Daily Business Report: January 10, 2024
Navy hands redevelopment of 70-acre NAVWAR
property to Manchester/Edgemoor team
After more than a year of competition among potential developers, the Navy has selected San Diego-based Manchester Financial Group and Virginia-based Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate as the master developer for the 70.3-acre Naval Base Point Loma Old Town Campus, home toNaval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR).
The Navy OTC facilities, serving as NAVWAR’s headquarters, are well beyond their useful life and negatively affect NAVWAR’s cyber warfare mission, security, and workforce safety. The Navy’s proposed revitalization of OTC facilities would meet design standards for safety and security while enabling sustainment of NAVWAR’s national defense mission.
Manchester is a hotel and commercial development firm that built the 12-acre Navy Broadway Complex in 2006. The Navy OTC project is Edgemoor’s first project in San Diego.
Photo: A concept-only rendering shows a new NAVWAR building on the Naval Base Point Loma, Old Town Complex in San Diego’s Midway District. (Courtesy, Manchester/Edgemoor)
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U.S. Supreme Court avoids California
tobacco law, hears housing case
By Lynn La | CalMatters
California is often at the cutting edge of public policy, so it isn’t all that rare that one of its laws ends up before the nation’s highest court. But that doesn’t always mean the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court is quick to throw out these laws.
Monday, for instance, the court decided, without comment, not to hear a challenge from the tobacco industry to the state’s ban on flavored tobacco products.
One case the Supreme Court will consider though, concerns another pressing issue: housing. Today, the court is expected to hear oral arguments about the constitutionality of a “traffic impact mitigation fee” one resident, George Sheetz, had to pay to El Dorado County in order to build a single-family home on his property. The case has major implications for developers who argue that impact fees such as the $23,000 levied against Sheetz are one of the reasons why it’s difficult to construct affordable housing in the state.
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Spurlock selected to design Phase 2
of Botanical Building and Gardens
Balboa Park’s Botanical Building and Gardens is entering the second phase of its historic restoration project. Phase 2, managed by the nonprofit Forever Balboa Park, reached an important milestone in hiring Spurlock Landscape Architects for the design of the exterior gardens.
Phase 2 will restore, reconstruct, and revitalize the Botanical Building exterior gardens. It includes designing and implementing enhanced gardens and irrigation surrounding the building, improving the walkways, reconstructing the pergola that originally stood on the west lawn near The San Diego Museum of Art, and restoring the two exterior fountains. Forever Balboa Park is also raising funds for public engagement programming and its volunteer Garden Stewards program to care for the exterior gardens once the project is complete.
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Supreme Court upholds California’s voter-approved
ban on flavored tobacco products
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s challenge to a voter-approved measure in California that banned flavored tobacco products.
The decision allows California’s law to remain in effect, while also preserving the authority of states and localities across the country to enact similar lifesaving measures.
R.J. Reynolds and other tobacco companies have desperately fought these laws so they can continue to target kids, Black Americans and other communities with flavored products, including flavored e-cigarettes, menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020 signed into law a ban on all flavored tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes and cotton candy-flavored vaping products — in response to concerns about a rise in e-cigarette and tobacco use by teenagers.
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World-Renowned surgeon named new director
of Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health
By Jeanna Vazquez | UC San Diego
Following an extensive national search, Diane M. Simeone, M.D., has been appointed director of Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health, effective April 1, 2024.
Simeone brings robust institutional, national and international leadership experience to both oncologic patient care and scientific research, with a focus on establishing novel models of interdisciplinary collaboration. She is an internationally recognized surgeon-expert in the biology and multidisciplinary treatment of pancreatic neoplasms, with an active clinical practice in pancreatic surgery.
Simeone currently serves as the Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Professor of Surgery, director of the Pancreatic Cancer Center, and the associate director of translational research at Perlmutter Cancer Center at New York University Langone Health. She served as chair of the scientific and medical advisory board of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and is a member of the scientific advisory board for the Let’s Win Pancreatic Cancer online community.
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Developers needed for senior affordable
housing development in Escondido
The County of San Diego is accepting requests for proposal from developers interested in constructing affordable housing for seniors on county-owned land in Escondido. The deadline to submit questions is Feb. 2, 2024, at 5 p.m., and the deadline to submit proposals is March 1, 2024. The development will be located at 620 East Valley Parkway and every unit will be affordable housing. The Board of Supervisors approved the use of the county property for the development last year.
InnoVision changes talent paradigm
with new commission structure
In an era defined by creativity and entertainment, InnoVision Marketing Group, a global, bilingual marketing organization headquartered in San Diego, has unveiled a groundbreaking initiative. Introducing InnoVision Talent Agency (ITA), the group’s newest venture designed to revolutionize the commission structure for their talent. ITA sets a new standard by prioritizing full compensation for the talent on its roster, eliminating agency talent commissions in almost every scenario.
Sean M. Monks promoted to partner at Wilson Elser law firm
National law firm Wilson Elser announced the promotion of 31 attorneys to the partnership, including Sean M. Monks of San Diego. Monks litigates complex commercial matters such as derivative actions, trade secrets, unfair competition, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty, and related business torts.
Del Mar Highlands Town Center supports education for youth
Del Mar Highlands Town Center (DMHTC) has partnered with Just in Time for Foster Youth (JIT) to empower young adults ages 18-26 to reach their educational dreams. DMHTC’s investment of $45,000 in JIT’s College Bound service will support over 150 transition age foster youth to launch their college journeys and make it all the way to graduation and beyond.
Janux Therapeutics promotes Tommy DiRaimondo to chief scientific officer
Janux Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a broad pipeline of novel immunotherapies by applying its proprietary technology to its Tumor Activated T Cell Engager and Tumor Activated Immunomodulator platforms, announced the promotion of Dr. Tommy DiRaimondo to chief scientific officer. In his prior role as head of research, DiRaimondo was instrumental in successfully transitioning Janux’s PSMA-TRACTr and EGFR-TRACTr programs from research into clinical trials.
Gomez Trial Attorneys adds trial attorney Ben Anderson
Gomez Trial Attorneys announced the addition of trial attorney Ben Anderson. Anderson began his career as a plaintiff attorney, working on various catastrophic injury cases and helping recover millions for clients. He has worked on matters including auto accidents, police brutality, and products liability cases which allowed him to travel to Osaka, Japan to take depositions of engineers in a wrongful death suit. This began his career as a trial attorney.
Cierto Tequila win six Gold Medals at San Diego Spirits Festival
The Elevated Spirits Company is pleased to announce that Cierto Tequila was awarded eight medals, including six Gold medals, at the 2023 San Diego Spirits Festival — by far the most of any tequila brand in the competition. With these new honors, Cierto has won eight 845 international medals and awards to date. The 14th San Diego Spirits Festival brought renowned experts from the worlds of spirits and hospitality together to determine the best testing international spirits in an unbiased, blind analysis.
San Diego Chamber welcomes Alessandra Lezama as board chair
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce announced Alessandra Lezama as chair of the board of directors. Lezama, founder and CEO of Tootris, will serve a one-year term from January through December 2024. As chair, Lezama leads the Chamber’s 88-member board
that establishes the organization’s policy positions on issues important to job creation and business growth in the region. Lezama follows Lisa Kay in the role.
City of San Diego launches public survey on police chief recruitment
Community members are invited to take an online survey to share their opinions about the qualities and characteristics they wish to see in the City of San Diego’s next chief of police. The city’s Human Resources Department is also hosting a series of community forums, with one in each of San Diego’s nine City Council districts throughout the month of January. The complete schedule for the forums can be found on the Chief Recruitment webpage.
