British Airways plans to replace its smaller San Diego-to-London aircraft with a 747 this spring.

***

    Tom Page, the retiring chairman of Enova Corp., received special recognition from the Downtown San Diego Partnership at its annual dinner, and threatened to do a soft-shoe on stage. But Fred Baranowski, late of BofA and now with City National Bank, went all the way, regaling a Terrace on the Prado crowd with some really bad rhythm.

    The applause was underwhelming when Page acknowledged Enova and Pacific Enterprises' decision to establish merged corporate headquarters in the SDG&E Building Downtown, but the impact of losing the Centre City's - and San Diego’s - largest corporate headquarters would have been breathtaking. Disaster averted, Partners partied, closing out Jim Dawe's year as Partnership chairman. Victor Kops was accorded the Frank Curran Humanitarian Award, while Dene Oliver was granted the Founders Award in absentia; Jim McMillan accepted. (Oliver was on his second wedding anniversary getaway.)

    Special recognitions also were granted to Bill Sauls, Donna Alm, Leslie Wade and Horace Dietrich for engineering overwhelming Prop. 218 votes of confidence in Downtown’s business improvement districts.

    Alonzo Awards went to Amici Park, Downtown Safety Network, David and Lesley Cohn, Comerica Bank Building, East Village Motors, Marti Kranzberg, Lincoln Hotel, Merchants Passage, Ralph's, ReinCarnation and the Yale Lofts. Jill Vivanco chaired the dinner committee.

***

    At the opening of the new University City office of City National Bank, that was CEO Russell Goldsmith, son of the legendary Bram Goldsmith, holding court. While he confirmed intentions to open a Downtown San Diego office, Goldsmith disclosed a lease had just been signed for a Carlsbad branch at 5650 El Camino Real. Among the partying techies, Art Benvenuto, Carole Eckstrom, Dr. Abi Barrow and Ted Roth.

***

    A lot of numbers are involved in putting on Super Bowl XXXII. Consider these for next month's spectacle: To ferry guests, 800-1,000 buses and 500 limousines will be brought to San Diego. Up to 1,000 VIP-laden private airplanes will fly in with 700 of them parking at Lindbergh Field, taking advantage of the deck created when General Dynamics' plant was demolished. ("I wish we'd had those spaces during the RNC. We used every nook and cranny at every airport in the county to handle the planes," says Steve Cushman, who is heading up the transportation plan for the Super Bowl, as he did for the Republicans.) At Lindbergh Field, volunteers will fan out, Cushman says, greeting Super Bowl visitors when they arrive - "Thank you for being here" and when they depart - "Thank you for spending your money." A record 580 firms with services to peddle to bowl visitors are listed in the Business Resource Guide already on the streets.

    On Super Bowl weekend, Jan. 23-24, 100,000-plus are expected for Super Fest XXXII in the Gaslamp Quarter, says Host Committee Chairman Jim Brown, with more than 12,000 expected on the waterfront for a fireworks display.

***

    Linda Brannon and Dan Mitrovich have closed escrow on the former Police Officers Association building at 619 Kettner Blvd. at Market Street, paying $950,000 to Robert Skomer and Tom DiNoto for about 6,500 square feet. Paul Thoryk is designing a remodel that will accommodate Brannon and Mitrovich's public affairs firm, Solutions Strategies Inc., downstairs and their residence upstairs. They plan to move from Dehesa in April. "I feel like I’m coming back home," says Mitrovich.

***

    Jenny Craig, co-founder and president of Jenny Craig Inc., is turning her attention to diabetes after seeing how many of her friends with the disease improved when they began weight management. Her new book, "Jenny Craig Diabetes Cookbook: Easy Homestyle Recipes for Healthy Living," was released during National Diabetes Month in November.

    Because meal planning is a major part of diabetes control, Craig's recipes list fat and sodium content and other nutrient values that allow for tailor-made personal diets. Divided into sections, the book contains more than 300 ways to prepare fish, shellfish, meats, poultry, vegetables, soups, beverages and desserts.

