Daily Business Report: Thursday, April 7, 2022
Sudberry Properties’ 260-unit apartment and retail
project nearing completion at Scripps Ranch
The Hub at Scripps Ranch, Sudberry Properties’ apartment-retail development, is nearing completion at the former site of Pacific Southwest Airlines’ Reservation Center and Flight Training Center.
The development will include 260 luxury apartments and 10,700 square feet of retail and restaurant space. A leasing office has opened. Apartment residents in the initial phases have started moving in. The property is located at the gateway to Scripps Ranch at 9840 Carroll Canyon Road.
The Hub features one- to three-bedroom apartments, ranging from 614 to 1,391 square feet, with rents starting at $2,600 per month. Interior amenities include private patios or balconies (most locations), 9-foot ceilings, hardwood-style flooring in main areas, carpeting in bedrooms, fully equipped kitchens with GE Energy Star stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, and full-size washers and dryers. The smoke-free apartment community is pet-friendly, with some breed restrictions in place.
The development will include three- and four-story residential buildings. Some apartments will have direct-access garages.
Sudberry Properties’ development team for The Hub includes MVE Architecture, Reylenn Construction Company Inc., general contractor, Pasco Laret Suiter & Associates (PLSA), civil engineering and land planning, GroundLevel Landscape Architecture, and Design Tec, Inc., interior design. Matt Mosser of Retail Insite is responsible for retail leasing. Sudberry Properties will provide property management for The Hub.
TOP PHOTO: View of fire pit and pool at Sudberry Properties’ The Hub at Scripps Ranch.
Judge rules San Diego County Fair contract was rigged
Injunction issued, throwing midway into doubt
A San Diego Superior Court judge on Tuesday issued an injunction blocking a contract approved by the 22nd District Agricultural Association for a single company to run the midway at the San Diego County Fair, throwing into doubt what kinds of rides and games the fair can put on this year. The ruling by Judge Kenneth Medel comes just nine weeks before the annual fair in Del Mar is scheduled to open, following a scaled-down event in 2021 and a complete cancellation in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is unclear what the district will now do. The contract gave Ray Cammack Shows, or RCS, the exclusive right to run the collection of rides and games, which are a central attraction at the fair. A competing company, Talley Amusements, sued the district over the awarding of that contract and the scoring behind a second contract in 2021.
Study: Docile gecko is a savage scorpion predator
Lizard administers blunt force trauma
by Susanne Clara Bard
When western banded geckos are hungry, they pounce on crickets, beetles, or other small arthropods in their environment, and quickly gobble them up.
But when they catch scorpions, they begin to shake themselves violently from side to side at high speeds, smashing their prey back and forth against the ground for several seconds until it is immobilized. After the fracas, the gecko devours the much smaller scorpion.
“It’s a really kind of physically stunning behavior, something totally unexpected from a lizard like that,” said San Diego State University biologist Rulon Clark.
“They seem to be kind of body slamming the scorpions into the ground. If you ever see seals, they’ll pick up fish and they’ll slap them against the water. I think geckos are doing essentially the same thing, just blunt force trauma.” said Malachi Whitford, who studied the geckos’ unusual feeding behavior as a graduate student in the joint SDSU and University of California, Davis Ph.D. program in ecology. The University of California, Riverside, also participated in the research.
North County Economic Summit to be
staged May 11 at Cal State San Marcos
San Diego North EDC will host the ninth annual North County Economic Summit on May 11 from 7 to 10 a.m. at Cal State San Marcos.
This could be one of the most consequential summits in SDNEDC’s history. Inflation has become a much more central factor in the economy and interest rates hikes could put an end to nearly two decades worth of accommodative fiscal policy. Housing prices in North County have risen to unprecedented levels. The great “reset” has dramatically disrupted labor force dynamics with technical talent being in extremely short supply and wages increasing as companies compete for skilled workers. How these and other trends will play out in 2022 and 2023 could have a dramatic impact on both private and public sector entities in North County.
This year’s keynote speaker is Mark Vitner, managing director and senior economist from Wells Fargo, who will provide a national and state forecast. New this year will a subsequent set of rapid “TED”-like talks about three aspects of North County’s economy significantly changed by COVID19.
