Daily Business Report-July 19, 2017
Tap list at Monkey Paw Brewing Company. (Courtesy of Monkey Paw)
Coronado Brewing Co. to Acquire
Monkey Paw, an East Village Brewpub
Coronado Brewing Company announced that it will acquire a majority share in Monkey Paw Brewing Company, a move allowing Monkey Paw to share in Coronado’s resources, further developing the brand. The acquisition is expected to close Sept. 1, 2017, for an undisclosed amount.
“We are excited to bring Monkey Paw Brewing Company into our family,” says Brandon Richards, COO of Coronado. “We’re looking forward to partnering with Scot Blair and his team; they have built a tremendous brand from the ground up, and their beers are incredibly well-respected. We can’t wait to share their brand with an expanded audience.”
The partnership will enable Monkey Paw to bring more of its beer to fans throughout Coronado’s distribution footprint.The plan is to grow organically, with Coronado working with Monkey Paw to expand draft accounts, refresh its branding, and increase off-premise distribution. “Scot Blair has created a brand with a lot of momentum, and we don’t want to mess with that too much,” says Richards. “The pub will continue to operate as-is, and we’re looking at releasing new cans in the near future.”
Coronado’s move to acquire Monkey Paw comes at a time when many regional breweries are experiencing declining sales. “We have been looking for the opportunity to bring in a brand that fits with our culture, and doing so allows us to realize our operational efficiencies,” says Richards. “It also gives us the opportunity to sell more beer in California, which we love doing. We think this is a powerful extension of our brand and a great way to diversify our offerings.”
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Rincon Band Breaks Ground
on Government Administration Building
The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians has started construction of a $20 million tribal government administration building to be completed in summer, 2018. According the Tribal Chairman Bo Mazzetti, the band needed to combine government offices in a permanent building. Last year rain damaged the temporary administration offices, forcing the staff to evacuate and re-open in another temporary complex.
“We have come to the end of the line with investing in semi-permanent buildings that really don’t meet our current needs,” said Mazzetti, who added that the council had resisted building a permanent administration complex, preferring to invest in tribal services and reservation infrastructure first.
The two-story, 43,000-square-foot complex will house tribal law enforcement, human resources, finance, legal, and administration departments, with additional conference and training rooms. Tribal council chambers will be on the second floor. The new administration building will be located on Valley Center Road, north of the tribal fire department. In addition to $5 million in road improvements, including a turn lane, the site will have two parking areas to accommodate employees and visitors.
The Worth Group is providing architectural services, with the Hearne Company, a division of W.E. O’Neil, general contractor. Joe Martinez of Sierra Building Solutions is construction manager.
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China: Ready to Mass Produce
Reaper-Like CH-5 Drone
GovConWire
China announced it is ready to mass produce the Cai Hong 5 (Rainbow 5, or CH-5,) a strike-capable, Reaper-like unmanned aerial vehicle, “as good as the General Atomics-made MQ-9 Reaper: a hunter-killer drone often deemed by Western analysts as the best of its kind.” General Atomics is headquartered in San Diego.
“Today’s (14 July) flight means the CH-5’s design has been finalised and we are ready to mass produce it,” said Ou Zhongming, who works for China’s largest exporter of military UAVs.
The CH-5 outperforms all other Chinese-drones when it comes to operational endurance and payload capacity, said Shi Wen, the CH series’ chief designer.
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Long-Term Office Tenant
Secured for Downtown Complex
IDEA1, a new mixed-use Class A project currently under construction in San Diego’s East Village, has secured Seer Interactive as a long-term office tenant. The Philadelphia-based digital marketing agency pre-leased 7,717 square feet of space from the project’s owner/developer, Lowe Enterprises, I.D.E.A. Partners, and LaSalle Investment Management.
Located at 1200 F St., IDEA1 is a multi-story project that will be composed of 295 residential units, two retail spaces and the single office space. There is also a 12,000-square-foot courtyard known as The HUB, featuring flexible collaborative space which can be used for speaking engagements, social events and community engagement
Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord. Quality First Commercial represented the tenant.
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Vu at Lake Murray
Apartments Sold for $18 Million
Pacific Urban Residential, a West Coast apartment investor, has sold Vue at Lake Murray, a 65-unit multifamily community located at 6867 Golfcrest Drive in San Diego, for $18 million.
The property has resort-like amenities including a clubhouse, swimming pool, and fitness center. It is near Lake Murray located in Mission Trails Regional Park.
Built in 1970, Vue at Lake Murray underwent major renovations to the exterior and 49 of the units in 2010 and 2016.
Kidder Mathews’ commercial real estate brokers, Jim Neil, Eric Comer and Merrick Matricardi represented Pacific Urban Residential in the transaction.
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Water Authority Solicits Proposals
for Joint Energy Storage Project
The San Diego County Water Authority this week issued a Request for Proposals for a potential joint energy storage project with the city of San Diego that could lessen upward pressure on water rates and also increase opportunities for renewable energy penetration throughout the region by leveraging existing infrastructure at San Vicente Reservoir.
The potential project would consist of a closed-loop interconnection and pumping system between the existing San Vicente Reservoir (which is owned by the city) near Lakeside and a new, smaller reservoir located uphill. The system could provide up to 500 megawatts of renewable energy. It would be used during off-peak energy-use periods, pumping water uphill to the new upper reservoir to create a bank of stored hydroelectric energy. That energy would be released to the lower reservoir by gravity at times when other renewable energy supplies, such as solar, are unavailable and when energy demand and electricity costs are higher.
In addition to potentially adding renewable energy to the region, energy storage could support electrical grid operations that are essential to integrating large new supplies of other renewable electricity into the California and Western power grids — notably solar, but also wind. It also would make it easier to quickly ramp up or down energy generation as needed.
