Daily Business Report: Thursday, March 23, 2023
Council agrees to Ash Street deal, paving way
for broker’s plea on conflict-of-interest charge
Broker Jason Hughes must pay back $9.4 million to city
By Chris Jennewein | Times of San Diego
The San Diego City Council on Wednesday agreed to a settlement with the real estate broker, Jason Hughes, who helped the city negotiate controversial agreements for two downtown properties.
The settlement from San Diego Superior Court Judge Kenneth So, over the 101 Ash St. and Civic Center Plaza buildings, was offered on March 16.
It passed the council 7-2 and will lead to broker Jason Hughes returning $9.4 million he earned from Cisterra Development in exchange for the city dismissing with prejudice its lawsuits against Hughes and his company, Hughes Marino.
Hughes will have 10 business days to return the sum total of $9,433,872.30.
City Attorney Mara Elliott encouraged the council to accept the deal, describing it as an “excellent result and an indisputable victory for the city.”
“We’ve done right by the taxpayers,” Elliott said at Wednesday’s special meeting of the City Council. “The resolution we’ve negotiated with Hughes is fair and it is wise.”
The San Diego City Attorney’s Office had sued Hughes, developer Cisterra and lender CGA and sought to void the city’s lease-to-own agreements for the buildings.
Steven Goldberg, a spokesperson for Hughes Marino and Jason Hughes, said Wednesday’s actions “bring finality for Jason Hughes, his family, and the Hughes Marino team.” He also noted Hughes’ contention that “six senior City officials involved in the transactions approved Jason’s compensation plan, culminating with a written agreement signed by the City’s Director of Real Estate at the specific direction of the then-Mayor (Kevin Faulconer) and his Chief of Staff.”
Top Photo: 101 Ash Street. (Photo by Chris Stone)
New report shows dramatic improvement
in Coronado’s economic health
Last year showed a dramatic improvement in Coronado’s economic health – with visiting groups producing $113.5 million in direct spending and a total economic impact of $164.1 million – according to a 2022 economic impact report released by Discover Coronado.
The new study documents a surge in pent-up demand for conventions in Coronado following the lean years of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Todd Little, executive director of Discover Coronado, the city’s official destination marketing organization.
“2022 was a very good year for Coronado, with the total economic impact of group travel sustaining 950 jobs on Coronado Island and generating $8.2 million in local tax revenues,” said Little.
Other findings:
• The overall hotel occupancy rate recovered to 66.1 percent in calendar year 2022 due to a resurgence in group meeting occupancy.
• Group occupancy more than doubled to 27.5 percent in 2022. Coronado hosted over 74,000 group meeting attendees last year, a 141 percent increase from 2021. That total is still 22 percent lower than 2018.
• Group meeting attendees represent$1,524 in revenue on average during their convention, about $401 per visitor, per day.
• Due to the pandemic, group room nights plummeted 76 percent in 2020, and although that figure rose 66 percent in 2021, it remained historically weak. Group room demand’s recovery began in earnest in 2022, with a 140 percentrise from 2021.
• Groups alone support 11 percent of all jobs in Coronado. A total of 950 jobs were directly sustained by business travelers to Coronado in 2022.
To view the report visit DiscoverCoronado.com/Impact.
County’s Law Enforcement Review
Board seeking applications
The County of San Diego Citizen’s Law Enforcement Review Board is seeking applicants to fill an opening on its board. CLERB was established in 1990 to investigate citizen complaints against San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies and probation officers.
The vacancy is in Supervisorial District 4 which means volunteers must live in that district. The area includes the cities of Lemon Grove and La Mesa, parts of the City of San Diego, and unincorporated communities including Casa De Oro-Mount Helix, Rancho San Diego and Spring Valley.
The 11 members of CLERB include two from each of the five supervisorial districts. The eleventh is chosen at large from any of the five districts. The County Board of Supervisors appoints CLERB members for staggered three-year terms beginning on July 1 and ending on June 30.
The first review of applications begins April 21
Seltzer Caplan McMajon Vitek
announces attorney placements
San Diego-based law firm Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek announced that Richard Gluck and Rebecca Zipp have joined the firm’s Litigation Department as of council. Agustin Ceballos was named of counsel in the firm’s Business Department.
A seasoned trial lawyer with more than 30 years of litigation and trial experience, Gluck’s practice focuses on complex, “bet-the-company” cases, including securities and consumer class actions, construction and real estate development disputes, unfair competition, trademark infringement and trade secret theft actions and wrongful termination and other employment matters.
A former prosecutor with 15 years of experience, Zipp focuses her practice on complex business litigation and criminal defense. Prior to joining SCMV, Zipp was a summer associate with Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP in New York. Before that, she served as a San Diego County deputy district attorney.
Ceballos joined the firm as an associate in 2017. His practice focuses on cross‑border tax and corporate matters, international estate planning, advising on tax reporting and compliance and tax controversy. He has extensive experience structuring international transactions, operations and investments, including use of tax treaties for reduced tax rates, optimum use of foreign tax credits and entity classifications.
