Daily Business Report: Monday, April 11, 2022
20-story residential building opens in Bankers Hill
Residents of 525 Olive St. will
have unique view of Balboa Park
by Kendra Sitton
Bankers Hill’s first 20-story building and the tallest residential building in San Diego is opening this month to residents. The 300,000-square-foot luxury apartment building, known as 525 Olive, sits adjacent to St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral. In addition to adding housing to the low-inventory in San Diego, cathedral officials hope the $100 million project will provide some financial security for the church.
The possibility of selling the 0.59-acre plot was brought up at the cathedral 20 years ago but was derailed by various issues and financial crises. Finally, under the leadership of Rev. Penny Bridges, a deal was reached in 2019 with international real estate developer Greystar.
TOP PHOTO: 20-story residential building sits adjacent to St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral.
Home sales spring ahead despite low inventory
Home sales in San Diego County improved in March, evidence of a spring selling season, after a slow start to 2022, according to resale housing statistics compiled through the San Diego Multiple Listing Service by the Greater San Diego Association of Realtors.
Single-family (detached) home sales in March were more than 30 percent higher than February, and attached properties (condominiums and townhomes) were 25 percent higher. Year over year, however, sales of existing homes were down 6 percent for single-family and nearly 17 percent for condos and townhomes.
The median price of resale homes still shows no sign of leveling off. March single-family prices were up 7 percent in just one month, and attached properties rose nearly 3 percent in that same period. Year over year, prices have risen a momentous 20 percent. Today, the price of a single-family home stands at $975,000, while the median price condos and townhomes is inching toward $650,000. Notably, San Diego County homes are also closing escrow in an average of 18 days.
NCTD issues Request for Proposals for
mixed-use development at Carlsbad stations
The North County Transit District (NCTD) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for redevelopment of two separate parcels of land at the Carlsbad Poinsettia and Carlsbad Village COASTER stations. NCTD is requesting proposals for mixed-use developments to accommodate transit operations, foster economically and environmentally sustainable growth, improve rider experience, and promote regional connectivity. These two stations offer over 16 acres of developable land in Carlsbad.
Redevelopment of the Carlsbad Poinsettia Station could accommodate over 140 residential units, including affordable housing, with parking for both transit riders and residents.
The Carlsbad Village Station is located in the heart of Carlsbad Village. Redevelopment at this site could accommodate over 300 residential units and offers the potential for over 40,000 square feet of commercial space, while providing parking for both transit riders, residents, and patrons.
Offerors may propose on either or both sites. Offers are due by July 29, 2022. For more information about the sites and RFP, visit NCTD Carlsbad Transit Redevelopment Sites.
Mary Beth Kastan named finalist for superintendent
of Grossmont Union High School District
The Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) Governing Board has named Mary Beth Kastan as its finalist to replace outgoing Superintendent Theresa Kemper.
The governing board will consider a contract with Kastan and is expected to approve an offer of employment at its regularly scheduled Board meeting on April 26.
Kastan has dedicated her entire 35-year career in education to serving the students, families, and staff of GUHSD.
Before assuming her current role as assistant superintendent of educational services — responsible for all educational programs districtwide — Kastan served for 13 years as the principal of Valhalla High School, three years as a director of curriculum, and six years as an assistant principal at Valhalla.
She began her career as a social studies teacher at Mount Miguel High School where she served for 11 years before starting a career in administration as an administrative intern at West Hills High School.
Argonne, NASA research applies artificial
intelligence to hypersonic engine simulations
by ExecutiveGov
Argonne National Laboratory and NASA researchers have published a paper on the use of artificiaul intelligence to speed up simulations of air behavior surrounding supersonic and hypersonic aircraft propulsion systems.
The partners trained a neural network to find shortcuts to answers about fuel combustion at environments faster than sound, reducing the memory and cost required to conduct computational fluid dynamics simulations, Argonne said.
The AI technology is expected to enhance the current process of running massive tables of combustion data through NASA’s VULCAN-CFD hypersonic code and accelerate the development of barrier-breaking engines for supersonic and hypersonic aircraft.
“Working with NASA gave us the opportunity to integrate our novel developments in a state-of-the-art CFD code, and also to further improve the developments for more efficient design and optimization of hypersonic jets,” said Sinan Demir, an Argonne computational scientist.
