Daily Business Report: Thursday, April 14, 2022
City staff picks preferred Sports Arena bid
A new report released Tuesday reveals that city staff believes Midway Rising,
the team led y the housing developer Zephyr, should be given priority
by Scott Lewis | Voice of San Diego
City of San Diego staff has picked its favorite team to redevelop the Sports Arena site and is asking the City Council to cut two of the five bidders out of the running.
A new report released Tuesday reveals that city staff believes Midway Rising, the team led by the housing developer Zephyr, should be given priority. And two other teams, Hometown SD and Midway Village+ should also be examined “In order to have options for the City as we move through further negotiations,” the report states.
This is just the staff recommendation and the City Council could decide on a different route.
The two bids the staff would like to put in the round file include Neighborhood Next led by the ConAm Group. It had the most housing, and more affordable housing than Midway Village+, but the director of real estate assets for the city, Penny Maus, who wrote the report, said the team didn’t have a viable plan to build a new arena.
The three teams to advance, in fact, under Maus’ preferred scenario all pledge to build an entirely new arena. Discover Midway, the team led by Brookfield Properties, had also only pledged to revitalize the existing arena.
Top Photo: Rendering of the Midway Rising development plan for the Sports Arena site.
Transforming the humanities for the digital age
SDSU’s Podcasting Institute has helped hundreds of graduate students and faculty learn more about sharing news, stories and conversation via digital audio files.
There’s a podcast for everyone: a “near-future broadcast” from a world brimming with the ravages of climate change, a celebration of the “guiltless pleasures” associated with video bingeing, warm memories of the dishes we associate with home.
And those are just three examples, drawn from the topics explored by humanities graduate students who honed their podcasting skills in a pioneering partnership between San Diego State University librarians and a national organization of scholars in the humanities.
The Podcasting Institute, part of the Digital Humanities Center that was launched at SDSU in 2015, is in its third year of offering immersive, weeklong training of students in the newest model of digital storytelling.
Conceived in a pre-pandemic era to provide its instruction through conventional workshops, the institute’s rapid shift to the virtual domain expanded its reach across the world.
Co-director Pam Lach, digital humanities librarian, created the Podcasting Institute in partnership with the National Humanities Center, a nonprofit organization that supports humanities scholarship and teaching. The institute expanded an idea of co-founder Joanna Brooks, associate vice president for Faculty Advancement and Student Success.
City of San Diego wins key federal loan to
to help upgrade aging storm drain system
To address the City of San Diego’s aging storm drain system, the City Council has unanimously approved a low-interest federal loan that paves the way for an investment of up to $733 million in stormwater projects – from pipeline replacements to pump station repairs – over the next five years.
The Council vote allows the city to use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) special loan program for water infrastructure projects to cover 49 percent of up to $733 million in stormwater system upgrades. The city will cover the other half of those costs through other financing methods, such as grants, state loans, Transnet, federal infrastructure act or general fund dollars.
Established in 2014, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) is a federal credit program designed to promote improved water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. In January 2021, the EPA selected the City of San Diego’s Stormwater Capital Improvement Program as one of 60 in the nation eligible to apply for the loan and its benefits.
The city plans to utilize the WIFIA program with a first loan installment in May 2022 to fund stormwater projects that satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The city has an estimated 100 projects that may qualify under NEPA standards.
Kim Thomas to join San Diego Youth
Ballet as executive director
The Board of Directors at the San Diego Civic Youth Ballet has named Kim Thomas to serve as the new executive director of the organization, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary season in 2020.
She assumes the position on April 18.
Thomas has worked in health and social services for the past 20 years and holds a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of San Diego, and a Bachelor’s in Sociology from San Diego State University.
Before joining SDCYB, she was with the American Academy of Pediatrics, San Diego chapter, where she launched and provided strategic leadership to the First 5 First Steps Family Support Program, an affiliate of Healthy Families America.
She was with the School of Performing Arts in Santee for 10 years and enjoyed preparing for annual dance recitals and working with young children as a pre-ballet instructor.
Thomas is the recipient of the 2016 State Leader Service Excellence Award by Healthy Families America, given in recognition of her commitment that all children reach their full potential, along with her strong organizational leadership and interpersonal skills in fostering trusting relationships with over 100 staff and partners.
Westport Properties to develop two industrial properties
Westport Properties, an owner/operator of industrial, self-storage and multifamily assets nationally, announced plans to develop two Class A, 32-foot, clear-height, single-tenant industrial buildings in Otay Mesa and Oceanside. The company currently has five developments encompassing about 450,000 square feet in the planning approval process.
