Daily Business Report: Thursday, June 30, 2022
San Diego HousingWorks opens its award-winning,
$40 million Keeler Court Apartments to residents
San Diego-based Community HousingWorks has opened Keeler Court Apartments, the City of San Diego’s first project to leverage funding from California’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program. The opening ceremony took place Wednesday at 1290 Keeler Court in San Diego
For this development, Community HousingWorks received a Ruby Award for New Construction Project of the Year from the San Diego Housing Federation.
Development costs for the Keeler Court Apartments totaled approximately $40 million and were funded by an intricate network of city, county, state and federal funding sources, including the California Carbon Cap & Trade Program-funded AHSC Program.
CHW is also the first San Diego developer to pioneer the use of AHSC funds in partnership with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (SDMTS), and Circulate San Diego.
The new community includes two, four-story buildings connected with exterior bridges and provides 71 units — a mix of 10 studios, 21 one-bedroom, 18 two-bedroom, and 22 three-bedroom apartment homes. The community features a shared laundry room, multi-purpose room, bicycle storage, covered and open parking, and family areas. The design also features solar paneling for increased energy efficiency to help lower the residents’ utility costs.
The project – in partnership with general contractor Highland PM LLC – exceeded contractual diversity, equity and inclusion goals. The project awarded subcontracting opportunities with Urban Corps of San Diego County, a job training organization for disadvantaged youth, and the National Black Contractors Association, as well as other minority-owned businesses.
Top Photo: The Keeler Court Apartments in San Diego. (Photo courtesy of Community HousingWorks)
County adopts $7.36 billion budget for 2022-23
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $7.36 billion 2022-23 budget Tuesday. The new budget builds on commitments to address mental health, homelessness, equity, racial justice and climate change, while upholding essential public safety, land use and social services.
The $7.36 billion budget is $208 million larger than the budget the county recommended in May. It is 1.8 percent, larger than the county’s 2021-22 budget.
Some additions to the recommended budget that increased the final spending plan included added money for labor costs based on negotiations; for six additional capital improvement projects; to buy a twin-engine firefighting helicopter; and for a pilot program to retrofit, harden and create defensible for homes in high fire-risk areas. There is also additional spending for new vehicles and added staff for law enforcement.
Algeon Materials embraces the power of kelp
It’s already been a big year for Algeon Materials, a biotechnology company creating sustainable, biodegradable alternatives to plastic from kelp. It recently completed its journey with the inaugural cohort of the startBlue Accelerator Program, an eight-month incubator for blue-tech startups.
Adding to its long list of awards, Algeon also recently won first prize in the annual Triton Innovation Challenge competition for environmentally focused startups, which recognized the company’s strength for its mission to reduce plastic pollution and fight climate change.
Algeon Materials was co-founded by Kim Pendergrass and Rose Fein, both of whom recently graduated from the Rady School of Management with MBAs.
Pendergrass served as a commencement speaker for Rady’s graduation ceremony on June 12.
Brooke Emerling awarded $2.3 million
to demystify breast cancer metabolism
Brooke Emerling has been awarded a new grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue her work on cellular signaling in cancer. The four-year, $2.3 million project could accelerate the development of new therapies for a range of cancers, particularly metastatic breast cancer. It also offers an answer to a longstanding mystery in cancer metabolism.
“We’re helping piece together how cancer works at the molecular level,” says Emerling, an associate professor at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute’s
NCI-Designated Cancer Center. “The pathways we’re working on have been poorly understood so far, and investigating them could possibly provide new therapeutic strategies for cancer.”
The project focuses on a signaling system called the hippo pathway, which helps our organs grow and controls their size. One of the key characteristics of cancer is uninhibited growth, and the hippo pathway is known to contribute to cancer growth when it’s not functioning correctly.
“There’s no single mutation we can pin this effect on or target, so it’s been a mystery for years as to why and how hippo is activated in cancer,” says Emerling. “We’re just now beginning to piece that together.”
Ann Maas elevated to partner at Crosbie Gliner
Schiffman Southard & Swanson law firm
Crosbie Gliner Schiffman Southard & Swanson LLP (CGS3), a commercial real estate law firm, has announced the promotion of Ann Maas from senior counsel to partner. Maas, who joined the firm in 2013, will work from CGS3’s San Diego offices.
“Ann’s dedication to her clients and passionate commitment to fulfilling CGS3’s mission of delivering a best-in-class client experience are just a couple of the many reasons she has been promoted to this level,” said Sean Southard, a CGS3 founding partner. “She is an expert at efficiently getting deals drafted, negotiated and signed and knows instinctively how to focus on the issues that matter the most, time after time.”
Throughout her more than 25-year legal career, Maas has accrued experience representing both landlords and tenants with particular emphasis on office and retail leasing and also has significant expertise in purchase and sale transactions.
Prior to joining CGS3, she was an attorney at Mintz Levin and Allen Matkins and was also in-house senior counsel at Equastone, a real estate investment firm.
Maas holds Bachelor of Arts in English from Brigham Young University (BYU) and a J.D. from BYU’s J. Reuben Clark Law School.
Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft
successfully reboosts International Space Station
Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft successfully boosted the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS). Docked to the ISS since February, Cygnus fired its main onboard engine to adjust the orbit of the station to the desired altitude to support upcoming operations. The station orbits approximately 250 miles above earth and requires a periodic reboost.
The successful operation incorporated lessons learned from an earlier reboost attempt that was suspended as a precautionary measure. Investigation by engineers showed that the observed parameters were as expected for the reboost and flight limits were adjusted for Saturday’s successful attempt.
