Daily Business Report: Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022
Longfellow Real Estate Partners to add six-story
life science building to Sorrento Mesa’s biotech center
Longfellow Real Estate Partners, the largest privately held investor and developer of life science buildings in the United States, starts construction today of a six-story, 323,000-square-foot life sciences project in Sorrento Mesa, the heart of a burgeoning biotech cluster.
Bioterra will be Longellow’s first ground-up life science development in San Diego County.
The Bioterra campus was designed by HOK. McCarthy Building Companies Inc. is the general contractor. It will be the first all-electric HVAC life science building in San Diego in addition to being designed to LEED Gold Certification and Fitwel Standards.
Among its features will be a rooftop patio overlooking Sorrento Mesa, and specially curated food and beverage options open to the public.
The campus is minutes away from Longfellow’s other life science properties in the region, including the award-winning SOVA Science District campus, which includes an amenity center complete with on-site gym, brewery, and coffee shop. And it will offer tenants convenient access to research institutes including Salk Institute and Scripps Research Institute.
“Bioterra is an exciting step forward in Longfellow’s commitment to support the rapidly growing San Diego life science market,” said Nick Frasco, Longfellow Real Estate Partners Chief Investment Officer West & Managing Director. “Once construction is complete, the campus will be a major addition to San Diego’s core life science cluster and will offer top biotech users a unique value proposition based on state-of-the-art space, unparalleled amenities, and proximity to world-class industry partners.”
Top Photo: Rendering shows an aerial view of the Bioterra exterior.
Hig-profile La Jolla Village property sells for $10.1 million
San Diego real estate investors Jack McGrory, Rick Sparks and Steve Avoyer headed the investment group who have acquired a high-profile La Jolla Village commercial property at 7777 Girard Ave. for an all-cash deal of $10.1 million. The seller was an out-of-state family.La
The sale combined the purchase of the real estate along with an assignment of a 1958 ground lease held by long-time La Jollans The Bettles Family. They were the primary tenant and subsequently subleased to a succession of noteworthy tenants over the years, including Marston’s Department Store (precursor to Macy’s in San Diego County), Central Federal Savings, Home Savings, Wachovia Savings, Washington Mutual, and a few more. The two-story building is currently occupied by Chase Bank.
McGrory, Sparks and Avoyer secured the exclusive rights to purchase the property from the Montana owner. The Bettles family will also be a key investor in the new project. McGrory is an investor and managing partner of the investment group who purchased The Warwicks Building, right across the street from the new purchase, in 2021.
“People like the idea of reinvesting in The Village. This building is over 40 years old and doesn’t maximize the space it has available, so there is a lot of upside to redevelopment. It could be much more of a Village attraction,” said McGrory.
Matt Zimsky and Rich Lebert of West 101 Real Estate Group represented the seller in this transaction.
RICK Engineering expands services in Arizona
with acquisition of Cypress Civil Development
San Diego-based RICK Engineering Company has acquired Cypress Civil Development, a 12-year-old civil engineering and survey firm with offices in Tucson and Phoenix.
The acquisition of Cypress Civil, which has a staff of 26 engineering professionals, surveyors and administrative personnel, expands RICK’s capabilities, expertise and relationships within the Arizona market. The entire staff of Cypress Civil is transitioning to RICK’s offices in Phoenix and Tucson.
“This acquisition supports our strategic growth goals, staffing needs, and management succession planning for our offices in Arizona,” said Kai E. Ramer, president and chief operating officer of the 67-year-old San Diego firm.
Kevin Hall, co-owner of Cypress Civil, is joining RICK as principal in the Tucson office.
His two partners and co-owners Jeff Hunt, and Derick Schumacher, have been named as associate principals and will assume co-leadership roles in the Phoenix office.
RICK, which was established in San Diego in 1955, has been serving the Arizona market since 1984 with offices in Phoenix and Tucson.
Co-working and flex-office brand Kiln enters
San Diego market with acquisition of BLOC
Kiln, a boutique co-working and flex-office brand, announced its Southern California expansion, in partnership with Midtown National Group, on the acquisition and operation of three coworking communities and flex-office spaces in Solana Beach, Leucadia, and Carlsbad Village. The new Kiln locations were previously operated by BLOC, the first official co-working space in North County. The acquisition comes on the heels of growing nationwide demand from startups and enterprise-level teams for elevated workspaces as the trend of WFH and community office spaces continues.
Founded in 2018, Kiln’s flex-office communities are home to more than 3,000 members and 350 businesses across its seven locations in Utah, Colorado, Idaho, and now California. Kiln’s founders — Arian Lewis and Leigh Radford — have designed, built, and operated flex-office communities since 2010 in cities such as Tel Aviv, Mumbai, Vilnius, New York City, and London.
Developers to build 26 two-and three-story
single-family detached homes in Oceanside
IHP Capital Partners, a real estate investment firm, and California West Communities, a San Diego-based residential land developer and homebuilding company, announce their joint venture partnership in the acquisition of a 7.0-acre infill land parcel in Oceanside for the development of 26 Tides, a new residential community consisting of 26 two-and three-story single-family detached homes.
26 Tides is fully entitled with grading and sitework currently underway. Vertical construction of the homes is anticipated to begin in early 2023, and homes sales are anticipated to open in the second quarter of 2023. Home pricing will be released at a later date.
