Daily Business Report: Monday, Sept. 12, 2022
Sports Arena development
proposal advances to the City Council
The San Diego City Council’s Land Use and Housing Committee unanimously voted in favor of Mayor Todd Gloria’s recommendation to select the Midway Rising team to develop the Sports Arena site in the Midway District. Carlsbad-based Chelsea Investment Corporation is a member of that team.
As proposed, the Midway Rising project will create:
• A total of 4,250 new homes (2,000 affordable, 250 middle-income, and 2,000 market rate.
• A new 450,000-square-foot arena with capacity for 14,500-16,500 people.
• A 200-room hotel and 250,000 square feet of retail
• More than 11 acres of park and open space along with a 9.4-acre public plaza.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development notified the city in 2021 that a proposal by the previous city administration was in violation of the Surplus Land Act. Gloria restarted the redevelopment process to comply with state law and, ultimately, three contending development teams were put in the running for the project.
This puts us one step closer to revitalizing the Midway community, building thousands of more affordable and middle-income homes to address our housing shortage and constructing a new world-class arena for our city,” said Gloria after the housing committee vote. “I look forward to the City Council’s consideration and ultimately transforming the Sports Arena property into something all San Diegans can be proud of.”
The City Council is scheduled to consider the recommendation during its Tuesday meeting.
For more information on the Midway Rising project, visit midwayrising.info.
Top Photo: Jim Schmid, founder and CEO of Chelsea Investment Corporation, center, with COO Charles Schmid, his son, and Cheri Hoffman, president of the company. (Photo by Jim Childers) Below: Project rendering.
Proposed Midway developer donated
more than $100,000 to elect Todd Gloria mayor
Jeff McDonald | Union-Tribune
Before being selected to build a new sports arena and thousands of housing units in the Midway District, a developer and his wife made the two single largest personal donations to a political committee dedicated to electing Todd Gloria mayor of San Diego, records show. Brad Termini and his wife, Stefanie, each contributed $50,000 to San Diegans from Every Community in Support of Todd Gloria for Mayor 2020, an independent expenditure committee sponsored by the Laborers International Union of North America, Local 89. They also together gave at least $4,500 directly to Gloria’s mayoral campaign.
The political contributions were made in 2019 and 2020, months before Termini’s company, Zephyr Partners LLC, began preparing its bid for the massive redevelopment of the 48-acre site surrounding the aging sports arena, now known as Pechanga Arena.
State may permanently shrink internet and cell
phone discounts for low-income Californians
By Lil Kalish | CalMatters
During the pandemic, California took major steps to boost cell phone and internet access to vulnerable communities throughout the state, especially to low-income households.
In July 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a $6 billion statewide plan to expand high-speed internet infrastructure in rural and other under-resourced regions.
And from May 2021 until March of this year, the state allowed low-income families to leverage up to $75 a month in discounts from state and federal subsidy programs, to buy internet and cell phone services. Qualifying households could “stack” the subsidies from three programs, two federal and one state, to reap those savings.
This month state regulators are considering curtailing some of their savings.
The California Public Utilities Commission is expected to vote on a new rule that would limit how much communication companies could make from the state’s Lifeline program, which provides discounts to low-income households for home phone and cell phone services.
Under the new rule, low-income California households who qualify for federal help to pay for phone service and internet access would lose some or all of their California Lifeline monthly discounts. The result: Instead of being able to stack three discounts, most California Lifeline users would be limited to two, for a total of up to $39.25 in discounts a month.
Amazon selects SDSU Global Campus
as education partner for Career Choice program
San Diego State University Global Campus has been selected as an education partner for Amazon’s Career Choice, providing its hourly employees access to a range of SDSU degree-completion programs offered online from anywhere in the world.
As a full-time or part-time Amazon Associate, employees are eligible for aid after 90 days of employment. Through Career Choice, Amazon will pay up to $5,250 per year towards an employee’s college tuition, fees, textbooks, and other related expenses. Amazon employees can visit the Amazon Career Choice portal for information.
Amazon’s Career Choice program provides education and upskilling opportunities which include full college tuition, industry certifications designed to lead to in-demand jobs, and foundational skills such as English language, high school diplomas, and GEDs.
More than 50,000 Amazon employees worldwide have already joined the company’s Career Choice program since it was launched in 2012, officials said.
How a single protein could unlock age-related vision loss
Research led by Sanford Burnham Prebys professor Francesca Marassi is helping to reveal the molecular secrets of macular degeneration, which causes almost 90 percent of all age-related vision loss. The study, published recently in the Biophysical Journal, describes the flexible structure of a key blood protein involved in macular degeneration and other age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and atherosclerosis.
“Proteins in the blood are under constant and changing pressure because of the different ways blood flows throughout the body,” says Marassi. “For example, blood flows more slowly through small blood vessels in the eyes compared to larger arteries around the heart. Blood proteins need to be able to respond to these changes, and this study gives us fundamental truths about how they adapt to their environment, which is critical to targeting those proteins for future treatments.”
There are hundreds of proteins in our blood, but the researchers focused on vitronectin, one of the most abundant. In addition to circulating in high concentrations in the blood, vitronectin is found in the scaffolding between cells and is also an important component of cholesterol.