    In addition to recipes and nutrition information, the book contains excerpts from "Exchange Lists for Meal Planning" from the American Diatetic and the American Diabetes associations. Published by Oxmoor House, the book is available at Jenny Craig Centres, or by mail by calling (800) 423-1321.

***

    If unscheduled world events don’t intrude, Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, 13th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be the keynote speaker Dec. 11 at the San Diego Chamber's 127th annual meeting. Tickets are $55 per person, $1,000 for a table of 10. For more information, call Judith Andry, 544-1341.

***

    Ticketmaster has added three Ralphs grocery stores to its network. Purchases are cash only. The three locations are Downtown, Pacific Beach and Mission Gorge.

***

    The frustrations of Tim Gregg, the original Horton Plaza leasing manager who at age 33 was the youngest Southern Californian ever to be diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, continue painfully. While the disease ravages his body, Kaiser Permanente hospitals delayed his Nov. 18 brain surgery to early December, and then delayed it again to a still-ambiguous "after the first of next year."

    Says Gregg, "It’s like being on the rollercoaster from hell." Kaiser is moving staff and equipment from San Rafael, where the surgery was originally scheduled, to Sacramento, where a new pallidotomy center is being built.

    Kaiser spokesman Jim McBride assures, "We’re moving as quickly as possible," confirming that the new Sacramento pallidotomy center will be "state of the art."

    Meanwhile, last month's San Diego Metropolitan column on Gregg evoked sympathy from all corners, including friends who'd lost contact with Gregg 20 years ago. The Tim Gregg Fund, c/o Scripps Bank, 1075 Rosecrans St., San Diego, CA 92106, has received more than $1,000 in about 30 modest gifts, not including pledges from friends at Trizec/Hahn who are attempting to cover his debt. Friends also are talking of an annual golf tournament that would benefit Gregg and Parkinson's Disease research.

    "I can’t thank you enough," Gregg says to well-wishers. "I was at a low point in my life and now all these friends have stepped forward who'd lost track of me. I really learned something. Friends are wealth. You cannot express how important friends are in your life."

    Among his letters are marriage proposals, which he isn’t taking seriously, although they make him smile.

***

    Dave Bartram and Pete Davis' SBA lending machine at Bank of Commerce did it again in the federal fiscal year ended Sept. 30, leading all commercial banks in the U.S. with Small Business Administration loans of $174 million, up 23 percent from a year earlier.

    This time, however, the bank earned recognition from the SBA in Los Angeles, the largest market of Mexican descendants outside of Mexico City. The SBA says BofC led the L.A. district overall with $51.5 million in loans written in the first nine months of fiscal '97, including the leading volume to minorities, $17.8 million.

    Bartram, who leads the SBA effort as senior executive v.p., most recently identified the Colorado market, opening an SBA loan production office in Denver. That's the bank's 12th office and sixth state served.

***

    Four Square Productions, the media house that made a name for itself with the "Killer Tomatoes" movies and high school football films for college scouts, has outgrown its National City studios and is moving to a 26,000 square foot production facility on Kearny Villa Way. Four Square was founded in 1973 by John DeBello, president, and state Sen. Steve Peace, CFO. The move to Kearny Mesa should be complete in March.

***

    Making e-mail even cooler, La Jolla's Systran says its language translation software now has a plug in that enables Qualcomm's Eudora software to translate outgoing and incoming e-mail messages from/into English from French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese. "We haven't reached the sophistication of Star Trek's universal translator, but we’re getting close," says Christan Raby, Systran's sales and marketing v.p.