The research paper was previously presented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech Forum in January.
Online university Kibo wins pitch
competition for EdTech startups
ASU+GSV Summit, the premier global EdTech conference, announces Kibo, an online university providing affordable high-quality STEM degrees to African students, as the 2022 GSV Cup winner. Kibo’s mission is to educate connected innovators who use technology to solve pressing problems. CEO Ope Bukola was awarded first place, live on stage, last weej during the ASU+GSV Summit closing program.
Collective Academy, Latin America’s challenger university for business and technology leaders, placed 2nd and Clayful, a company providing on demand text-based social and emotional coaching for every kid, placed 3rd in the competition. The $1million prize package including non-dilutive capital and credits, was split among the three winners during the Summit’s closing ceremony.
The ASU+GSV Summit is the premier global event in education and technology. Started in 2010 with a collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Global Silicon Valley (GSV), the annual Summit connects leading minds focused on transforming society and business around learning and work.
Public, private leaders announce
commitment to inclusive growth
At the Report to the Community, EDC shared progress against San Diego’s inclusive growth goals. With new data and bold objectives set around increasing the number of skilled talent, quality jobs, and thriving households critical to the region’s competitiveness, county and City of San Diego officials as well as leaders in the private sector, education, and philanthropy offered their shared commitments to economic inclusion. Read the report, hear regional commitments, and join the movement.
Breakthrough Properties invests
$145 million to convert office space
Biotech-focused Breakthrough Properties has acquired two San Diego office buildings near University Town Center for approximately $145 million. The firm plans to convert the buildings into modern, dynamic life sciences space and further support the booming life sciences industry.
UC San Diego, Thermo Fisher Scientific
enter strategic partnership
UC San Diego and Thermo Fisher Scientific have entered into a 10-year agreement to accelerate research and technology innovation, develop a diverse talent pipeline, and achieve sustainability goals. The partnership will focus on training students in advanced research methods and applied skills, and develop a sustainable supply chair for research supplies with a focus on environmentally-friendly alternatives to common materials.
Castle Biosciences acquires San Diego’s AltheaDx
San Diego startup AltheaDx, which developed a molecular test designed to guide therapy for depression and anxiety based on a patient’s genetics, is being acquired for $65 million in stock and cash. Castle Biosciences of Houston said that it reached a deal to buy the roughly 40-employee company to advance its lead mental health diagnostic test, which is branded IDgenetix. The precision medicine test helps clinicians pinpoint the right drugs for battling depression based on how it interacts with a patient’s genes.
Belite Bio hits go on IPO to fund late-phase
vision loss clinical trials
Belite Bio wants public investors to bankroll late-phase clinical trials of a treatment for certain causes of blindness. With one study underway and another on the horizon, the San Diego-based biotech has filed the paperwork for a Nasdaq IPO.
Around two-thirds of the anticipated IPO haul is earmarked for clinical trials of LBS-008, a RBP4 inhibitor Belite thinks can reduce the accumulation of toxic byproducts of vitamin A in the eye. Belite plans to spend a soupçon of the money on a phase 3 clinical trial that is already underway in Stargardt disease, a form of juvenile macular degeneration, with most of the rest funding phase 2/3 work in dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). A phase 2 or 3 study in dry AMD is scheduled to start this year.
USD offers free information session
on entrepreneurship April 28
A free online information session on University of San Diego’s Entrepreneurship in Action Certificate program will be held April 28 at 5:30 p.m.
Social entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing and evolving field in which nonprofit and business leaders design, grow and lead mission-driven enterprises. Explore a full spectrum of social business models, including nonprofit organizations, enterprises developing revenue-generating products or services for a social goal, and socially responsible for-profit companies. Participants will have an opportunity to dive deeper into the tools and models that drive successful social enterprises and, finally, to explore and test how these might apply to their organizations and careers.
County library branches expand hours
All of the County of San Diego’s 33 community branch libraries are expanding their hours starting Monday, April 11. The six largest county libraries will now be open seven days a week. That includes the branch libraries in El Cajon, Encinitas, La Mesa, Poway, San Marcos and Vista. All 33 branches will include evening hours.
The new hours are posted on signs at each of the libraries and can be found online on sdcl.org.
Click here for a list of the new expanded hours at each branch.
