Daily Business Report-Aug. 2, 2018
Seville Plaza in Kearny Mesa. (Photo courtesy of Vista Investment Group)
Vista Investment Group acquires
Kearny Mesa office park for $27.5 million
Vista Investment Group has acquired the 140,107-square-foot Seville Plaza in Kearny Mesa in an off-market transaction for $27.5 million. The seller was LLJ Ventures. HFF helped facilitate the sale.
Seville Plaza is a seven-acre office/medical campus located at 5469, 5471 and 5473 Kearny Villa Road. It is comprised of three identical freestanding 48,000-square-foot, low-rise office buildings built in 1981. Recent renovations include updated lobbies, common areas and elevator cabs, and new signage. Common area amenities include outdoor meeting areas.
Seville Plaza is 93 percent leased and is anchored by the county Health and Human Services division.
This is the second significant office investment for Vista in San Diego in the past 12 months. In September 2017, Vista acquired Plaza 2020, a 105,796-square-foot Class A office building in Mission Valley.
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Bank of Southern California completes
acquisition of Americas United Bank
Bank of Southern California N.A., San Diego, announced the completion of its acquisition of Americas United Bank in Glendale, Calif. Americas United Bank had total assets of approximately $231 million as of June 30, 2018.
Americas United Bank branches will began operating as Bank of Southern California branches on Wednesday, with systems conversion scheduled in October.
With the completion of the acquisition, the combined bank will have assets of approximately $720 million, and increases the number of Southern California branch locations to eleven. Bank of Southern California officials said the acquisition provides the bank with an entry into the vibrant Los Angeles market as the bank continues its strategic expansion in the Southern California region,
Bank of Southern California also announced that its board of directors appointed Adriana M. Boeka as a non‐executive director. Boeka previously served as president and CEO of Americas United Bank. The bank also hired
Gaylin Anderson as executive vice president, market executive to lead the bank’s expansion into Los Angeles County. Anderson most recently served as managing director of community banking for Banc of California.
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San Diego Convention Center Events
Summary of upcoming major events at the San Diego Convention Center:
•• 2018 AVID Summer Institute, Aug. 1-3 (5,000 attendees)
•• Department of the Navy Gold Coast, Aug. 7-8 (1,500 attendees)
•• Global Business Travel Association Convention, Aug. 11-15 (7,000 attendees)
•• SPIE Optics + Photonics Exhibition, Aug. 21-23 (5,000 attendees)
•• Harley-Davidson Annual Dealer Meeting, Aug. 21-23 (6,300 attendees)
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Free leadership workshop offered
for high school seniors and college students
The San Diego North Educational Foundation will host a complimentary leadership certification workshop titled Strategies for Success for high school seniors (18+), college, and vocational students, on Aug. 14.
The all-day interactive workshop will address numerous leadership skills as well as an array of business and leadership topics designed to give student participants a competitive professional edge over their peers. The workshop is exclusively available to students and limited to 20 seats on a first come, first serve basis.
Strategies for Success workshop topics will include:
Leadership
Public Speaking
Time Management
Networking/Technology
Entrepreneurship
Personal Finance
Community Service/Volunteerism
Each workshop session will be taught by experienced North San Diego Business Chamber members recognized as emerging leaders and experts in their respective industries. The class is funded by chamber partner and member Littler Mendelson.
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Dthera Sciences launches digital
health product for Alzheimer’s victims
Dthera Sciences, a San Diego-based digital therapeutics company developing quality of life therapies for the elderly, announced the launch of ReminX, an artificial-intelligence-powered consumer health product designed to digitally deliver Reminiscence Therapy to individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s and other dementias, as well as from social isolation. The digital therapeutic device is the first to focus on the care of the elderly.
Launched Wednesday, ReminX seeks to digitize and scale Reminiscence Therapy, a common behavioral intervention used to treat these conditions. ReminX features a computer tablet designed specifically for seniors, as well as an AI chatbot that interacts with family members and caregivers via text messages or its mobile app, prompting them to send a photo, voice narration, and video content regularly and optimizing the content into personalized stories.
ReminX also features proprietary emotional recognition software to further improve content for each user and to communicate emotional responses back to the family.
In a clinical pilot study conducted through the University of California, San Diego, ReminX was shown to significantly reduce anxiety, depression, and overall emotional distress in patients with dementia. The study results were presented at the 40th annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in July 2018.
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SPAWAR selects TRex
The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego has selected TRex to manage the award of its next-generation enterprise-and field-level prototype logistical and maintenance system.
The overall project, known as the Naval Operational Business Logistics Enterprise (NOBLE), is designed to ensure effective and efficient supply operations both ashore and afloat. Under terms of the agreement, SPAWAR will award one or more Other Transaction Agreements to select the best combination of business functional software applications, data environment integration, and cloud stack services that will accomplish this work. Request for Solutions were posted on the TReX platform.