The company will start development in the third quarter of 2022 of a 50,000-square-foot industrial warehouse building located on three adres on Vista Pacific Drive in Oceanside. Completion is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023. Bob Willingham of Kidder Mathews will oversee leasing of the single-tenant building.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Westcore will begin development of a 46,000-square-foot industrial warehouse building on 2.5 acres on Marconi Drive in Otay Mesa. Completion is scheduled for the third quarter of 2023. Ramin Salehi of CBRE will oversee leasing.
SDCCU presents free auto buying webinar
San Diego County Credit Union will present a free Auto Buying Webinar on Wednesday, April 20 from noon to 1 p.m. SDCCU auto experts will present the webinar, allowing the community the convenience of joining the presentation online. During the webinar, SDCCU auto professionals will walk attendees through the auto buying process discussing topics including: ways to shop and find your vehicle, pros and cons of a new vs. pre-owned vehicle, loan vs. lease and how to make the financing process smooth and convenient.
This free webinar is open to the public, but virtual space is limited and reservations are required.
To register or for details, visit sdccu.com/fww. The webinar is part of Financial Wellness Wednesdays, an ongoing program hosted by SDCCU to help provide the community access to free financial wellness information. For a complete list of upcoming Financial Wellness Wednesdays webinars, visit sdccu.com/fww.
San Diego’s Morgan Polymer Seals
expands Tijuana manufacturing plant
To coincide with its 25th anniversary, San Diego-based Morgan Polymer Seals announced a 35,000-square- foot expansion of its primary manufacturing plant in Tijuana, Mexico.
President Kevin Morgan founded Morgan Polymer Seals in 1997. Since then, the company has grown to three manufacturing sites in Mexico that deliver over 100 million parts per year to global automotive OEMs such as Ford, GM, Stellantis, and Volkswagen. The expansion, slated for completion on June 1, will help meet the rapidly growing demand for quality elastomeric seals efficiently manufactured on-shore in North America.
Morgan Polymer Seals is a privately-owned automotive supplier that designs and manufactures custom gaskets and seals for powertrain, fuel system, and electrical applications.
Scripps Health and UT Health purchase Oncora’s software
Oncora Medical announced that Scripps Health and UT Health San Antonio have both selected Oncora’s advanced oncology patient care software to improve documentation efficiency and enhance personalized cancer care using structured data analytics and machine learning.
The independent purchase and adoption of Oncora’s software by these two leading cancer centers highlights the shared challenges and opportunities facing oncology providers today. Doctors spend between 50 percent and 67 percent of their time completing clinical documentation. Oncora’s clinical solution Oncora Patient Care helps oncologists produce high-quality documentation while simultaneously capturing structured data throughout the entire patient journey.
9am.health raises $16 million Series A to build
virtual diabetes destination nationwide
9am.health, a San Diego-based virtual diabetes clinic, announced a $16 million Series A funding round, bringing its total funding to date to nearly $20 million. The latest round was co-led by 7Wire Ventures and Human Capital and included participation from new investors StartUp Health and Leaps by Bayer, and existing investors Define Ventures and Founders Fund.
9am.health offers easy, affordable, and kind care to people living with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Since launchinglast year, 9am.health has scaled quickly across 47 states and D.C., providing medical care, lab diagnostics, medications, and personalized treatment plans to patients across a variety of backgrounds and demographics.
Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are two of the most prevalent chronic conditions in the U.S., collectively costing the nation hundreds of billions of dollars each year and creating thousands in medical expenses for individuals
Suneva Medical’s Silhouette InstaLift wins
Best Thread Lift Treatment in Beauty Awards
Suneva Medical Inc. a San Diego medical technology company using regenerative medicine to change the standard of care in aesthetic treatments, announced that its Silhouette InstaLift, a non-surgical thread lift, has won the Best Thread Lift Treatment title in NewBeauty’s 2022 Beauty Awards. Silhouette InstaLift uses collagen-stimulating absorbable sutures that offer patients immediate and lasting results with minimal recovery time.
The Silhouette InstaLift procedure takes place in a physician’s office and is done in less than an hour. A patient will walk out with an immediate facial lift thanks to Silhouette Instalift’s unique bi-directional micro-cone technology. Over time patients continue to see results as Silhouette InstaLift boosts natural collagen production, adding volume to the cheeks and mid-face.
San Diego’s Halozyme Therapeutics
to acquire Antares Pharma for $5.60 per share
San Diego-based Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. will acquire Antares Pharma Inc. for $5.60 per share under an agreement reached by the two companies. The transaction, which values Antares at approximately $960 million, was unanimously approved by both the Halozyme and Antares Boards of Directors.
The companies said the combination of Halozyme and Antares will create a leading drug delivery and specialty product company. The Antares business consists of a best-in-class, differentiated, royalty revenue generating auto injector platform business that offers broad licensing opportunity, and a commercial business, with three proprietary commercial products.