Reboost is the latest in a series of improvements Northrop Grumman has made to the spacecraft to meet customer needs since its first mission to the station in 2013.
Foundation for Women Warriors receives
$50,000 from Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund
Foundation for Women Warriors has received a $50,000 grant from The Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund for their Women Veteran Emergency and Transition Services programs in San Diego County.
Foundation for Women Warriors also earned the 2022 Gayle Gillies-Mize honor, given to the organization receiving the most RSFWF member votes during the grant cycle.
“The Foundation for Women Warriors is a perfect fit for our organization, strong women helping other strong women succeed in a time of need,” said Nikki Carmody Ream, former grants co-chair and incoming board chair. “We look forward to continuing this relationship through volunteer opportunities in the many FFWW outreach programs.”
The Rancho Santa Fe Women’s Fund joins together over 130 members in meaningful and engaging ways to give back to the greater San Diego community. Since 2004, RSFWF has awarded close to $4.8 Million dollars in grants to local nonprofits.
The Broken Yolk Café opens its 35th location in Santee
The Broken Yolk Café, San Diego-based breakfast, brunch and lunch eatery with 35 franchises across the U.S. and counting, has announced it will open a new location in Santee on July 5. Located in the heart of Santee in the Target-anchored Santee Trolley Square, the 4,000-square-foot space features an outdoor patio, modern farmhouse decor and an indoor and outdoor bar. The new location will offer the restaurant’s full menu featuring their well-known, home-style breakfast and lunch classics, including a variety of eggs benedicts, sweet treats such as the Tiki Toast and Cinna-Cakes, homemade sauces and more.
Owned by BYC Franchising, LLC, the Broken Yolk Cafe currently has 35 locations across the U.S., with its original Pacific Beach outpost being the only company-owned storefront. The remaining locations are franchised.
Vista ‘Ambassadors’ keep downtown clean, assist homeless
Vista’s new team of “Ambassadors” is part of Vista’s Clean and Safe Program that started in May. The program’s goal is to keep downtown Vista well maintained, which attracts more visitors and deters crime. The team is on call Wednesday-Sunday from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. to help guide visitors, keep downtown clean, and assist local businesses when issues arise.
Businesses already report the team has made a positive impact in a short amount of time by finding assistance for area homeless, removal of graffiti (400 pieces), and picking up litter (400 lbs) along the streets.
Meet some of the ambassadors in a video from the City of Vista by clicking here.
Water Authority offers incentives
for business property turf conversions
New statewide regulations prohibit watering decorative grass in common areas of subdivisions and homeowners associations, as well as on commercial, industrial, and institutional properties. The watering ban applies to non-functional turf grass defined as grass that is “solely ornamental” and not regularly used for recreational purposes or community events. The restriction does not apply to yards at individual homes and includes exemptions for sports fields and grassy areas made for community gatherings. Watering trees is allowed and encouraged.
The San Diego County Water Authority is offering many incentives to encourage conservation during statewide drought. Rebates and resources for business property owners include:
Commercial Turf Replacement Program
WaterSmart Contractor Incentive Program
To learn more about state regulations and the Water Authority’s programs and drought response, click here.
Oceanside’s The Brick Hotel is now open
Set in a historic 1888 building located in the heart of Downtown Oceanside, The Brick Hotel has been restored into a modern boutique vacation destination. Owned by a local Oceanside family, the 10-room hotel is now open and welcoming guests.
Dining options are coming soon. The Brick Hotel will include Q&A Oyster Bar and Restaurant, which will serve chargrilled oysters, along with French Quarter-style cocktails. The intimate ground-floor restaurant will have a New Orleans vibe, featuring a hidden patio with the outdoor Succulent Café running behind The Brick Hotel.
Their soon-to-be rooftop bar, Cococabana, will offer boho vibes and panoramic ocean and downtown Oceanside views. Nearby Frankie’s Cocktail Lounge and Stone Beer Garden offer alternative refreshing beverage choices.
To learn more, click here.
San Diego Symphony receives $1.1 million gift
The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and Sycuan Casino Resort have made a $1.1 million donation to the San Diego Symphony —the single largest cash gift ever given to the arts and culture sector by a sovereign tribal nation in Southern California.
The historic gift is given to the Symphony’s The Future is HEAR campaign and operational support of the Symphony’s many wide-ranging artistic and community programs. Sycuan’s gift brings The Future is HEAR campaign total raised to date to $123.5 million of its $125 million campaign goal.
In recognition of this gift, the Symphony will establish the Sycuan Community Plaza at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. The unveiling of this newly named space at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park occurred prior to the 2022 Conrad Prebys Opening Night Concert on June 24.
Erickson-Hall breaks ground on education
building at Rancho Buena High School in Vista
Erickson-Hall Construction Co. and Vista Unified School District celebrated the groundbreaking of the Rancho Buena Vista High School’s new Career Technology Education (CTE) building on June 9. The project was funded by Measure LL, a $247 million general obligation bond approved by voters in November 2018, targeted at supporting college and career readiness, repairing aging facilities, and improving security. Located at 1601 Longhorn Drive in Vista, Rancho Buena Vista High School’s new CTE building joins Erickson-Hall’s portfolio of K-14 educational facilities throughout Southern California.
The modern CTE building will serve students working towards a variety of career goals by providing a hands-on learning environment, preparation for future vocations, and a realistic view of the work world. Design was led by architect of record Josh Eckle at AlphaStudio Design Group. The project executive for Erickson-Hall Construction is Jim Fisher.