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San Diego industrial occupancy
ramps up in second quarter
Cushman & Wakefield’s latest Q2 2018 industrial market report for San Diego showed occupancy in the region’s industrial sector received a strong bump following a relatively sluggish first quarter. Overall, San Diego generated 632,000 square feet of positive net absorption from April to June, a level well above the prior two quarters combined while ranking among its highest quarterly marks over the last few years. The report also revealed occupancy growth through the first half of 2018 also stands well above both the first half levels of both 2017 and 2016.
Despite the strong occupancy growth during the second quarter, however, vacancy did inch upward a notch to 4.9 percent, a slim ten basis-point increase from the previous quarter. Nonetheless, vacancy still remains a few ticks below its level a year ago of 5.1 percent.
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Admiral 2R Management acquires
Balboa Executive Center office building
Admiral 2R Management LLC announced the acquisition of the Balboa Executive Center office building in San Diego. Balboa Executive Center is located at 9444 Balboa Ave. in Kearny Mesa at the intersection of Balboa Avenue and Ruffin Road. Balboa comprises 120,992 square feet of Class A office space in a single, five story building that is 100 percent leased. Capital improvements were completed in 2015, highlighted by a fully renovated lobby.
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Civic San Diego closes $10 million new
markets tax credit with Ajinomoto
Civic San Diego announced a $10 million New Markets Tax Credit investment with Ajinomoto Foods North America. Ajinomoto Foods manufactures and markets a wide variety of high-quality specialty frozen food products, including Asian, Italian, Mexican, custom and private brand products. In March, Tyson Foods announced plans to relocate its San Diego operations, resulting in the elimination of 480 full-time jobs from its Otay Mesa plant. Ajinomoto purchased the 165,763-square-foot plant and retained 352 jobs. The $10 million investment from the Economic Growth Fund is financing equipment and building improvements to add a third manufacturing production line in 2019 that is anticipated to support 80 to 100 new jobs over the next couple of years.
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Study finds foreign workers
help companies innovate
New research from the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy shows that hiring high-skilled workers from abroad may have a meaningful impact on the birth of new products and phasing out of older ones, with implications on both firm profits and consumer welfare.
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San Diego may pay you to keep your business here
In an effort to attract and retain high-performing companies, th In an effort to attract and retain high-performing companies, the San Diego City Council this week revamped its 25-year old Business and Industry Incentive Program, which provides substantial development and business incentives for private capital improvement investments. Entrepreneurs throughout the region will want to make themselves familiar with the new program.
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Personnel Announcements
Jasmin Divino Cortez joins Cavignac & Associates
Jasmin Divino Cortez has been hired by Cavignac & Associates to serve as an account administrator within the agency’s Professional Liability Department. In her new position, Cortez provides support and assistance to the department’s account executive and account manager and ensures the firm’s professional liability clients are well served. Specifically, she is responsible for processing endorsements, policies and certificates of insurance; handling billing and cancellation issues; handling renewal applications; and administrative follow-up.
Prior to joining Cavignac & Associates, Cortez served as a commercial auto underwriter for Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc. in San Diego, where she was employed for 12 years. There she worked her way up from commercial submissions to commercial processing and underwriting support.
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Southwest Strategies adds 4 to its office team
Southwest Strategies announced the addition of four new employees to its San Diego office team — Manager of Public Affairs Patrick Batten; Senior Account Executive Natalia Mendez; Senior Account Executive Timothy Howland; and Account Executive Ashley Brill.
In his new role, Batten will help guide land use clients throughout Southern California to complex entitlement approvals. Prior to joining Southwest Strategies, Batten worked with energy companies, environmental coalitions and public agencies to develop strategic partnerships and find creative solutions, most recently supporting development projects in the Inland Empire.
Mendez comes from a background in large-scale event production. She served as the
community relations manager for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series. Mendez was the public facing liaison, working with local government agencies, local elected officials, and community and business organizations nationwide.
Howland is an experienced digital media strategist and government advocacy specialist. He brings a wealth of federal and state outreach experience from his eight years of success in Washington, D.C. Previously, Howland led his own digital consulting firm and served as the lead product developer for National Taxpayers Union and Foundation.
Brill comes to Southwest Strategies with a background in commercial real estate and new business development. She worked previously at a commercial development firm, where she supported the land acquisition and development team on multifamily mixed-use projects.
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Debbie Escobedo named new CEO of Balboa Thrift and Loan
Debbie Escobedo has been promoted to chief executive officer of Balboa Thrift and Loan in San Diego. Escobedo becomes the first female Latina named as president and CEO since the company’s opening 36 years ago in 1981.
Escobedo joined Balboa Thrift and Loan in 1990 as one of 11 employees. She’s played a key role in the strategies and tactics used to result in positive outcomes at the end of each year. Under her leadership, the company has grown to nearly 100 employees across four locations in California including its headquarters in Chula Vista, and other branches in Claremont, La Quinta, and Fresno.
Escobedo has been involved in fundraising and strategic counsel to numerous nonprofits in the community. She’s currently the chair of the Chula Vista Police Foundation and has been involved with South Bay Community Services, Pacific Southwest Association of Realtors, Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce, and the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
