Daily Business Report: Friday, Dec. 2, 2022

SD Metro Magazine December 2, 2022December 2, 2022 0 Comments

By the numbers: California’s mild 2022 wildfire season

By Julie Cart | CalMatters

Summary:

Moderate weather and well-timed rainstorms in much of California combined to curb the acreage and structures burned

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As California emerges from its “peak” wildfire season, the state has managed to avoid its recent plague of catastrophic wildfires. So far in 2022, the fewest acres have burned since 2019.

State Emergency Services Director Mark Ghilarducci said California had “a bit of luck” with weather this summer. Although enduring yet another drought year, much of the state was spared the worst of the heat and dryness that can spark fires. And in some instances, well-timed rain came to the rescue.

Cal Fire officials also attribute some of the mild wildfire season to their emphasis on clearing away vegetation that fuels fires. Cal Fire Chief Joe Tyler said the $2.8 billion spent in the last two years on forest management made a difference, with the work “moderat(ing) fires approaching communities.”

The Elizabeth Hospice acquires Escondido

office/medical building for $8.1 million

The Elizabeth Hospice has purchased an office/medical building at 800 W. Valley Parkway in Escondido for $8.1 million and intends to occupy 80 percent of the space with plans to occupy the entire building after existing tenants vacate.

For more than 40 years, the hospice has been providing medical care and grief support to patients and families dealing with the challenges associated with an advanced, life-limiting illness.

\Peter Curry and Mark Avilla with Cushman & Wakefield’s Private Capital Group together with Bob Cowan and Matty Sundberg also of the firm represented the seller, a private local investor, in the transaction.

Don Zech, Nick Zech and Matt Orth of CDC Commercial represented the buyer.

“This is a beautiful, high image building with modern interior and exterior design that provides a nice and comforting environment,” said Avilla.

Rents drop in San Diego and nationally

Apartment List says national rents have fallen for the third consecutive month. A 1 percent price decline in November is the single largest monthly drop in the history of the Apartment List index. The cooldown is widespread, as rents fell this month in 93 of the nation’s 100 largest cities, including San Diego.

Rents in San Diego decreased 1.4 percent month-over-month in November, compared to the 1 percent decrease nationally. Year-over-year rent growth in San Diego currently stands at 6 percent, compared to 19.8 percent at this time last year. Rents in San Diego are up by 26.8 percent percent since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

Median rents in San Diego currently stand at $1,961 for a 1-bedroom apartment and $2,528 for a two-bedroom.

San Diegans select name for new electric mini street sweeper

Following a month-long contest to raise awareness of the importance of street sweeping to neighborhood quality of life, the City of San Diego revealed the official new name of the City’s 100 percent electric mini street sweeper – SWEEP-E – as it cleared trash and debris from the bicycle lanes along J Street in Downtown.

SWEEP-E has been given an ocean-themed makeover to highlight how street sweeping helps prevent ocean pollution, improve water quality and protect marine wildlife. The electric mini sweeper – the only one of its kind in the city fleet – has zero emissions and its electric motor results in a significant noise reduction compared to a regular street sweeper.

Downtown San Diego Partnership launches new

app for maintenance and safety concerns

The Downtown San Diego Partnership Clean & Safe program has made it easier for residents, visitors, businesses, and property owners to help resolve non-emergency maintenance and safety concerns in Downtown through the new Clean & Safe app. Available via smart phones, the app easily connects community-generated service requests for issues such as graffiti removal, trash removal, power washing, security checks, safe walk services, tree trimming, and more directly to the Clean & Safe ambassadors who will be mobilized to address them. Enhanced maintenance and safety services like those submitted through the app are available 24/7, 365 days a year to ensure Downtown neighborhoods are clean, safe, and thriving.

The Clean & Safe app can be downloaded in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.

City of San Diego selects firm to develop cultural plan

The City of San Diego has selected locally-based Cultural Planning Group LLC to help create the first-ever comprehensive cultural plan, Creative City. The plan will guide future arts and culture investments in all communities throughout the city.

Selection of the Cultural Planning Group follows a request for proposal issued this past June, with interviews of shortlisted proposers that took place in the fall. The consulting firm will help facilitate the cultural planning process, resulting in a 7 to 10-year policy and planning framework that aligns the city’s cultural investments with the priorities of San Diego communities. Creative City will also help advance the ity’s strategic plan and other master planning goals.

Siemens and Qualcomm test indoor private 5G

RCR Wireless

Siemens has worked with Qualcomm to deploy an indoor private 5G network in CBRS spectrum at Siemens headquarters in Chicago, with a view to test and develop solutions to automate building functions and services. The private 5G trial network is being used, initially to connect and manage heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems at Siemens’ so-called Chicagoland site in Buffalo Grove, home to its Building Technologies unit. Read more…

USD Welcomes women thought

leaders for PeaceMaker Fellowship

Thursday, marked the beginning of the residency in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice’s Women PeaceMakers Fellowship. For 20 years, the annual Women PeaceMakers Fellowship has brought together women peacebuilders and leading international peacebuilding organizations. The fellowship facilitates collaboration between women from conflict-affected communities, and helps initiate research aimed at shaping the peacebuilding field.

