Daily Business Report-July 24, 2018
Rendering of the Portside Pier project. (Credit: Tucker Sadler Architects)
Construction starts today on
Portside Pier, a fancy replacement
for Anthony’s Fish Grotto
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for 10 a.m. today for the development of Portside Pier, a Downtown waterfront restaurant project to be built on the former site of Anthony’s Fish Grotto.
Port of San Diego officials and officials from The Brigantine Inc. will preside at the North Embarcadero event.
Portside Pier would replace Anthony’s with three restaurants — seafood at Brigantine on the Bay, Mexican food at Miguel’s Cocina, pub fare at Ketch Grill & Taps —and walk-up service at Portside Gelato and Coffee. The public will have free access to the waterfront from a second level viewing deck, a second level perimeter walkway along the water’s edge, and an expanded dock and dine.
The address is 1360 North Harbor Drive.
_________________
Little Italy apartments sold for
$21,276,000 in all-cash transaction
In an all-cash transaction, the 40-unit Villa Cusma luxury apartment complex in Little Italy has been sold for $21.276 million to a local buyer, Luxo II Apartment Homes LP. The price per unit was $518,927.
Inspired by Sicilian architecture, Villa Cusma was constructed in 2012 at 1907 Columbia St. The building’s 2,475-square-foot ground floor retail space, currently occupied by Harumama, a sushi and ramen restaurant, is on the corner of Columbia and Fir streets. The unit mix is 24 one-bedroom/one-bath apartments, one two-bedroom/one-bath unit, and 15 two-bedroom/two-bath apartments. Select units feature floor-to-ceiling windows and views of the San Diego Bayfront and Downtown San Diego. The building includes a gated subterranean parking garage.
Marcus & Millichap represented buyer and seller.
_________________
Human Longevity sues J. Craig
Venter Institute over trade secrets
GenomeWeb
Human Longevity (HLI) is suing the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and a number of unknown defendants over the alleged misappropriation and use of trade secrets passed along by Craig Venter, the founder of both the company and the institute that bears his name. In a complaint filed last Friday with the US District Court for the Southern District of California, Human Longevity alleges that upon his termination from HLI on May 24, Venter took a company-owned laptop with trade secrets and passed on protected information to the Venter Institute, of which he is chairman and CEO. HLI also claims that the institute is working on a product that will compete with its own business.
Through attorney Steven M. Strauss, JCVI said HLI’s claims are “baseless, without merit, and contain numerous factual errors.” The response didn’t specify any of the errors. “HLI is one of many companies to have been spun out of the not-for-profit research efforts of the J. Craig Venter Institute and its founder, J. Craig Venter, a renowned genomics pioneer who remains a shareholder in HLI. We intend to vigorously defend against these allegations as the legal process advances.”
_________________
Qualcomm takes major step in
mobilizing millimeter wave
RCR Wireless
With U.S. carriers Verizon and AT&T touting commercial 5G service launches using millimeter wave spectrum later this year, the question has lingered: what devices will there be to support the high capacity, high band spectrum? On Monday, Qualcomm dropped the news it has successfully miniaturized its QTM052 millimeter wave antenna module to a point where multiple modules can fit into a smartphone form factor.
_________________
Cushman Foundation awards $75,000
to the Burn Institute for youth program
The Burn Institute has been awarded a $75,000 grant by The Cushman Foundation to kick-start the Youth Firesetter Intervention and Prevention Program (YFS), which was designed to act as a central service for community partners such as the courts, fire service, law enforcement and schools. The Burn Institute will take referrals of youth ages 5 to 17 who have been caught engaging in firesetting activities and evaluate their risk level. YFS will provide assessment, intervention, education and mental health referrals to prevent future firesetting behavior.
_________________
Scientists get first look at T cell
responses in Ebola virus survivors
Scientists conducting the first comprehensive study of key immune system cells—collected from West African Ebola survivors—that kill Ebola infected cells have made a surprising discovery that provides important clues to developing effective vaccines against the infection.
