Daily Business Report-April 25, 2014
Nursing students at Grossmont Community College in a training class.
Measure Allowing Community Colleges
To Offer Four-Year Degrees Advances
SACRAMENTO — A bill aimed at closing California’s job skills gap by allowing community colleges to offer four-year degrees where a local workforce need can be documented was approved Thursday in the Senate Education Committee on an 8-0 bipartisan vote.
Sen. Marty Block (D-San Diego), who authored the legislation — SB 850 — described his measure as a jobs bill. “California has a workforce skills gap,” Block said. “By 2025 our state will need 1 million more adults with four-year degrees. We need to use all of California’s resources — including our community colleges — to close that gap.” He added that more than 20 states since 1970 already allow community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees.
Block’s proposal is a pilot program that would allow 15 campuses from 15 different districts to offer one baccalaureate degree each starting Jan. 1, 2015 and endingJuly 1, 2023. Programs would begin no later than the 2017-18 academic year.
Baccalaureate degrees offered at the chosen campuses could not be duplicative of degrees offered by the University of California or California State University campuses. “It will be value added, not duplicative,” Block said. The state’s community college Board of Governors and Chancellor in consultation with the UC and CSU systems would select the participating districts and campuses.
Shea Homes to Unveil Lucent at Civita
Shea Homes San Diego will unveil its latest urban living project when it opens Lucent at Civita at 10 a.m. on Saturday. Lucent is introducing new concepts in vertical architecture, with 36 of 54 homes offering all living space on a single level, surrounded on three sides by walls of windows and balconies. The other 18 homes are two-story penthouses, which feature an upstairs family room and an outdoor deck and fireplace.
Lucent consists of multiple five-story buildings, with either six or 12 homes per building. Ranging from 1,457 to 1,878 square feet, homes at Lucent offer two bedrooms, two to two-and-a-half baths, and a two-car garage located on the ground floor. An interior elevator provides access to upstairs floors.
Pricing at Lucent will range from the high $500,000s to the low $700,000s when sales begin early next month. There are no Mello Roos fees and the tax rate is 1.10 percent.
Credit Union and Scripps Partner in Diabetes Care Program
San Diego County Credit Union has partnered with Scripps Health Foundation to sponsor the Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute’s Project Dulce — a diabetes care and education program that addresses the specific needs of diabetes patients in the greater San Diego area.
The credit union’s support will allow Project Dulce to deliver a series of courses and educational resources that instruct and engage patients in preventing, managing and avoiding complications related to diabetes to help improve their lives. The partnership support will also allow the institute to provide a minimum of 125 diabetes screenings, education and referrals at community events.
Project Dulce, initiated more than16 years ago, was designed by a collaboration of San Diego health care and community-based organizations. To date, the program has managed thousands of patients at Project Dulce program locations in San Diego. For more information, visit scripps.org.
Adconion Direct Holds West Coast Summit
Adconion Direct employees gathered in San Diego last week for the company’s 2014 West Coast Summit. Nearly 200 employees from the West Coast came together for professional development and to volunteer for the Special Olympics San Diego County Region (SOSD) annual Spring School Games, which Adconion Direct sponsored. The annual summits are designed to promote the company’s core values through team building, leadership, strategic development, and an on-going commitment to making a positive difference in communities around the world.
Former President and CEO of Patagonia Inc., Casey Sheahan, was the summit’s keynote speaker addressing the importance of corporate responsibility and concept of Conscious Capitalism.
Del Mar Highlands Town Center’s
Next Phase of Renovations Announced
Donahue Schriber has announced plans for the next phase of renovations at the Del Mar Highlands Town Center, which will include a parking structure, theater expansion and new dining and shopping options.
“Our plans will be responsive to the Carmel Valley community’s needs and within what was originally approved for the property,” said Elizabeth Schriber, vice president and general manager for the company.
Entitled in the mid‐1980s, plans for the Del Mar Highlands Town Center were approved to include 425,000 square feet of retail and a parking structure. The center currently consists of 283,000 square feet of retail. Donahue Schriber’s new plans will add a parking structure and approximately 80,000 square feet of additional retail space including a three‐screen expansion of the center’s Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas and a new KinderCare building.
The three‐level parking structure will be located along Townsgate Drive, expanding the existing parking field behind the center between Pell and Kelsford Places. Plans for the structure will include landscaped trellises, inviting walkways and three pedestrian entries. The parking structure will add approximately 600 new parking stalls.
CBRE First Quarter Market Report
Office
San Diego’s office market continued to improve with 598,150 square feet of positive net absorption. Fifteen of the last 18 quarters have seen positive net absorption. Lease rates increased $0.09 to $2.39 this quarter.
The new 414,575-square-foot LPL Headquarters led this quarter’s list of construction deliveries. Overall, nearly 600,000 square feet of new office space was delivered. Also, this quarter, the Irvine Company broke ground on the 306,000-square-foot One La Jolla Center building, which is also located in UTC.
Industrial
This was the seventh consecutive quarter of positive net absorption for San Diego’s industrial market. The market tightened further with an impressive 1,243,525 square feet of positive net absorption.
Lease rates were flat at $0.94 this quarter but has improved 20.5 percent since the trough in Q1 2012. The increase has been led by increase to asking rates in high-finish buildings.
Retail
The San Diego retail market posted a positive 275,907 square feet of net absorption, a marked increase from the previous two quarters.
San Diego’s desirable submarkets performed extremely well with vacancy of 2.5 percent. These submarkets command a 55 percent rent premium to the county overall.