***

    Julia Holladay, who brought interactive dinner theater to San Diego, has again raised the bar for her competitors. Teaming up with the operators of the Old Town Trolley, Holladay is offering, starting Dec. 4, an interactive adventure that will keep trolley-riding participants guessing about what will happen next as they tour San Diego. There's a mystery to be solved, and as the journey progresses, with characters from the film "Some Like It Hot" hopping on board, trolley riders will find themselves part of the show. Trolley Follies tickets, $38-$40, include a tour, snack, beverage and souvenir. Call 544-9225 for more.

***

    One of Downtown’s oldest family-owned businesses, Parron Hall Office Interiors, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. President Jim Herr is a native San Diegan and fourth-generation office interiors professional. His great, great grandfather founded L.B. Herr & Sons in Lancaster, Penn., in the 1880s.

***

    Leading a tour of the Cable Building lofts in Hillcrest, Jeremy Cohn speaks more like a proud parent than a developer who converted an old, double-thick brick telephone switching center into 37 chic and unique lofts. What he and partner Ronny Werbeloff have accomplished is the creation of some of the most awesomely airy, trendy and market-timely housing in San Diego. Each of the lofts features 10-15 foot ceilings, brick walls and exposed mechanicals that contrast nicely with the quality floor finishings and classy fixtures. And artsy intentions aside, the developers also "got real" by putting in plenty of cupboard and closet space, not to mention making it easy to separate out the bedroom from the rest of each unit. More than half the lofts also have a spacious outdoor deck. With prices ranging from about $200,000 to $500,000, the Cable Building isn’t for everyone. But then again, there's only 37 to chose from and about half are taken. Located at 3940 Seventh Ave. on a cul de sac, and just a short organic fruit toss from Whole Foods on University Avenue, the $8 million project is worth a gander before all the units sell and the only way to check one out is by being invited to a cool party.

***

    The newest player in San Diego’s auto insurance game is Progressive Insurance, the nation's fifth largest in the industry. The company’s gimmick is a toll-free service called Express Quote. Callers to (800) AUTO-PRO are offered a custom quote for up to four carriers, one, of course, being Progressive. Progressive has headquartered its San Diego operation in the Mission Valley Financial Center.

***

    Children's Hospital and Health Center is the designated beneficiary of the Super Ball, a first-time event that’s part of the Super Bowl XXXII festivities next month. Set for Jan. 17 at the San Diego Convention Center, the event consists of the Super Ball Gala, which includes dinner, entertainment and appearances by former and current NFL players; and Party Under the Sails, a dance party with hors d'oeuvres, party favors and appearances by players. For ticket information call 576-5988.

***

    Construction is under way on the new San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park's historic Federal Building. When completed in 1999, the $10 million project will be a 60,000-square-foot state-of-the art regional sports museum.

***

    More than 2,000 people have toured Barratt American's long-awaited horse-country enclave in Olivenhain since its Nov. 9 grand opening. And eight units in the Knightsbridge project have sold for no small change. The 60 houses and sites range from three to six bedrooms, 4,489 to 5,513 square feet, from $879,000 to $914,000. Pekarek Crandall designed five motifs, Monterey, American Traditional, American Country, Spanish Colonial and Normandy.

    Michael D. Pattinson is president of Carlsbad-based Barratt American. Rick Fletcher is sales and marketing director. Sir Lawrie Barratt retired last month as chairman of the British parent, Barratt Group, founded in 1958.

***

    The luxury housing market is so hot that Barratt has established advance-interest lists for Windsor Country Estates II, a 9.5-acre development in Olivenhain (priced tentatively from $585,000 to $645,000) and Leucadia Highlands, 22 ocean view villas in Leucadia (priced starting in the mid-$700,000s).

***

    Braille Institute has broken ground on a $6-million, 28,000-square-foot region center at 9291 Executive Way, next to Embassy Suites, in the Golden Triangle. Roel Construction is the contractor; Architects/Larson/Carpenter the designer.