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Lions Club Gives $400,000 to Shiley
Eye Institute at UC San Diego
With the goal of accelerating research to prevent blindness, the Downtown San Diego Lions Club Welfare Foundation has made a $400,000 gift to support the UC San Diego Shiley Eye Institute’s BioBank —t he largest gift the local organization has made to a single project.
In recognition of their support, the BioBank research lab at the Shiley Eye Institute has been named the Downtown San Diego Lions Club BioBank for Vision.
The BioBank was launched in 2012 with the goal of leveraging the latest in bioinformatics technology and genetic-sequencing tools to advance understanding of diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy—all of which are leading causes of blindness in the United States. The BioBank provides a library of biological samples with complete medical and family history and other demographic information that researchers can utilize to learn about predictors for diseases (biomarkers) and effectiveness of therapies.
“The BioBank allows our ophthalmology team to make remarkable advances in understanding the biology of diseases and the promise of personalized medicine,” said Robert N. Weinreb, chair and director of the Shiley Eye Institute. “The support from the San Diego Lions Club Welfare Foundation aids our research and helps us to better diagnose, prevent and treat eye diseases.”
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Navy will host RoboSub Competition
July 26-30 at Research Pool in Point Loma
More than 300 students making up 44 teams and representing eight countries will compete in the 20th International RoboSub Competition to be held July 26–30 at the U.S. Navy’s research pool on Point Loma.
Hosted by the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) in Point Loma, the competition challenges teams to design and build autonomous underwater vehicles capable of completing realistic missions.
The event is open to the public and free of charge, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily. Spectators can watch the teams prepare and launch their vehicles for the competition. The event will feature a large screen display of the underwater action.
The site of the competition, SSC Pacific’s TRANSDEC pool, is a one-of-a-kind facility built in 1964 that simulates an ocean of water and provides ideal conditions for research. Signs near SSC Pacific (driving South on Catalina Boulevard toward Cabrillo National Monument) on Point Loma will direct visitors to parking.
For more information about the 20th International RoboSub Competition, visit www.robosub.org.
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Free WiFi Available During Comic-Con
Cox Communications has teamed up with the city of San Diego to open Cox WiFi hotspots to the public during Comic-Con festivities this week. Free, unlimited access to all downtown Cox WiFi hotspots will be available July 17-24 for Comic-Con, including those in the Gaslamp District, East Village and Little Italy. More than 600 hotspots are available in the downtown area. For maximum coverage, Internet-enabled devices should stay within 200 feet of a hotspot. A complete list of hotspots can be found online at www.cox.com/hotspots.
Cox internet customers with Preferred, Premier, Ultimate and GIGABLAST internet packages already have free access to all CoxWiFi hotspots as part of their service. Non-customers and Cox customers who don’t subscribe to the Cox packages, can access the WiFi hotspots this week by selecting the “FreeCoxWiFi” wireless network on their WiFi-enabled device when at a Cox hotspot. For more information, visit the Cox Wi-Fi homepage at www.cox.com/wifi.
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Douglas Wilson Cos. breaks ground
on $30 million Senior Housing Complex
Douglas Wilson Cos. has broken ground on its first senior housing project, a complex of 111 units of assisted living in Chula Vista. The $30 million, 4.5-acre development is located at 1290 Santa Rosa Drive on the final piece of developable land in Otay Ranch. It will consist of 85 apartments for assisted living and 26 units for memory care.
The still-unnamed community will consist of a two-story building designed in California Heritage architecture. The complex will include state-of-the-art amenities and services including a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. full-service, white tablecloth restaurant, outdoor dining, community garden, courtyards, bistro and juice bar, library, fitness area, reading and game rooms, a beauty salon and barbershop, and a regularly scheduled onsite Nurse Practitioner.
Completion and grand opening are anticipated in late 2018.
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Personnel Announcements
Cheryl Williams Reappointed to Osteopathic Medical Board
Cheryl Williams, 62, of San Diego, has been reappointed to the Osteopathic Medical Board of California by Gov. Jerry Brown. She has served since 2014. Williams has been an insurance consultant for the American Family Life Assurance Company since 2015. She was a community relations coordinator at the San Ysidro Health Center from 2010 to 2015, a constituent service manager at the California State Assembly from 2006 to 2010, assistant campaign field manager for Mary Salas for state Assembly from 2005 to 2006 and community development consultant at the Jacobs Foundation, San Diego from 2001 to 2004. Williams was president and chief executive officer at the San Diego Circuit Board Service from 1981 to 2000 and hearing and placement assistant for the San Diego Unified School District from 1977 to 1981. The position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Williams is a Democrat.
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Jorge Meneses Appointed to Alquist Seismic Safety Commission
Jorge Meneses, 59, of Oceanside, has been appointed to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission by Gov. Jerry Brown. Meneses has been principal geotechnical engineer at the RMA Group since 2016. He was an associate geotechnical engineer at Group Delta Consultants Inc. from 2014 to 2016, a senior consultant at GEI Consultants Inc. from 2013 to 2014 and a senior geotechnical engineer at Kleinfelders Inc. from 2005 to 2013. Meneses was a consultant at GeoHazards International from 2003 to 2005, an assistant scientist at the University of California, San Diego Department of Structural Engineering from 1999 to 2005 and a consultant at the Tokyo Soil Research Company from 1996 to 2005. He was a research associate at Wayne State University from 1997 to 1999, an assistant professor at the National University of Engineering, Lima and a general manager at the Peru-Japan Center for Earthquake Engineering Research and Disaster Mitigation from 1987 to 1991. Meneses is president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, San Diego chapter. The position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Meneses is a Democrat.