The study, which focused on immune system sentries known as killer (CD8+) T cells, showed that nearly all (96 percent) of the Ebola survivors had T cells that responded to viral protein, nucleoprotein on cells expressing Ebola proteins. In contrast, it was surprising that the virus’s outer glycoproteins, presumed to be the main targets for killer T cells, were recognized in a minority (38 percent) of previously infected individuals.
_________________
Water Authority prevails
in open meetings lawsuit
Superior Court Judge John S. Meyer ruled in favor of the San Diego County Water Authority on July 20 in a lawsuit that alleged the agency violated the state’s primary open meetings statute, known as the Brown Act.
San Diegans for Open Government, represented by Cory Briggs, sued the Water Authority on June 12, 2017, claiming violations of the Brown Act. Briggs asserted that the four delegates appointed by the Water Authority to the Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors were a “legislative body” under the Brown Act. Under that incorrect theory, Briggs argued that any time a majority of MWD delegates talked to one another, or with others, they created a “meeting” that was required to be publicly noticed under the Brown Act.
The Water Authority is one of MWD’s largest customers and has four seats on MWD’s 38-member board. Meyer ruled that the Water Authority’s delegates do not constitute a legislative body subject to the Brown Act, and he awarded the Water Authority court costs.
_________________
Move-Ins begin at Park 12 luxury apartments
Park 12, the luxury apartment and retail community located immediately across the street from Petco Park, overlooking the stadium and San Diego Bay, has begun move-ins at its 37-story tower. Featuring 371 luxury apartments, the tower is the first building in the community comprised of one high-rise and three mid-rise buildings.
Owned and operated by Greystar Real Estate Partners LLC, Park 12 offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans as well as penthouse suites with square footage spanning from 518 to 2,824 square feet. Rents start at $1,705.
Completion of the mixed-use project is slated for fall 2018, with move-ins planned for the remaining one six- and two seven-story midrise buildings featuring an additional 347 residential units, for a total of 718 rental homes. Eighty apartments have been leased to-date.
The project architect is Carrier Johnson + Culture.
_________________
Caltrans acquires Carmel Valley
acreage for wetlands restoration project
The California Department of Transportation has acquired 111.6 acres in Carmel Valley for $2.7 million for a wetlands restoration project on the site. The seller was the Barczewski Trust.
“This acquisition will set aside permanent open space, create wetlands and preserve the site for the Carmel Valley community,” said David Santistevan, senior executive vice president at Colliers International, which represented the buyer and seller.
The property is located south of Highway 56 at Rancho Santa Fe Farms Road in McGonigle Canyon.
_________________
Statewide Flex Alert issued
for today and Wednesday
Due to high temperatures in California and most of the western U.S., the California Independent System Operator Corporation (ISO) has issued a statewide Flex Alert that calls for voluntary electricity conservation from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. today and Wednesday.
Consumers are urged to conserve electricity especially during the late afternoon and evening when air conditioners typically are at peak use. Consumers can help avoid power interruptions by turning off all unnecessary lights, using major appliances before 5 p.m. and after 9 p.m., and setting air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher.
_________________
Colin Stowell confirmed as next
Fire-Rescue chief in San Diego
sdnews.com
The San Diego City Council voted unanimously Monday to confirm Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer’s appointment of Colin Stowell as the next chief of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD). Earlier this month, Faulconer tapped Stowell for the job following a three-month national search. Stowell began his firefighting career at SDFD in 1988 and steadily rose through the ranks to assistant chief before leaving in 2016 to lead Heartland Fire & Rescue. Stowell’s first day as SDFD chief will be Aug. 13.
Read more…
_________________
Personnel Announcements
Calder Conrad joins Kidder Mathews
Calder Conrad has joined Kidder Mathews’ San Diego office as a vice president. Conrad has a deep finance background and specializes in investment properties having negotiated over $23 million in transactions. Before joining Kidder Mathews, he was with McKinney Capital & Advisory Group in San Diego, and NAI Maestas & Ward.
