Daily Business Report: Monday, May 2, 2022
County affordable housing efforts
putting 3,400 units in San Diego
Since 2017, the County of San Diego has invested $175 million towards the creation of affordable housing, according to a report delivered to the Board of Supervisors. The funds have leveraged about $1 billion in local, state and federal monies, as well as private funding, which are being used to create 3,390 affordable housing units that have housed and will become home for more than 35,000 San Diegans.
The wide-ranging efforts include 44 developments—10 completed, 13 under construction and 21 future projects—in 24 communities throughout the region, including eight county excess properties and four developments in unincorporated areas of the county.
The affordable units will provide housing for low-income families, seniors, veterans, developmentally disabled people, transition-aged youth, people who are homeless and people experiencing homelessness and have serious mental illness.
To date, 10 developments have been completed, resulting in 835 affordable housing units that have become home to over 2,900 people throughout the region.
The 13 developments under construction are expected to create over 950 affordable housing units and are expected to be completed between now and December 2024. The 44 developments could generate 3,400 construction jobs and about 1,000 permanent property management and maintenance positions.
TOP PHOTO: Valley Senior Village in Escondio is expected to be completed by summer 2023.
Divco West acquires Northridge Summit for $76.1 million
Northridge Summit features 43,000-square-foot rectangular floorplates, one level of below grade parking, charging stations and an exterior courtyard. It is leased to a technology company.
JLL Capital Markets marketed the property on behalf of the seller. The markets team representing the seller was led by Managing Directors Nick Psyllos and Lynn LaChapelle and Associate Kurt Luedtke.
County provides free legal defense for immigrants
The County of San Diego announced a legal defense program for immigrants going through removal proceedings in federal court. People detained, on monitoring or under house arrest can now receive free legal representation contracted by the Public Defender’s Office.
The Immigrant Legal Defense Program uses three contractors to provide legal counsel to anyone detained here in San Diego County. That representation starts before they go to their first hearing until their case is finished.
The Board of Supervisors approved this initiative looking for a solution which upheld the principles of fairness and due process in our immigration courts.
“Our program is established, not to promote illegal immigration, but exactly the opposite,” said Michael Garcia, director of the Office of Assigned Counsel and the leader of project. “It is meant to promote the lawful application of our immigration laws and due process within the four walls of all our courtrooms in the County of San Diego.”
Matsu opens as Oceanside’s first
Japanese fine dining concept by the sea
Matsu, a 48-seat fine dining restaurant located just off South Coast Highway in Oceanside, has opened under the ownership of executive chef William Eick.
Eick created Matsu to share what Japanese culture and cuisine means to him, by focusing on the traditions and techniques of Japanese food and marrying them with the Southern California terroir.
In doing this, he showcases the seasonal bounty from the area’s farms, as well as exquisite product direct from Japan.
Matsu offers patrons a four-course tasting menu, where they can choose from three to four options per course. There is even the option for an eight-course omakase, in which the chef will select which seasonal specialties to serve.
The eight-course omakase also comes in a vegan option.
All course options come with optional wine pairings, while the omakase can be further elevated with optional caviar and wagyu enhancements.
Twice a night, Matsu will offer an 11-course Chef Counter experience, where guests will enjoy the experience with Chef Eick and the kitchen team.
Hours of operation: 4 to 9 p.m. on Monday, Thursday and Sunday, and 4 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. (760) 681-6152. Website
‘The Color Purple’ author Alice Walker to speak
at May 31 community college chancellor investiture
Acclaimed activist and author of “The Color Purple,” Alice Walker, will be a featured speaker during a May 31 investiture celebration for San Diego Community College District chancellor Carlos O. Cortez.
The free, public event will take place from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Petco Park.
The event is being hosted by the SDCCD Board of Trustees, who selected Cortez last spring after a national search.
In July 2021, Cortez became the SDCCD’s first new chancellor in 17 years. The investiture will include speeches, performances, and multimedia presentations highlighting the district’s commitment to student success, academic excellence, social justice, equity, inclusion and access.
The keynote speaker, Alice Walker, is an internationally celebrated writer, poet and activist whose books include seven novels, four collections of short stories, four children’s books, and volumes of essays and poetry.
She won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction in 1983 and the National Book Award.
Erin Adams and Paige Conroy promoted
to dual CEO roles at San Diego Gymnastics
San Diego Gymnastics, San Diego’s largest gymnastics school and camp program, has elevated Erin Adams and Paige Conroy — two of its executive directors — to the role of dual CEOs. They take over for current CEO and co-founder Christina Grady.
As dual CEOs, both Adams and Conroy will be involved in all aspects of daily operations and administration, with Adams focusing primarily on HR and operations and Conroy leading marketing and enrollment efforts.
Adams started her career in fitness early, working as a customer service representative at a private athletic club, quickly promoted to front desk manager and eventually duty manager for the entire facility. In 2018, she was recruited to join San Diego Gymnastics as an executive director.
Conroy also began working in the fitness industry early in her career, including positions at both 24 Hour Fitness and as an event manager at a local gymnastics facility during her undergraduate work at San Diego State University. After three years in her first gymnastics role, she was offered a position at San Diego Gymnastics as an executive director.
