public with an overview of the redistricting process, share the proposed adjusted trustee area map and seek public comment. To participate, visit: https://cccconfer.zoom.us/j/97674551652
The board also approved holding a special public board meetingat 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 6, to allow for public input on the proposed adjusted trustee areas. The deadline to submit the final adjusted trustee area map to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters Office is Dec. 17.
San Diego County unemployment
rate decreases 5.3 percent in October
The unemployment rate in San Diego County decreased to 5.3 percent in October, down from a revised 5.6 percent in September and well below the year-ago estimate of 8.4 percent, according to figures released by the Employment Development Department. This compares with an unadjusted unemployment rate of 6.1 percent for California — which decreased from 6.4 percent in September — and 4. 3 percent for the nation — down from September’s 4.6 percent — during the same period.
Professional and business services led all industry sectors in employment gains, posting 6,500 jobs. Leisure and hospitality was next with 5,400 added jobs and government followed with 5,100.
City launches ‘Sidewalk Reset’ pilot program
The City of San Diego wants to get its sidewalks cleaner. It has launched a new pilot program for sidewalk sanitation that aims to help sidewalks remain cleaner, longer.
Called a “Sidewalk Reset,” the city is now employing a deep-cleaning method to remove grime and build-up from sidewalks in Downtown, beach areas, and South Bay, among other areas being evaluated. Crews developed the new approach after noticing the regular sanitizing solution beading off the sidewalks due to build-up of grease and dirt.
The City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department contracts with Clean Harbors to provide sidewalk sanitization services, as well as remove incidental hazardous waste, primarily consisting of human waste and hypodermic needles. The city’s Stormwater Department assists with the street sweeping and removal of water runoff.
CBRE announces loan for purchase
of Jacksonville apartments
CBRE has announced a $67.6 million loan for the purchase of The Views at Harbortown, a 300-unit multifamily community in Jacksonville, Fla.. Bill Chiles, Scott Peterson and Colby Matzke of CBRE’s debt and structured finance team in San Diego arranged the loan on behalf of the buyer, San Diego-based Viewpoint Equities.
Located at 14030 Atlantic Boulevard, the four-story apartment community was originally constructed in 2014. Amenities include two resort-style swimming pools with cabanas and a clubhouse with kitchen, dining room, multiple lounge areas, billiards and flatscreen televisions. The property also features an athletic club and picnic areas with gas barbecue grills.
Neurophth raised over $60 million
in Series-C financing
Neurophth Therapeutics Ltd., a Chinese genomic medicines company with a subsidiary in San Diego, announced the closing of over $60 million in Series-C financing with a syndicate of investors, co-led by CMG-SDIC Capital and Sequoia Capital China. Additional new investors include funds and accounts managed by Sunshine Insurance and China Merchant Bank International Capital.
To support Neurophth’s rapid growth, this round of financing will be used to progress its lead clinical program in LHON to ex-China, enrich R&D pipeline and programs through business development and continue to expand the international standard gene therapy manufacturing platform.
