Daily Business Report: Thursday, April 6, 2023
Three life sciences projects in San Diego
among the nation’s top 20 office deliveries in 2023
San Diego claims 3 spots on 42Floors’ Top 20 Life Sciences projects coming online in 2023, and has the second largest total square footage in the works at a total of 1.05 million square feet.
The fourth largest life science building, The Vida, will open along downtown’s Embarcadero waterfront. The property is located within the Research and Development District (RaDD) — an eigh-acre, $1.5 billion project from local life sciences real estate specialist IQHQ.
The Vida is a seven-story, 405,000-square-foot property featuring 33,000 square feet for retail, in addition to state-of-the-art lab and office space in San Diego.
Less than a mile from The Vida is the seventh-largest life sciences building —The Campus at Horton Plaza-Building 100, which will rise 10 stories to provide 389,000 square feet of dedicated office lab space. Building 100 is part of a large conversion project from Stockdale Capital Partners that will transform the former Horton Plaza shopping mall into a 10-acre, mixed-use campus set across seven city blocks.
Top photo: The Campus at Horton Plaza-Building 200 is 17th on the list by 42Floors.
Top photo: The Campus at Horton Plaza. (Courtesy Stockdale Capital Partners).
California child welfare agencies under fire
for pocketing foster childrens’ benefits
By Jeanne Kuang | CalMatters
In December 2019, a month after her son’s death, Patricia Baca contacted the federal government to provide for her surviving grandchildren. The twins, just 3 at the time, had lived a difficult first few years of life. San Diego County had removed them from their parents’ custody that year due to allegations of drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence in the home, Baca said. The brother and sister were in foster care with Baca when their father died in an accident.
Hoping to secure the children a future nest egg, Baca filed for them to receive survivor’s benefits from the Social Security Administration for children whose parents have died.
But it was the twins’ legal parent at the time — the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency — that stepped in to receive their money. For the next two years, the county put their survivors’ benefits into its own coffers. Records show it was an effort to pay itself back for having issued monthly checks to Baca to cover the children’s basic needs.
According to county and federal records Baca showed to CalMatters, the money taken totaled nearly $15,000 per child. Baca said she received foster care checks of about $1,000 a month per child, meaning the county partially recouped its costs using the Social Security benefits.
The funds seizure is common among child welfare agencies in California and nationwide – and it’s legal. But forces are building to halt the practice, which advocates say has been in place for at least two decades. A growing number of states are banning it, and advocates are seeking to eliminate it in California through a court challenge and a bill set to be introduced in the state Legislature next week.
Housing affordability for all Californians
deteriorates as home prices set record highs
and interest rates surge, C.A.R. reports
Housing affordability deteriorated in 2022 for all California ethnic home-buying groups, as home prices soared to record highs last year, and interest rates jumped to levels not seen in more than a decade, the California Association of Realtors said.
Twenty-one percent of all Californians earned the minimum income needed to purchase a home in 2022, down from 27 percent in 2021. At the same time, housing affordability for White/non-Hispanic households fell from 32 percent in 2021 to 26 percent in 2022. Twelve percent of Black and Hispanic/Latino households could afford the same median-priced home in 2022, down from 16 percent and 17 percent in 2021, respectively. The significant difference in housing affordability for Black and Hispanic/Latino households illustrates the homeownership gap and wealth disparity for communities of color, which could worsen as the economy slows and rates remain elevated in 2023.
Kratos delivers 200th production aircraft
of BQM-177A Subsonic Aerial Target system
San Diego technology company Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc., an industry leader in provider of high-performance, jet-powered unmanned aerial systems, announced that its Unmanned Systems Division has delivered the 200th production BQM-177A Subsonic Aerial Target (SSAT) for a domestic customer as part of its Full Rate Production Lot 3 contract.
The FRP Lot 3 deliveries, that are currently ahead of schedule, will provide the assets to manage several large test programs critical for the Navy in the coming years. “This delivery is yet another significant milestone in the program as we provide world-class training and test capability for our Fleet,” said Don Blottenberger, Navy Aerial Targets program manager.
Fortune names Scripps Health
to its 100 Best Companies list
Health has been named one of the top employers in the nation by Fortune magazine for the 15th time. The 26th annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list ranked Scripps No. 95. It was the only San Diego County company to receive the honor.
“Given the magnitude of the challenges being faced by hospitals now, I am particularly proud that Scripps remains on the list of top employers from all industries,” said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps president and CEO.
Reflecting the pressure that hospitals across the country have been facing from a wide range of ongoing issues, a number of health care providers who have been on the list historically dropped off this year, leaving only Scripps and two others.
With more than 20,000 employees, clinicians and volunteers at five hospital campuses, including four acute-care centers and 30 outpatient centers and clinics, Scripps has created a high-performing, diverse workforce by accommodating the needs of its employees at the beginning, middle and later stages of their careers.