***

    Cindy and Bing Byington, owners of Cinderella Carriage Co., had a good idea that they just happened to launch during mid-November's rainy days. They started Taste in the Gaslamp, selling the soups of the day from four other Gaslamp restaurants: Dakota, Johnny M's 801, Croce's and Parrot Grill. The soups may be ordered to go, or they can be eaten at the Carriage Stop Cafe if one of the 10 seats is available.

***

    As part of a test program, ATMs are being installed in San Diego-area McDonald's. Elsewhere on the ATM front, a pilot program featuring full-motion video advertising is being launched this month at 65 San Diego 7- Eleven stores. The test program runs through March. Initial ATM advertising features two movie promotions from Fox Searchlight Pictures, "The Ice Storm" and "The Full Monty."

***

    New to Downtown is Emporia, 921 E St., an art gallery and home furnishings retail store. Featured items, in addition to original artwork, are gifts, cards and wrapping paper. Every month or two, local artists are featured with their works available for purchase.

***

    For the second consecutive year, Shea Homes San Diego has won the prestigious Eureka Award presented by the California Council for Quality and Service. Last year Shea won a bronze Eureka in the Small Service category. This year it captured a silver in the Best-in-Class category.

***

    The four developers selected to build 455 single-family homes as part of the first phase of La Costa Valley are Greystone Homes, Kaufman & Broad, Shea Homes and Standard Pacific. Fred Arbuckle, president of Morrow Development, is the 485-acre project's master developer.

***

    Biostruct and Ninteman Construction Co. are teaming to offer design and construction services to San Diego’s biomedical industry. The joint venture's first project is a $2.5 million, 33,600-square-foot tilt-wall office and manufacturing facility in Eastgate Technology Park for California Instruments.

***

    Unless it’s an emergency, work on city streets Downtown or around major shopping centers is on hiatus until after the holidays. It’s part of a city-imposed Thanksgiving to New Year’s moratorium designed to give shoppers a break.

***

    Two Pardee projects, Las Casitas in the community of Westview and The Promontory in Del Mar Highlands, are finalists in the national Best In American Living design awards. Winners will be announced next month at the annual National Association of Home Builders convention in Dallas.

***

    The newly elected members of San Diego County Bar Association - Raymond Aragon, Rita Hanscom, Jeffrey Isaacs, Aaron Katz and Suzanne Ramirez - will be installed Dec. 5 during the bar's "Stepping Up to the Bar" membership event.

***

    In a bid to strengthen its already mighty Eudora Internet software, Qualcomm Inc. has bought Now Software, a pioneer in cross-platform, personal productivity software. With the acquisition, Qualcomm gains Now's range of advanced scheduling and calendaring software products. "The acquisition of Now gives Qualcomm access to exciting new technologies and talented individuals," says Jeff Jacobs, v.p. and g.m.of Eudora. "It also will provide Eudora's 18 million users with enhanced communications capabilities and expand the way they communicate and work together on the Internet and ultimately the wireless environment." Qualcomm says it will keep Now's Portland, Ore., offices open.

***

    Burnham Pacific Properties has signed a letter of intent with Golden State Properties relating to a proposed merger of the 2.7 million square-foot California retail portfolio of Golden State into Burnham Pacific. Simultaneously, Blackacre Capital Group, LP and Westbrook Partners, L.L.C. would invest $120 million in newly issued convertible preferred securities of Burnham Pacific. It is anticipated that the transactions will close by year end subject to a number of conditions including due diligence and definitive documents. The combined entity would own 61 properties totaling some 8.5 million square feet having a book value exceeding $1 billion, which would make it the largest publicly traded West Coast retail REIT.

    The Golden State portfolio is being valued at an initial price of up to $314 million and a total price of up to $344 million. The partners of Golden State are reinvesting equity in Burnham Pacific in the form of $50 million of convertible preferred securities priced at a conversion premium of 7 percent over the negotiated merger price of $14 3/8 per share, equaling $15 3/8 per share. The convertible preferred securities will carry a dividend yield of 8 percent.

