Daily Business Report: Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Budget Blinds names retired Marine Corps
major as 2022 Franchisee of the Year
An Oceanside man who entered franchising after serving the United States Marine Corps for 34 years and now co-owns and operates five Budget Blinds businesses throughout North County, has been honored with the top 2022 franchising honor from Budget Blinds, North America’s largest window covering franchise.
Lloyd Biggs accepted the 2022 Budget Blinds Franchisee of the Year Award on behalf of his team of 15 from Budget Blinds President Doug Phillip during the 2022 Budget Blinds Virtual Key Initiative Meeting for Budget Blinds franchisees earlier this year.
The annual award recognizes the one franchisee out of more than 900 Budget Blinds business owners in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico who best models Budget Blinds values, provides uncompromising customer service, and contributes to employees and the local community.
Biggs and his business partner, Adam Berryman, own Budget Blinds franchises in Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos, Vista and North San Diego, which they operate as a family and community enterprise under the umbrella of Budget Blinds of North County San Diego.
Biggs invested in his first business in 2015 to replace the stresses of corporate life with a company that could grow with his family and community. Currently, his wife, Angela, helps manage the business.
Biggs is also among a record number of Budget Blinds business owners in North America who gained access to the Budget Blinds Million Dollar Club in 2022 for generating at least $1 million in window covering sales in 2021.
TOP PHOTO: Lloyd Biggs and wife Angela
California unemployment debt:
How to dig out of a $20 billion hole?
CalMatters
California owes the federal government nearly $20 billion for unemployment benefits paid out to jobless workers during the pandemic — a sum about as large as the combined debt owed by all other states. The stunning figure illuminates what experts say are the problematic tax policies underlying California’s unemployment insurance fund — earning it the distinction of the least progressive and most fiscally irresponsible system in the nation, CalMatters’ Grace Gedye reports. Indeed, before the pandemic, the federal government rated California’s unemployment fund as the least financially responsible of all 50 states.
For more on the changes California could make to strenghten its jobless fund, check out Grace’s report.
Mayor launching new ‘Bridge to Home’ gap
financing program to spur housing construction
Mayor Todd Gloria is proposing seven new low-income housing projects across San Diego that the city is making financially feasible with a new program the mayor calls “Bridge to Home.”
Gloria is pooling many millions from three pots of money to come up with “gap financing” to help developers build projects that previously had not been financially feasible.
The money, which will come in waves, including a first wave of $33 million, is special state housing money, federal money for low-income residents, and sales proceeds from properties owned by the city’s former redevelopment agency.
Cal State San Marcos to celebrate opening
of Viasat Engineering Pavilion
Cal State San Marcos will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon on Friday, March 11, to celebrate the opening of the university’s Viasat Engineering Pavilion.
The pavilion is named in honor of the Carlsbad-based company that provided a $1.5 million gift to become the founding partner of CSUSM’s electrical and software engineering programs. Viasat’s gift helped the university renovate classroom and lab space, purchase new equipment and instrumentation, and support the work of students and faculty.
The Viasat Engineering Pavilion is located in the former Foundation Classroom Building, which was home to CSUSM’s Extended Learning program before the opening of the new Extended Learning Building in fall 2019. The first phase of the Viasat Engineering Pavilion renovation, creating software and electrical engineering labs and a collaborative space, was completed in August 2019. The second phase — which created offices, the Hunter Design Lab and the Nordson Innovation Lab — was completed in February 2020.
Cal State San Marcos President Ellen Neufeldt is scheduled to speak at the ribbon-cutting ceremony along with Kevin Harkenrider, Viasat executive vice president and chief operating officer; and Jackie Trischman, interim dean of CSUSM’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
Athletic Brewing Company launches
non-alcoholic brew, Athletic Light
Athletic Brewing Co., a non-alcoholic beer company that operates its West Coast brewery in Sann Diego, launched its newest brew, Athletic Lite.
With the launch of Athletic Lite, the brewer hopes to expand the beer segment by offering what’s been missing in the light beer category: a beer low in calories and carbs with zero hangover. Athletic Lite is brewed with organic grains and is vegan friendly, presenting drinkers with a crisp, dry finish.
“Many brewers and beer drinkers may have considered this an impossible mission – to brew a non-alcoholic beer that is low in calories and carbs, but also great tasting and refreshing. At Athletic, we find challenges that others shy away from exciting,” said Bill Shufelt, co-ounder. “And since an Athletic Lite is the number-one requested new style from retailers and our wholesaler partners, we embraced the challenge.”
Duckor Metzger & Wynne announce new name,
practice area and managing partner
Duckor Metzger & Wynne, a professional law corporation, announced a name change and was joined by two lawyers who add talent and dimension to the firm’s already existing practice areas. Richard M. Stern and James H. Sipple, both previously with the Law Offices of Boner Stern & Sipple, joined the firm Feb. 1. In addition, Shareholder Anna F. Roppo became the firm’s president and CFO effective Sept. 30.