Rose Vitale pledges $1 million gift to Rainforest Partnership
San Diego resident Rose Vitale, managing partner of DRA Family Office, host of the Female Investor Podcast and a founder of FundHER World Capital, announced a $1 million philanthropic donation to the nonprofit Rainforest Partnership as part of her mission to redirect the flow of capital to female-founded and female-led ventures.
With more than 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur and investor, Vitale has long been passionate about transforming the landscape of funding for women, and in May, DRA Family Office announced a $10 million fund dedicated to supporting female founders across for-profit sectors.
Recognizing that female founders in the nonprofit space have comparable need for expanded access to capital for impact, Vitale selected the high-impact, international non-governmental organization Rainforest Partnership, founded by CEO Niyanta Spelman,
as her first major gift of transformation philanthropy. The official announcement of this $1 million gift will take place Sept 13 in San Diego.
UC San Diego ranked No. 3 best public college by Forbes
The University of California San Diego has maintained its spot as third among the nation’s top public colleges, according to Forbes 2022 American’s Top Colleges list. Overall, UC San Diego ranked No. 17 out of 500 four-year private and public colleges in the country. The university was one of only five public colleges that secured a position among the top 25 spots on the list.
According to the outlet, Forbes’ annual ranking spotlights schools that offer an excellent education at a great price, graduate high-earners and propel students to become successful entrepreneurs and influential leaders in their fields. The Top Colleges methodology measures alumni salary, debt, graduation rate, retention rate, academic success, as well as return on students’ and parents’ investment. The outlet also assesses how well a school prepares and graduates its low-income students, and gauges for the leadership and entrepreneurship of graduates.
New Covid-19 boosters that target
multiple strains now available
The new COVID-19 bivalent boosters have arrived in San Diego County and limited supplies are now available at vaccination locations across the region, including pharmacies and medical providers. The new bivalent boosters were developed to generate an immune response from the original COVID-19 virus, as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants.
The Pfizer/BioNTech bivalent booster is available for individuals age 12 and older, while the Moderna bivalent booster is for those age 18 and older. The bivalent boosters have not yet been authorized for children under the age of 12. Youths in that age group can get boosted with the previous version of the monovalent Pfizer vaccine.
San Diegans need to be fully vaccinated before receiving the new booster, meaning they must have received the two-dose primary series of Pfizer, Moderna, or Novavax, or at least one shot of the Janssen vaccine.
More information about County vaccine locations is available at coronavirus-sd.com or by calling 2-1-1.
Planck Aerosystems acquired by AeroVironment
MetroConnect alum Planck Aerosystems has been acquired by Arlington-based AeroVironment, rapidly expanding the development of the company’s advanced autonomy capabilities. The acquisition will enable AeroVironment to take advantage of Planck’s deep technical expertise in UAS guidance and navigation, autonomy, and artificial intelligence.
Gilead Sciences says its treatment prolongs
life for advanced breast cancer patients
Gilead Sciences’ Trodelvy treatment extended by three months the survival of patients with advanced stages of a common breast cancer, according to new data. The company, based in Foster City, but with offices in Oceanside, called the results both statistically and clinically significant. The Gilead drug reduced the risk of death by 21 percent in the Phase III trial, officials said. They released the information ahead of a presentation at an international cancer meeting on Friday.
The study being presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology’s annual meeting in Paris compares Trodelvy to chemotherapy in 543 patients with hormone-sensitive tumors that test negative for a receptor called HER2 and who had stopped responding to at least two earlier courses of therapy.
California Lawyers Association
brings together California Bar leaders
The California Lawyers Association (CLA) is partnering with the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) to host and bring together local bar leaders for the 22nd annual California Bar Leaders Conference Sept. 14 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. The conference, which will also be offered virtually, features an afternoon of programs designed to strengthen attendees’ leadership skills.
Suzanne Hoffman, a licensed psychologist and organizational consultant, will kick off the event with her keynote speech on “Constructive Conflict: Bringing Civility Back to the Board.” After a break, CLA CEO and Executive Director Oyango A. Snell will lead the group in a discussion of the issues raised to reflect and discuss how civility issues play out from a practical perspective amongst bar leaders and staff.
The conference concludes with a program titled “Nonprofit Management: Board Accountability + Measuring Progress,” featuring a panel of bar leaders.
ecobee launches pilot program with SDG&E
to help prevent power emergencies
ecobee, a subsidiary of General Power Systems, announced the launch of a pilot program with San Diego Gas & Electric designed to help prevent power outages caused by extreme weather, sustained high heat, and natural disasters. In the event of an emergency, eligible ecobee customers in SDG&E’s service territory will receive a notification when slight, temporary temperature adjustments are needed on their ecobee smart thermostats to reduce demand and help avoid an outage. Customers can help their community by remaining opted into the program or they can skip the event if they’re unable to take part.
Customers who qualify for inclusion in the pilot program will receive an email from ecobee announcing the details of the program. When an energy emergency occurs, they will receive a notification informing them of the energy supply shortage.