    In addition, Westbrook Partners also will acquire $70 million of convertible preferred stock in Burnham Pacific under similar terms and conditions as the Partners of Golden State. The Westbrook funding will occur at the closing of the transaction.

    The company’s total equity base would increase some 35 percent with the addition of the $120 million in convertible preferred securities. Nomura Real Estate Finance has committed to fund $150 million in first mortgage debt collateralized by the Golden State assets at a fixed rate of 85 basis points over treasuries. The rate will be locked prior to closing.

    The balance of the initial closing, some $55 million before costs, will be funded from Burnham Pacific's line of credit which also is provided by Nomura. Burnham Pacific expects this transaction to be accretive to its funds from operations per share on a primary and fully diluted basis assuming a consistent leverage ratio prior to and after the transaction. Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. is acting as financial advisor on the transactions.

***

    Kelly Scientific Resources, a business unit of Kelly Services Inc., has opened a San Diego office. KSR's aim is to provide scientific professionals for full-time and project assignments to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries, as well as to diagnostic and clinical laboratories. Many available positions are currently posted on the KSR Web site - kellyscientific.com.

***

    Dale Hitt, CEO of locally based Café Cybernet, is traveling to Hanoi, Vietnam where he will speak Dec. 5 about interactive multimedia technologies. Hitt was invited by the Vietnamese Steering Committee for the National Program on Information Technology. Use of the Internet in Vietnam was legalized last month.

***

    Former San Diegan Keith Boesky is busy these days in San Francisco as president of Eidos Inc. In the computer gaming world, Eidos is white hot with its electronic heroine Lara Croft, whose first adventure, Tomb Raider, starring the sexy and shapely Croft, has sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide. Game No. 2, Tomb Raider 2, is expected to do equally well. As the game progresses, Lara, who exists only on computer, changes outfits. At the end she's wearing a nightie. A film version is in the works.

    Nominations are now being accepted for the YWCA's Tribute to Women and Industry awards, San Diego’s longest-running businesswomen's recognition event. For 19 years, the TWIN awards have offered San Diego employers of all sizes the opportunity to recognize the extraordinary achievements of their female employees. But TWIN is about more than just awards. Along with the nominees, the companies are honored, too, at both a luncheon and, earlier, at an evening reception for the women and their company’s CEOs. Most importantly, proceeds benefit the YWCA's many programs to assist women, those in good standing and those in need, including the Battered Women's Shelter.

    Last year’s luncheon at the San Diego Convention Center brought together more than 800 people who paid tribute to 92 women from 90 companies. Preceding the fast-paced awards presentation was an upbeat presentation by nationally-known author Marci Shimoff ("Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul"). Shimoff had the audience's rapt attention when she brought Padres' center fielder Steve Finley on stage to participate in a power of suggestion routine.

    This year’s TWIN celebration is scheduled for May 15, again at the San Diego Convention Center. Three days earlier, on May 12, Hughes Network Systems is hosting a reception for honorees and their CEOs.

    Honorary chairman of the 19th annual TWIN is Robert Rau, president and CEO of Rohr Inc. Serving as chairperson is Nancy Williams, development program manager at the San Diego Housing Commission, while vice chairperson is Terry Hall, asset manager for Burnham Pacific Properties Inc.

    The TWIN nomination deadline is Jan. 23. For more information, call the YWCA, 239-0355, Ext. 25.

    Companies might want to plan their New Year’s resolutions around the changes in California's wage and hour laws by creating new employee handbooks and policies to reflect the latest revisions. Oh, boy.

    The most dramatic change adopted by the California Industrial Welfare Commission concerns the daily overtime rule, by which the employer is not required to pay overtime unless the nonexempt employee works more than 40 hours a week rather than the existing law that requires time and a half compensation for every hour worked over eight in one day.