Rich Israel joins San Diego Seniors Community
Foundation as president and CEO
San Diego Seniors Community Foundation (SDSCF) has named Richard “Rich” Israel as its new president and chief executive officer. Israel joins the foundation following his experience with numerous San Diego nonprofit leadership roles.
Focused on improving the vitality and quality of life for all seniors in San Diego County, Israel oversees all day-to-day operations of the burgeoning nonprofit, including staff leadership, new initiatives, programs, and grants, fundraising and marketing.
Prior to joining the foundation, Israel worked directly with the San Diego senior community during his 11 years with the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society. He oversaw strategy and day-to-day operations for the $5.4 million organization that provides community support services, public awareness, fundraising and resource development.
Israel’s previous roles include serving as the former president and CEO of Partnerships with Industry for nearly two years, focused on strategic leadership while successfully building win-win partnerships between the San Diego County community and several hundred individuals with disabilities. During that time, he led the merger of PWI with a much larger organization to ensure its sustainability. He was also the marketing director for the San Diego Chargers for close to two decades.
Sheriff’s Department to sell three helicopters
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has selected online auction company GovDeals to offer three former county patrol helicopters used for search and rescue for sale to the public.
The helicopters are the first set of auctions from the Sheriff’s Department, who joins numerous other aircraft sellers utilizing the GovDeals marketplace to offer aircraft and aviation equipment to the public. Each helicopter is currently at auction until April 28 and San Diego County is asking all potential buyers to pay a refundable $5,000 bid deposit prior to placing a bid on any of the helicopters.
The helicopters at auction include a 2000 MD 369 FF Helicopter, a 1981 MD 369 D Helicopter, and a 2007 Bell 407 Helicopter, with detailed logbooks available during inspection. From this sale, the county plans to use the funds to purchase additional helicopters in the same make and model as other aircraft currently in operation in San Diego County.
Boston’s King Street Properties expands
operations to San Diego and the West
Boston-based King Street Properties, one of the largest life science real estate firms in the U.S., is expanding to the West Coast, putting real estate veteran Sonia Taneja in charge of investments in San Diego and assessing opportunities in other regional markets as head of the West Coast office.
With more than16 years of experience in commercial real estate, including overseeing acquisitions, operations, financing, leasing, development, and divesting of real estate in North America and Europe, Taneja began her career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. She recently served as senior vice president at Spear Street Capital LLC and was co-founder of Buildirr – a software company that aims to improve the way real estate investors track and analyze investment data.
“King Street is known for their depth of life science experience and innovative thinking, and I am pleased to join their team. I look forward to growing the West Coast portfolio, working with partners and life science companies to create specialized and purposeful space so they can do their best work,” said Taneja.
David Alvarez, Georgette Gómez headed
for runoff in 80th Assembly District election
by Times of San Diego
Former San Diego City Council members David Alvarez and Georgette Gómez
appeared headed for a runoff in partial returns Tuesday in the special election for the 80th Assembly District.
As of Tuesday night, Alvarez was slightly ahead of Gómez, with 38.4 percent of the vote to 37 percent. Trailing the two Democrats was Republican Lincoln Pickard with 24.6 percent of the vote.
The winner of the runoff election on June 7 will succeed influential Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, who resigned to lead California Labor Federation.
“We are excited to finish the night in first place and this is all thanks to the support we received,” Alvarez tweeted.
OpenSeed partners with Deepak Chopra and
Yves Behar to create meditation pod
OpenSeed has partnered with Deepak Chopra, clinical professor of family medicine and public health at UC San Diego, and Fuseproject founder Yves Behar to provide meditation pods to alleviate stress. The innovative new pod, called Iris, is made with sustainable materials and integrates sound, guided meditations, aromatherapy and specially-designed lighting. Iris is now available for pre-order reservations. Iris retails for $16,000.