Cubic awarded U.S. Air Force contract
Mission and Performance Solutions was awarded a contract from the U.S. Air Force Research & Development program for Halo-Enabled Resilient Mesh software and a hardware prototype. The project is designed to advance the technological capabilities of the U.S. Air Force High-Capacity Backbone (HCB). The contract is to investigate, design, develop, test and demonstrate the capabilities of the HERMes system. Under development since 2008, Halo facilitates a high bandwidth, resilient, ad hoc multi-link mesh network using novel digital beamforming techniques.
Nominations open for the
Finopotamus 2023 Tekkie Awards
SAN DIEGO — Finopotamus, the only online resource providing in-depth technology coverage exclusively to credit unions, is now accepting nominations for its 2023 Tekkie Awards. This is the third installment of the annual competition. The awards are co-sponsored by popular technology e-newsletter, Credit Union tech-talk. This annual award series honors significant achievement in credit union technology from the previous calendar year. The 2023 awards will thus recognize outstanding technology achievements from 2022. The nomination form is located here.
Blue Sky Network’s SkyLink Citadel
now available for purchase
SAN DIEGO — Blue Sky Network announced that its highly-anticipated SkyLink Citadel, a resilient anti-piracy solution for maritime, is now available for purchase. Leveraging the power of the Iridium Certus 100 satellite network, the SkyLink Citadel offers two high-definition voice lines and the ability to send and receive messages, files, and emails via onboard computers. Easy to install and operate, the SkyLink Citadel provides voice and data connectivity to the outside world when needed most. To order the SkyLink Citadel contact info@blueskynetwork.com.
GLD Group selects Mapp Cloud to tackle analytics
SAN DIEGO — Mapp, the international provider of insight-led customer experiences, has announced it has been appointed by sports and fashion-industry specialists GLD Group to provide its insight-led customer experience platform, Mapp Cloud. The platform will support the company as it drives its next phase of growth while delivering personalized and targeted customer communications. GLD Group will also be supported by Mapp’s Customer Success team. GLD Group holds the UK licences for Umbro, Superga and Sebago, and is the brand owner of Amplified clothing and ADDICT.
Capstan Therapeutics appoints chief
financial officer and general counsel
SAN DIEGO & PHILADELPHIA — Capstan Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to advancing in vivo reprogramming of cells through targeted lipid nanoparticles, announced the appointment of Justin Thacker as chief financial officer and Jeffrey Pepe as general counsel. Thacker joins Capstan with over 25 years of financial experience, including nearly 15 years in the life sciences industry. Pepe is a seasoned life sciences executive, with experience in leading initial public offerings, managing clinical assets and developing global intellectual property strategic plans.
Study suggests bioenergetic wearable
device may have positive effects
SAN DIEGO — A recent study by researchers at the University of California at San Diego found that a bioenergetic wearable device delivering biological information to the body using photons, has positive effects on the physiology of live cell cultures. This study has found these results may lead to improved energy levels and sleep quality, reduce stress, and help people better manage their emotions. A cutting-edge technology, developed and created by Energy4Life, bioenergetic wearable devices use digitized biological information to help restore the body’s energy.
Wrike announces new way to unlock productivity
SAN DIEGO — Wrike, a leader in collaborative work management, announced its availability in AWS Marketplace, a digital catalog with thousands of listings from independent software vendors that make it easy to find, test, buy and deploy software that runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS). By bringing Wrike to AWS Marketplace, both new and existing Wrike customers can benefit from streamlined sourcing and contracting, as well as the ability to transact directly through the marketplace. Enterprise customers will get a consolidated billing option and can apply the purchase of Wrike against existing AWS spend commitments.
Starlight Cardiovascular awarded $2.16 million
from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
SAN DIEGO — Starlight Cardiovascular Inc., a medical device company developing pediatric cardiovascular devices, has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to advance development of its Ductus Arteriosus Stent System. The award will provide $2,158,183 to support preclinical testing of a stent that is designed to enable blood flow between the pulmonary and systemic circulations in critical Congenital Heart Disease, the most common type of birth defect and affects 1.3 million babies born each year worldwide.
Retreat Pool & Cabanas opens for 2023
season at Sycuan Casino Resort
EL CAJON — Sycuan Casino Resort’s outdoor pool venue Retreat Pool & Cabanas will officially open on Friday, March 24 for the 2023 pool season. Retreat will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for hotel guests and a limited number of day passes will be available for purchase online and on-site at the Retreat hostess stand. Retreat features an expansive pool deck with two pools, a swim-up bar, lazy river, hot tub, daybeds, cabanas, poolside gaming, spa treatments and a full-service Pool Bar & Grill.
San Diego Press Club presents
Arts Writing: Beyond the Press Release
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Press Club, along with Vanguard Culture, will host a virtual workshop on arts writing on Wednesday, April 12 from 7 to 8 p.m. This workshop is part of the ongoing Press Club “Nuts and Bolts” professional development series and is designed to present learning opportunities based on industry trends. Featuring art journalists Seth Combs, Elizabeth Rooklidge and Kristen Nevarez Schweizer, the workshop will delve into the critical aspects of arts journalism, including developing unique angles, conducting effective interviews and crafting captivating narratives. The event is open to the public and free to attend. To register, visit http://bit.ly/3Tmf7nT