Christina Roush named managing principal
of Cushman & Wakefield’s San Diego operations
Cushman & Wakefield has appointed Christina Roush to the role of managing principal of the firm’s operations in San Diego.
Roush, who has over 30 years of commercial real estate experience as well as leadership, will oversee the strategic business growth of Cushman & Wakefield’s San Diego offices, including its new regional headquarters in Del Mar, Downtown, Carlsba, Otay Mesa and a dedicated property management services office.
Roush also will maintain her role as Cushman & Wakefield’s managing principal for Nevada. Under her helm since mid-2018, the firm experienced strong, exponential business and revenue growth in Nevada where it is now recognized as a top real estate firm in the state. Roush also leads, and partnered to build, Cushman & Wakefield’s Private Capital Group currently in 12 key markets in the western U.S. that transacted more than $2 billion in 2021.
According to the firm, Roush is one of the first women to hold the position of market leader at a full service commercial real estate firm in the history of San Diego and the only woman to hold such role in the market today.
Roush has extensive familiarity with the San Diego market, having formerly served as managing director and West Region Private Capital Group Lead at CBRE in San Diego from 2009 through 2012.
Brian Mooney of RICK Engineering honored
with associations Lifetime Achievement Award
Brian F. Mooney, senior vice president and practice leader for the Planning + Design Division at RICK Engineering Company, was recently honored with the 2022 Al Reynolds Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Environmental Professionals at its annual conference.
The award recognized Mooney’s leadership in the environmental and urban planning profession, his success in developing award-winning city and regional plans, and his mentoring of generations of young professionals.
Mooney is highly respected for integrating environmental and cultural values into plans and extensively using public involvement programs.
In 2015, he merged his firm, Mooney Planning Collaborative, with RICK and assumed the role of planning and design practice leader for RICK’s 10 offices in California, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada.
Mooney started his career at the County of San Diego in 1975 with the Office of Environmental Management and assisted in developing the first guidelines to implement the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and he served as the principal spokesperson for the Environmental Review Board at the County Planning Commission.
Downtown Demographics study to
inform future development
Downtown San Diego Partnership’s new Demographics and Industry Study will help inform the future development of Downtown San Diego. Among the findings about Downtown’s residential population, workforce, and attractions, the EDC-authored study confirmed that Downtown is uniquely primed for a post-pandemic resurgence of residential and business growh due to several key factors.
South Carolina communities work with
Deckard Technologies on STR taxes
Two communities in South Carolina, The Towns of Mount Pleasant and Port Royal, are working with Deckard Technologies, a San Diego-based government-focused tech company that provides software, analytics and insights for communities to create tax fairness, to assist them in identification of properties that owe occupancy taxes for short-term rentals (STRs). The data from Rentalscape, Deckard’s STR monitoring software, provides better detail of STRs for town managers and councils, helping them to establish policies that preserve the local communities’ culture and to mitigate concerns, while also giving them the opportunity to collect taxes.
Deckard uses its Rentalscape platform to identify the STRs by address, property owners, and violations of STR ordinances that may differ in each city or town, such as properties that do not have permits, those that do not include a permit number in advertisements, or that offer occupancy that differs from their permitted time periods.
Local startup Concert Health raises $42 million
San Diego’s Concert Health has raised $42 million to drive the expansion of its behavioral health services platform into more primary care, and women’s health clinics. Through its Collaborative Care model, the company integrates behavioral health clinicians into existing health teams — enabling physicians to address both behavioral and physical health and decreasing depression and anxiety in patients.
Biocom launches regional life sciences attraction campaign
Biocom California has launched a new brand campaign as part of a continued regional effort to attract San Diego life sciences companies and investment. The campaign, available at sciencecomestolifesandiego, tells the story of San Diego’s research and development ecosystem, high-quality job opportunities, and real estate boom.
Northrop Grumman pursues wireless R&D with AT&T
Northrop Grumman announced that its advanced mission systems business plans to leverage 5G wireless communications technology to support the U.S. Department of Defense. Its partner in the project is AT&T.l The partners said they plan to research and develop a digital battle network. Northrop Grumman will pursue the work in the San Diego are.
5G is a product of San Diego, since Qualcomm Inc. did pioneering work in the technology and holds a large portfolio of patents related to 5G. Qualcomm is not a partner of the recently announced partnership.
MiraCosta College holds groundbreaking for
Theresia M. Heyden nursing facility
MiraCosta College held groundbreaking ceremonies last week for the new Theresia M. Heyden Hall for Nursing and Allied Health at the Oceanside campus.
The new structure will provide training facilities, simulation spaces, including patient and operating rooms, and hands-on skills labs and classrooms outfitted with the latest health care technologies to support degree and certificate programs for several in-demand health care fields, including Nursing, Kinesiology, Nutrition, and Health Education, and careers in Medical Administrative Professional fields.
The 20,450-square-foot facility is named for Theresia M. Heyden, who was a long-time Oceanside resident and philanthropist.
