Daily Business Report: Tuesday, March 1, 2022
California mask mandate for schools to end March 11
Local jurisdictions free to impose their own requirements
By Joe Hong | CalMatters
All students and staff, regardless of vaccination status, will no longer be required to wear a mask indoors at schools and child care facilities starting March 12.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California state health officials issued the order on Monday, nearly a month after they lifted the mandate for vaccinated people gathering in restaurants and other indoor spaces.
San Diego Unified, the second largest district in the state, will continue enforcing its indoor mask mandate, according to school board president Richard Barrera. “San Diego County is still in the high-risk tier, even under the CDC’s new system,” Barrera said. “When we move into the moderate-risk tier, then we’ll reassess.”
“I think the masks should be optional tomorrow on March 1st,” said Megan Bacigalupi, an Oakland parent who leads the group CA Parent Power. “I don’t understand the rationale of a further delay of another two weeks.”
Ending the mask mandate in schools comes almost exactly two years after the state first shut down schools in many districts in March 2020. Parents and students across California have been demanding the step be taken sooner. A handful of districts across California already lifted their mask mandates.
“It seems like politics and the (California Teachers Association) are holding up my son’s chance of getting back to a normal school year,” said Scott Davison, a San Diego County parent. “I’m frustrated. I should be happier, but we’ve been fighting for months.”
TOP PHOTO: Teacher Tanya Ortiz Franklin helps students on the first day back at school for LAUSD students following the COVID-19 remote school period in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
Port of San Diego purchases all-electric mobile
harbor cranes for Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal
The Port of San Diego has purchased two all-electric Konecranes Gottwald Generation 6 Mobile Harbor Cranes to replace the diesel-powered crane currently in use at the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. The all-electric, battery-supported mobile harbor cranes will be the first in use in North America and will support the Port’s Maritime Clean Air Strategy (MCAS) and its “Health Equity for All” vision while also increasing productivity and cargo business opportunities at the terminal. The Port anticipates receiving and putting the cranes into operation in mid-2023.
The final cost for the cranes will be approximately $14 million, funds for which are budgeted in the Port’s Economic Recovery Program, which was established for the approximately $100 million in federal stimulus funds the Port anticipates receiving in total via the America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the State of California’s Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund. The Port has already received $61.4 million.
SDSU explored putting a sports
arena on Mission Valley campus
San Diego State University’s 135-acre Mission Valley campus, already home to the in-progress 35,000-capacity Snapdragon Stadium, has been considered in recent months as a potential location for a second major sports and entertainment venue — this time with a well-heeled facility developer ready to fork over the cash to privately finance the project.
School affiliates have studied at a high level the feasibility of — and even approached the mayor about — placing a sports arena just south of the stadium, the Union-Tribune has learned.
The Mission Valley arena conversations, which are said to have fizzled out, were loud enough to reach some of the teams currently competing to lease the city’s real estate around Pechanga Arena in the Midway District, adding a new wrinkle of uncertainty around a process that has been mired by state interference and legal complications.
San Diego Angel Conference IV announces
six finalists for largest angel funding competition
San Diego Angels Conference, a University of San Diego Knauss School of Business program, announced six finalists for SDAC IV national funding competition representing innovative solutions in healthtech, spirits, diagnostics, veterinary therapeutics, and cleantech.
A total of 90 companies applied for SDAC IV in hopes of landing an estimated $200,000 for the winner and other cash prizes for runners up – or $1 million total, depending on size of the fund. SDAC provides a full educational program for entrepreneurs and novice and semi-experienced angels, which culminates in a live virtual final funding event on March 24.
The finalists:
BrainSpace — neurocritical care for protecting the brain and spine after trauma, surgery, or neurodegeneration.
First Light Coffee Whiskey — environmentally conscious spirits.
CARI Health Inc.—remote medication monitoring.
Hera Biotech – developing first non-surgical test for endometriosis, the number one cause of female infertility.
LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories — gene editing and cancer treatment breakthroughs in humans to fight cancer in dogs.
ReJoule Inc. — addressing need for testing of effective second-life batteries.
Joel L.A. Peterson named a vice chancellor
at San Diego Community College District
Joel L.A. Peterson, an experienced higher education leader and former business executive, has been named vice chancellor of facilities management for the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD). Peterson will oversee facilities and construction for one of California’s largest community college districts. In addition, he will be responsible for the SDCCD Police and completion of the district’s $1.6 billion bond construction program. He will fill a vacancy created when Chris Manis retired after eight years leading the division.
Peterson is currently director of facilities and construction for the Glendale Community College District in Glendale, Calif. In that role, he works with the district’s leadership team and others to manage construction, facilities renovation and facilities services across three campuses, including $330 million in new construction currently underway. Prior to that, Peterson served as assistant vice president, Capital Projects and Facilities for Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif.
Peterson has also served in various roles with major corporations where he was responsible for operations, including finance, technology, capital projects, global strategy, and marketing. He also served as an officer in the United States Navy.