Designed to appeal to first- and second-time homebuyers, 26 Tides will include a mix of homes among five floorplans ranging in size from 1,675 square feet to 2,290 square feet. Layouts will include three to four bedrooms, two and a half to three bathrooms, attached two-car garages, and either a side or rear yard. 11 of the homes will offer a third story, which is generally designed as a “pop-up” bonus area to maximize views for the northern facing lots. One of the three-story homes will feature an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) above the garage. The community will also provide two affordable units that will be rented to those who qualify as low income.
San Diego International Airport exceeds
2 million passengers served in June 2022
San Diego International Airport in June reached a COVID-19 pandemic record number of passengers served in one month, 2,068,397, making it the first time the airport welcomed more than 2 million passengers since December 2019. When compared year over year, passenger traffic is up 30.2 percent.
The milestone also marks the closest the airport has come to reaching pre-pandemic passenger numbers; June ended 90.5 percent of 2019 traffic.
When compared to the previous month (May 2022), June passenger traffic was up 7.9 percent. The greatest number of people were served on Sunday, June 26 with more than 82,000 passengers.
“SAN has seen a steady increase in passenger numbers as demand for summer travel continues,” said Kimberly Becker, president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “Reaching more than two million passengers is a milestone we can celebrate as our region continues to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2022, the airport served more than 10 million passengers. A 72.8 percent increase in passenger traffic year over year. Detailed reports of SAN air traffic statistics are available at san.org/News/Air-Traffic-Reports.
SDSU investigates off-campus rape allegedly
committed by football players
San Diego State University said Monday that it has launched its own investigation regarding the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl by members of the school’s football team.
The allegations center around a suspected rape at an off-campus house party on Oct. 16, 2021, allegedly perpetrated by five football players.
In a statement issued campuswide, SDSU President Adela de la Torre said San Diego police initially requested that the university not conduct its own investigation or “do anything that could jeopardize or interfere with its criminal investigation.” SDSU also stated that it previously asked police for details so it could take action, but “SDPD formally requested that SDSU not intervene, as intervention could compromise their criminal investigation.”
Teaching kids about money webinar
San Diego County Credit Union will present a free webinar this morning on Teaching Kids About Money Matters, from 9-10 a.m. SDCCU experts will present the webinar and invite the community to join the presentation online. The presentation will walk attendees through the basics of teaching kids about money, including identifying the difference between wants and needs, modeling healthy financial habits, fun ways to learn about money and understanding the value of money.
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 Wednesday webinars, visit sdccu.com/fww.
Dandelion Health partners with Sharp
HealthCare and Sanford Health
Dandelion Health Inc. announced the launch of an integrated data platform that allows health care and life sciences companies to securely and ethically access representative, high-quality clinical patient data—including images, waveforms and structured health records—to enable the broader industry to build novel AI products, from aiding and automating medical decisions to improving diagnostics and drug development and more.
The first two health systems to join this consortium are Sharp HealthCare, based in San Diego, and Sanford Health based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The consortium is in active discussions with additional health systems to ultimately reach a total of five large health system partners, representing rural and urban populations from different regions across the country.
NeoVolta announces closing of $3.9 million public offering
NeoVolta Inc.,San Diego manufacturer of residential energy storage systems, announced the closing of its previously announced underwritten public offering of 975,000 units at a price to the public of $4 per unit. Each unit issued in the offering consisted of one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $4 and an expiration date of five years from the date of issuance. The common stock and warrants were immediately separable and were issued separately. The common stock and warrants began trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on July 28, 2022, under the symbols “NEOV” and “NEOVW,” respectively.
NeoVolta granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 146,250 shares of common stock and/or an additional 146,250 warrants at the public offering price to cover over-allotments.
Gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other estimated offering expenses, were $3.9 million, inclusive of the over-allotment.
Small Business Day & Lender Fair
The Small Business Administration’s San Diego district office, in conjunction with the Imperial Beach Chamber of Commerce, will present “Small Business Day & Lender Fair” on Thursday, Sept. 8, at Swiss Park and Hall, 2001 Main St., Chula Vista. Event hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and admission is free.
A lending panel will discuss how to prepare for business financing while an SBA panel will offer tips on starting and managing a successful small business.
Expected participants include the San Diego Workforce Partnership, local lenders, SCORE San Diego, among others.
How to compete for federal government contracts
Working for the federal government can provide a lucrative opportunity for companies that can provide the needed products and services. In addition, the government has preferred treatment for specially qualified contractors. It also encourages its major contractors to provide small companies with opportunities to become subcontractors with the resulting advantages.
This SCORE San Diego workshop will be held Aug. 4 at 9 a.m. at 8825 Aero Drive, Suite 102, San Diego 92123.
Buffini & Company’s MasterMind Summit coming Aug. 8
Buffini & Company’s MasterMind Summit, its two-day personal growth conference, will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, Monday, Aug. 8, through Tuesday, Aug. 9. The event’s theme, “How to Bounce Back,” will focus on ways to motivate, inspire and encourage people to unlock their true potential and become the best versions of themselves.
Influenced by personal growth legends like Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy and others, Buffini & Company’s content aims to transform one’s way of thinking, to help people uncover their unique gifts and abilities and show how to create lasting change. Suitable for the entire family, MasterMind Summit attracts thousands of attendees from all over North America looking to connect with a supportive, like-minded community.
Brian Buffini, the company’s founder and chairman, will host a session, “Recession-Proof Your Business and Finances,” where he will share practical, timely advice on powerful ways you can prepare for the upcoming recession so that you thrive no matter what the challenges are ahead.