Over the next two weeks, the Fellows will live together on the University of San Diego campus, where they’ll take part in a number of activities – here and around San Diego – and get ample time to collaborate and learn from each other. During that time, they’ll also meet with students, faculty and staff, and community groups to share ideas and plan the focus of their Fellowship research projects.

This year’s four Women PeaceMakers Fellows are:

Juanita Roca Sanchez (Bolivia) – Her activism is centered on promoting inclusion and nation building, as well as the respect for human rights and the rule of law in Bolivia.

Tania Cecilia Martínez (Honduras) – She focuses on democratic governance and the collaboration between government and civil society groups to improve citizen participation in their own governance and development contexts.

Nattecia Nerene Bohardsingh (Jamaica) – She is a lawyer and advocate that has worked in reparatory justice, gender-based violence, and human rights at the domestic and international level.

María Dolores Hernández Montoya (Mexico) – She has worked in program design and implementation with various global organizations to strengthen international and domestic cooperation efforts for urban development and safety.

County Fire’s Emergency Medical Services honored

The Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties awarded San Diego County Fire’s Emergency Medical Services Office with a Community Leadership Award. The award, presented at the association’s 2022 annual meeting, recognizes the EMS office for organizing a regional Health Services Capacity Task Force. The Task Force provides leadership to collaboratively address challenges experienced in the entire continuum of care, from first responders to hospital to outpatient and rehabilitation to community care.

Biological Dynamics announces clinical trial

Biological Dynamics, a company developing its exosome-isolation ExoVerita platform for early disease diagnostics, has received IRB approval and will soon begin to enroll patients in its ExoLuminate clinical study to validate its pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) lab-developed test (LDT). For more information about the ExoLuminate clinical study, visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.

CorDx receives FDA emergency use

authorization for COVID-19 antigen test

CorDx, a global leader in the development, manufacturing, and distribution of diagnostics and other medical devices, has received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its COVID-19 Ag Test designed for non-prescription home use and featuring a 10-minute time to result. The CorDx COVID-19 Ag Test is a lateral flow immunoassay device intended for the qualitative detection of nucleocapsid protein antigen from the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Companies utilize Regulation D (506(c) pathway

Funded, a San Diego-based capital raising firm focused on Regulation D 506(c), is helping issuers around the country streamline the process of raising money. In the 2021 Fiscal Year Annual Report by the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation (an independent office of the SEC), companies leveraging Rule 506(c) raised $124 billion in capital, with the median raise amount being $850,000. Regulation D 506(c) is a format of capital raising that allows businesses to sell and issue securities in their company to accredited investors. Under Rule 506(c), there is no limit to the amount of money that can be raised plus issuers can advertise the offering to the general public.

New organization forms within hospitality industry

A group of 16 diversified caterers, event production and hospitality companies have banded together to create Elite Catering + Event Professionals (ECEP). The collaborative global network itself represents a powerful voice in the market with more than $615 million in annual revenue among them. “If money talks, we have the ability and the desire to say and do something significant to effect positive change,” says Susan Lacz, inaugural president of ECEP and CEO and principal of Ridgewells Catering. Based in the Washington, D.C. metro area, Ridgewells is one of the nation’s largest privately held catering companies.

Outcomes Rocket wins Power Press Award for intelligence

Outcomes Rocket has won the Power Press Award in the category of Intelligence for a 10-part podcast series on cybersecurity produced in collaboration with the Health Sector Coordinating Council and industry experts. Each podcast was accompanied by a resource to help health care organizations and businesses enable better cyber-safety. This is a huge honor for the health care media production company as they continue creating content that impacts healthcare organizations and professionals around the world.

Palladium Heritage invests in Southwest Strategies

Palladium Equity Partners, along with its affiliates Palladium Heritage, has partnered with Southwest Strategies and its CEO and co-founder Chris Wahl to support the company’s growth. Terms of the investment were not disclosed.Southwest Strategies is one of California’s most respected and successful public outreach and communications firms. For more than two decades, the company has helped its clients achieve success through the development and implementation of innovative outreach strategies and programs designed to educate the public. Since its formation in 2000, Southwest Strategies has helped secure and build more than $20 billion in infrastructure projects in California.

Senhwa Biosciences’ new drug

selected to anti-cancer pipeline

Senhwa Biosciences Inc., a drug development company focusing on first-in-class therapeutics for oncology, rare diseases, and infectious diseases, says its first in class new drug Pidnarulex (CX-5461), has been successfully selected to the anticancer pipeline of NIH-sponsored NExT Program (NCI Experimental Therapeutics Program), which will foster the exploration of its therapeutic potential in unmet medical needs and advancement to market. Headquartered in Taiwan, with an operational base in San Diego, Senhwa is well-positioned to oversee the development of its compounds.

Warburg Pincus to acquire San Diego’s K2 Insurance Services

K2 Insurance Services, a San Diego-based independent specialty insurance program manager, announced that Warburg Pincus, a leading global growth investor, has agreed to acquire the company from Lee Equity Partners LLC, a growth oriented middle market private equity firm. The investment will support K2’s continued growth strategy, including M&A and de-novo incubation, and its commitment to offering best-in-class services to clients. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.