“The changes and additions are a reflection of our focus on supporting the San Diego community and its legal needs,” Roppo said. “We are especially happy to welcome Richard and James to the firm. Their sterling reputations in the San Diego legal community created buzz within and outside the firm. We are excited to be able to offer their experience, skill, and services to our clients.”
Stern’s practice focuses on business law, estate planning, and probate and trust administration. He is an active member of the San Diego County Bar Association and a passionate volunteer for several organizations, including the YMCA. He earned his law degree from California Western School of Law.
Sipple provides business law, tax law, estate planning, and probate and trust administration counsel to businesses and individual clients. He earned his law degree, as well as a Master of Laws degree in taxation, from the University of San Diego School of Law.
Palomar Health presents Healthcare Heroes exhibit
Palomar Health has partnered with San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum to present the Healthcare Heroes exhibit, an interactive exhibit that features an ambulance, specialist rooms, an administrative desk where children can learn life skills, interactive challenges, arts and crafts, onsite activities and more.
“We want to spark the interest of our youngest generation to foster a stronger appreciation for our health care workforce, demystify any fears around health care visits, and discover the many rewarding careers that exist within the health care industry,” says Kristin Gaspar, president and CEO of Palomar Health Foundation.
The Healthcare Heroes exhibit presents children and parents a better understanding of the importance of a healthy lifestyle through the interactive displays with medical tools, weekly onsite educational programming, online videos, special speaker events, and more. The exhibit will be available through November, and following will find a permanent residence in the pediatric ward at Palomar Health.
DocGo expands footprint in North County
with partnership through West PACE
DocGo, a provider of last-mile mobile health services and integrated medical mobility solutions, has expanded its reach to Southern California, partnering with the Gary and Mary West Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) to provide non-emergency in-home visits to older adults in North County. The recently launched collaboration enables DocGo to provide rapid, in-home, non-emergency, mobile health services to new patient populations within the San Diego market and increase access to care outside the hospital setting.
West PACE is a specialized health care program providing comprehensive, high-quality, compassionate care to adults of all income levels aged 55 and older who wish to live as independently as possible in their own homes.
The partnership with West PACE is DocGo’s first in Southern California. West PACE’s nursing team is able to dispatch DocGo vehicles to participants’ homes through the company’s state-of-the-art telehealth logistics model, to treat non-emergency conditions in the home.
29th Street Capital acquires 240-unit Sunterra
Apartments in Oceanside with $76 million loan
29th Steet Capital has obtained a $76 million mortgage loan for the acquisition of the Sunterra Apartments in Oceanside. The floating-rate loan has an initial term of three years, can extend up to an additional two years, and features future funding to finance the sponsor’s business plan.
The garden-style property is located at 3851 Sherbourne Drive and includes 240 units that feature hardwood floors, stainless-steel appliances, washer/dryers in select units, and walk-in closets. Community amenities include a swimming pool, a fitness center, a lounge area with grilling stations, package lockers, two playgrounds, gated access and tenant parking garages.
“Our team was pleased to finance this transaction on behalf of a reputable repeat borrower that has extensive operating experience and deep local market expertise in San Diego County,” said Charles Kim, managing director for CBRE Investment Management.
Mark Grace and John Montakab at Walker & Dunlop arranged the loan on behalf of 29th Street Capital.
Solana Beach and Del Mar join Carlsbad
in opposing Oceanside’s rock groins plan
Solana Beach and Del Mar have joined Carlsbad in opposing Oceanside’s plan to install rock groins as beach sand-retention devices. Coastal erosion has eaten more than two-thirds of Oceanside’s beaches down to bare rocks, and for years the city has been looking for ways to restore the sand. Last year, tired of waiting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to finish a stalled shoreline study, the city decided to proceed on its own.
The Oceanside City Council approved a preliminary plan to install five 600-foot-long groins, 1,000 feet apart, extending into the ocean at right angles from the rock revetments that border the ocean. If successful, more could be added. The groins have been shown to stop the southward migration of sand, but while they build the beaches nearby, they restrict the flow to points farther south.
Online tutoring study
shows cause for optimism
A recent pilot program measuring the results of online tutoring for K-12 students has shown positive, promising results, according to a new study from the University of California San Diego’s Rady School of Management.
The pilot program, conducted in partnership with the volunteer mentorship program CovEducation (CovEd), matched K-12 students with volunteer tutors from top-tier research universities. The CovEd nonprofit organization was established to support students in need of academic and socio-emotional support during the pandemic.
“Our program explores the possibilities of a low-cost model with volunteer tutors which has the potential to reach more students in need,” said Sally Sadoff, associate professor of economics and strategic management at the Rady School and one of the study’s coauthors.