“OpenSeed’s meditation pods can play an important role in facilitating meditation in the workplace, residences, and commercial spaces,” said Chopra, best-selling author and world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation. “The pod is a unique environment that beautifully integrates industrial design, technology, and content that helps ease stress and expand self-awareness. Given the mental health crisis we are facing, OpenSeed may offer the type of solution that could help many people reap the vast benefits of meditation.”
UC San Diego joins national trial to explore
new vaccines for COVID-19 varients
The University of California San Diego has joined a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate various additional COVID-19 booster shots. The trial seeks to understand if different vaccine regimens can broaden immune responses in adults who already have received a primary vaccination series and a first booster shot.
The study, known as the COVID-19 Variant Immunologic Landscape trial or COVAIL is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The trial is funded through a contract to Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, operated by Leidos Biomedical Researchin Frederick, Md.
Despite waning protection against infection and mild illness during the Omicron wave, COVID-19 vaccines available in the United States have thus far maintained durable protection against severe COVID-19. The concern is that future variants may evade protection provided by currently available COVID-19 vaccines.
Charles Rivers Laboratories acquires
San Diego’s Explora BioLabs
Charles River Laboratories International Inc. has acquired San Diego-based Explora BioLabs Holdings Inc., a provider of contract vivarium research services.
Explora BioLabs offers contract vivarium operation services, providing biopharmaceutical clients with turnkey in vivo vivarium facilities, management, and related services to efficiently conduct their early-stage research activities.
Explora BioLabs currently operates more than 15 preclinical vivarium facilities, offering AAALAC-accredited, turnkey rental space in the Southern California, San Francisco, and Boston-Cambridge biohubs, with a planned expansion in Seattle in 2022. With over 100 employees, it also offers contract vivarium management, staffing, and regulatory solutions to manage clients’ research sites.
General Atomics selected for Japan Coast Guard project
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI), the global leader in Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, has been selected to support the Japan Coast Guard’s (JCG) RPAS Project. Operations will feature General Atomics’ MQ-9B SeaGuardian and begin in October 2022.
SeaGuardian will be used to conduct wide-area maritime surveillance to support JCG’s missions, which include search and rescue, disaster response, and maritime law enforcement. This project follows a series of successful JCG flight trials in 2020 that used SeaGuardian to validate the same JCG missions in accordance with Japan’s “Policy on Strengthening the Maritime Security Systems,” using unmanned aerial vehicles to perform maritime wide-area surveillance.
“We’re proud to support the JCG’s maritime surveillance mission with our SeaGuardian UAS,” said Linden Blue, CEO. “The system’s ability to provide affordable, extremely long-endurance airborne surveillance with long-range sensors in the maritime domain is unprecedented.”
Kratos demonstrates all-digital multi-mission
edge capability at Space Symposium
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. and technology partner Kymeta it will provide live demonstrations of an all-digital multi-mission capability at the 37th Annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo. April 4-7.
The demonstrations will include Kratos’ OpenSpace Satcom and RF Carrier Analysis virtual network functions running on a generic compute device that is digitally paired with a Kymeta electronically steered antenna (ESA) mounted inside a tactical H2 vehicle. This virtual architecture enables a universally deployable solution within a broad range of resilient ground station and cloud environments.
“This demonstration will show that critical satellite network operations can be made increasingly virtual, interoperable and software-defined all the way to the network’s edge,” said Kevin Tobias, director of Edge Products at Kratos. “It is another step forward in proving that the ground layer can enable multi-orbit networks and multi-mission operations, for example Satcom, space domain awareness and ISR together as dynamic, virtualized applications.”
Diabetes Research Connection celebrates
decade of funding novel ideas
Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the guiding spirit of San Diego’s Diabetes Research Connection can be seen in the labs across the country, including one run by developmental geneticist Duc Dong at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute, in La Jolla.
The charity, which focuses on Type 1 diabetes, provided the researcher and his postdoctoral fellow Joseph Lancman with a $47,000 grant in 2016 to pursue a wild idea: Transforming one type of cell into another with the goal of some day being able to make beta cells, the kind that live in the pancreas and make the hormone insulin to control blood sugar. Such an ability would be a real victory, because the cells would come from a person’s own body and would not be subject to rejection, a common problem that plagues transplanted cells.