Point Predictive’s AutoPass improves lending experience
SAN DIEGO — Point Predictive, the San Diego-based company that provides artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, announced that Tricolor, the nation’s largest used vehicle retailer to the Hispanic market providing affordable credit to 32 percent of U.S. Hispanics, has implemented AutoPass. A FCRA-compliant scoring solution, AutoPass leverages alternative data sources for consumers with non-traditional credit histories, and even those borrowers with no credit history to help lenders better gauge risk and fund more loans.
Illumina celebrates 25 years of innovation
SAN DIEGO — Illumina Inc., a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, has begun a monthlong celebration of its 25th anniversary. A quarter-century after its founding in San Diego in April 1998, the company is commemorating its anniversary by celebrating its employees, customers, and entire stakeholder ecosystem, and reflecting on its progress and impact over the last 25 years. With a diverse global workforce of nearly 10,000 in 34 locations worldwide, Illumina continues to deliver on its enduring mission to unlock the power of the genome to improve human health.
Rubber Stamp Champ sets record
in online rubber stamp sales
SAN DIEGO — A milestone of great customer satisfaction significance has just been passed by Rubber Stamp Champ, the largest provider of online custom rubber stamps in the United States. With a 4.8 seller rating, the custom rubber stamp manufacturer with a 23-year track record in online sales and offering nearly 3000 items including all major brands at 50 percent off retail, has now surpassed 15,000 Five-Star reviews which cite impeccable quality, money savings prices, fast delivery, and consistently high levels of customer service.
The Ken Blanchard Companies wins
three Intrepid Momentum Awards
SAN DIEGO — The Ken Blanchard Companies has been recognized with three Intrepid Momentum Awards. The Student Self Leadership course won the Best Visual Design Award and the SLII Online course won Best Communication Strategy and Best Overall Course.
The Student Self Leadership online course is offered free of charge to 14- to 18-year-olds to help them understand how to navigate the world, reach their potential, and succeed in life.
SLII Online is a five-week collaborative course that teaches leaders how to have more productive conversations with their people.
Main Street announces $22 million
investment in Infinity X1 LLC
SAN DIEGO — Main Street Capital Corporation has completed a new portfolio investment to facilitate the recapitalization of Infinity X1 LLC, a supplier of portable lighting products. Main Street, along with its co-investor, partnered with the company’s existing owners and management team to facilitate the transaction, with Main Street funding $22 million in a combination of first-lien, senior secured term debt and a direct minority equity investment.
Founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Diego, Infinity designs, manufactures and distributes branded and private label portable lighting products.
Biotheryx enters research collaboration
and license agreement with Incyte
SAN DIEGO —Biotheryx Inc., a biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing a portfolio of first-in-class protein degraders with a focus on validated targets in cancer and inflammatory disease, announced it has entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with Incyte to discover and develop targeted protein degraders for novel oncology targets. Under the terms of the agreement, Biotheryx will utilize its distinctive PRODEGY platform to identify and initially develop molecular glue degraders for multiple historically undruggable oncology targets.
Greenbutts to be featured in award-winning documentary
SAN DIEGO — Greenbutts LLC, a leader in biodegradable filtration technology, will be featured in the award-winning documentary series “Viewpoint with Dennis Quaid.” The long-running award-winning series produces educational documentaries on a range of topics including business and technology – with a focus on highlighting innovation around the world. Viewpoint is distributed nationwide in the United States through public television stations and major networks, including but not limited to CNBC, FOX Business, Bloomberg, and is aired to over 60 million households in the United States.
ESET earns 5-Star rating in CRN
2023 Partner Program Guide
SAN DIEGO — ESET, a global leader in digital security, announced that it has been recognized by CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, with a prestigious 5-star rating in CRN’s 2023 Partner Program Guide. The 5-star rating is awarded to companies that go above and beyond in their commitment to nurturing strong, profitable, successful channel partnerships. ESET has taken significant steps in the last year to enhance its partner program, deliver a new global CRM and enable companies to quickly scale and build cybersecurity expertise through intuitive marketing and training resource
Rady Children’s Hospital successfully
launches portal vein thrombosis procedure
SAN DIEGO — Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, the largest children’s hospital on the West Coast and one of the nation’s top pediatric health care systems, successfully launched a new approach to treating portal vein thrombosis in children. Dr. Henri Justino, interventional cardiologist at Rady Children’s Hospital, developed a hands-on approach to treatment with a technique called portal vein recanalization. The minimally invasive procedure involves advancing a small wire and then a balloon-tipped catheter to the portal vein to dig through the blockage.
DermTech Inc. develops skin and health
wellness DNA risk assessment test
SAN DIEGO — In a new survey of 1,000 millennials and 1,000 Gen Xers, 75 percent of respondents said that while they are mindful of their sun exposure, only 19 percent wear sunscreen all year, 35 percent used a tanning bed and 46 percent regretted how long they stayed out in the sun when they were younger. These harmful habits can lead to an increased overall risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer. This is why DermTech Inc., a leader in precision dermatology, is now developing a direct-to-consumer marketed skin and health wellness DNA risk assessment test. The company launched its Sun Regrets campaign to educate Americans on their skin health.