Carlsbad’s ShipCalm has more than 500,000
sanitizers to give away — no strings attached
Carlsbad-based shipping company ShipCalm is giving away more than 500,000 sanitizers to any school district, charity, or community organization that can pick them up.
“Drive by, grab a case, grab 10 cases…free of charge Any business that wants to send a truck, can take as much as you
want…free of charge, we will help to load the trucks,” says CEO Ted Fogliani. “No strings attached.”
Pickups can be made at 2882 Whiptail Loop East, Suite 150, Carlsbad 92010.
“From early on we were a major source of sanitizer to the supply chain. During all of Covid our amazing employees never allowed us to be shut down in support of our customers and the community,” said Foglianil.
“As a result of being a significant source of PPE and sanitizer, we have been left with a lot of excess sanitizer from a fully tested facility. We are making it available to the entire San Diego community, free of charge.”
UC San Diego receives $12.4 million NIH
grant to map the human nervous system
The National Institutes of Health have awarded UC San Diego a grant totaling $12.4 million. This will support a new research center dedicated to studying the human brain and central nervous system (CNS), specifically the ways they’re affected by HIV and opioids
By studying the ways HIV infection and opioid use modulate the CNS genetically and epigenetically, the center aims to address critical public health issues and reshape our understanding of nervous system biology. These results can enhance understanding of the damage caused by chemical exposure, inflammation, aging, and infections from other RNA viruses such as SARS, and help researchers navigate the multifaceted functionality of microglia.
Council on Literacy launches
financial literacy competition
The San Diego Council on Literacy (SDCOL) has launched its inaugural Financial Literacy Superheroes Competition to promote good money management habits among young people and families in the San Diego region. The competition, sponsored by Mission Fed Credit Union, invites local children and their parents and guardians to submit graphic art entries that are comic-book themed. Entries must include a financial literacy/money management message.
Entries must be received no later than the end of the day Friday, March 11, 2022. The award ceremony will take place on Saturday, March 26, 2022 from 1 to 2:15 p.m. at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park.
Immediately following the event, at 2:30 p.m., there will be a panel featuring the winning participants at the Comic-Con Museum. The public is invited to attend.
Stos Partners acquires industrial
property in Los Angeles County
Stos Partners, a San Diego-based commercial real estate investment and management firm, has acquired a 35,000-square-foot, two-tenant industrial property in the Los Angeles County submarket of Signal Hill. The firm’s first purchase of 2022 comes on the heels of a record year in which Stos Partners transacted on more than $330 million in commercial properties throughout Southern California, Arizona, and the Midwest. The acquisition of this property marks the firm’s entry into a key submarket, as Signal Hill is an enclave that is completely surrounded by the city of Long Beach, according to CJ Stos, Principal at Stos Partners
Voit Real Estate Services directs $33.5 million
sale of multiple building portfolio
Todd Holley, senior vice president and partner in Voit Real Estate Services’ San Diego office, directed the $33.5 million sale of a multiple building portfolio, on behalf of the buyer, Paradise Realty LLC. based out of New York. Paradise Realty purchased the portfolio of six properties as an investment, according to Holley.
“This transaction exemplifies the continued overall strength of the current real estate market,” said Holley. “Demand is very
strong for quality assets. While conducting business over the past two years of the pandemic has presented many challenges, managing the sale process along with my client’s 1031 Exchange expectations were crucial in getting this transaction across the finish line.”
Throughout its more than 50-year history, Voit Real Estate Services has completed in excess of $57 billion in brokerage transactions encompassing more than 53,500 brokerage deals.
Water delivery system repairs start March 1 in Bonsall
Water Authority staff detected potential pipeline weaknesses just north of West Lilac Road in late January using real-time acoustic fiber-optic monitoring. This technology locates distressed sections of pipelines even while they are in use as part of the Water Authority’s high-tech asset management program.
Further investigation prompted the Water Authority to prioritize repairs on a 48-foot-long section of pipeline. Water Authority staff are carefully monitoring the pipe section around the clock while preparing designs and identifying contractors that can quickly mobilize for repairs.
Plans are to shut down and drain that stretch of pipe starting March 1. Work to replace the pipeline segments will continue until the line is back in service approximately 10 days later.
Brixton Capital acquires the Dillard’s
building in Provo, Utah
Solana Beach-based Brixton Capital has purchased the Dillard’s building and parcel located at Brixton’s Provo Towne Centre in Provo, Utah for an undisclosed sum. The 206,240-square-foot, two-story building on 12.5 acres was acquired on Feb. 24 from Little Rock, Arkansas-based Dillard’s, which will soon relocate its store.
Brixton Capital is in advanced negotiations to re-lease most of the property to a prominent national retailer. Brixton Capital expects the new store to open within the next two years, once the renovation of the building is complete. The addition of this retailer will complement the ongoing plans Brixton Capital has for Provo Towne Centre, including the addition of multi-family housing and other uses to improve livability, shopping and community within Provo’s East Bay neighborhood.