    Because an employee handbook is contractual, Elaine Rogers of Sullivan Wertz McDade & Wallace suggests undertaking the burden of revisions early on. Postponing this step could require the company to pay overtime according to its existing handbook rather than taking advantage of the new revisions. However, an employer is still free to follow the old law.

    The overtime revision enables, and even encourages, employers to adopt flexible work schedules that better accommodate their employees without obligating overtime pay. As the law stands, paying an employee on a four, 10-hour day schedule requires either complying with rigid legal requirements or paying eight hours a week at time and a half.

    The new law does not create a right for the employee to insist on shorter work weeks and longer work days. And because this new rule does not automatically terminate existing flexible work arrangements, Rogers warns against immediate changes in scheduling.

    Also effective Jan. 1, pending judicial review, nonexempt employees will be able to waive their right to a second meal period by a written agreement signed by both the employee and employer. Currently, nonexempt employees working more than five hours per day must have a minimum 30-minute meal period. The employees who are entitled to two meal periods because of the length of their shift may now voluntarily skip one, revokable anytime by the employee with one day's notice.

    And when you start thinking about springing your clocks ahead, remember minimum hourly wage also springs forward another 50 cents to $5.75 effective March 1. - Alexis Pasqua

    After a fairly stagnant period, the pay of health care personnel in San Diego appears to be on the rise. The results are revealed in a first-time salary survey compiled by Medical Resources Staffing, which plans to make the poll an annual event.

    At the high end of the administrative/office scale are medical office managers, receiving an average minimum salary of $35,091 and an average maximum salary of $45,800. Medical records clerks make the least of those surveyed, with the average minimum salary at $13,600 and its maximum counterpart at $20,490.

    In the clinical arena, registered nurses led the way earning an average minimum salary of $32,796 and an average maximum of $45,627. Medical assistants earned the least, with the average minimum of $15,681 and an average maximum of $25,400.

    Responding to the San Diego Staffing Survey were 65 health care-related organizations, representing 5,890 employees in both administrative and clinical positions. Since this is an inaugural effort, no data exists for comparing the results, although those surveyed report that their salaries are rising. Doctors and senior administrators, some of whom earn in excess of $100,000, were not surveyed.

    Jeanne Miller, branch manager for Mission Valley-based Medical Resources, credits San Diego’s decrease in unemployment to the reports of salary increases. Whether those paychecks will continue to rise, and how much, will be shown in future surveys.

    Medical Resources specializes in finding employment for health care professionals with its focus on administrative and office jobs as well as clinical staffing with the exception of physicians.

    Miller says San Diego is on "the frontlines" when it comes to health care. Because the county often is used as a test market, and with the medical industry continuing to experience rapid change, Miller says health care employers are forced to react quickly to industry changes. "We often figure out what not to do," she says.

    Medical Resources' service is a relatively new concept for the medical industry. Although it emphasizes placing employees in permanent positions, the temporary employment side of its business is growing in response to employers' needs to react quickly to industry changes.
-Alexis Pasqua

    High tech, biotech, and other science-related companies are invited to participate in the first countywide Educational Technology Fair, to be held Jan. 14 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The event is being sponsored by the San Diego Science Alliance, the five area congressmen (Brian Bilbray, Randy Cunningham, Bob Filner, Duncan Hunter and Ron Packard), the city school district, county office of education, and the San Diego Science Educators Association.

    The fair's purpose is to stimulate students' curiosity and knowledge about the sciences by introducing them to hands-on displays and presentations. Teachers and students will have the opportunity to talk with local scientists and business representatives to learn about research and development efforts under way in San Diego. More than 2,000 students are expected to attend.

    The fair will feature about 60 local companies and other organizations, including Cubic Corp., General Atomics, Sea World, Qualcomm Inc., UCSD, and Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp. Exhibit space is still available. For more information, contact Barbara Abelin, the fair's chairwoman, at Cubic, 505-2248.
        - Gwen Rosenberg