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Jeremy Cohn says he’ll present to the Centre City Development Corp. next month drawings and details about Bridgeworks, the long-awaited development at the foot of the Gaslamp Quarter. Cohn is proposing a 250-room hotel with a retail and loft component on Fifth Avenue. *** At press time, CCDC and The McBroom Co. out of Denver were working on an owner-participation agreement under which McBroom would team with developer Sage Hospitality to convert the former San Diego Trust & Savings headquarters on Broadway into a $24 million, extended-stay business hotel. Sage has several similar conversion projects in Denver. The SD Trust effort would require a new building entrance cut into Sixth Avenue to avoid traffic congestion on Broadway. For parking, the hotel would use some of the 400 spaces being planned for the upper levels of the Walker Scott building at Fifth Avenue and Broadway. To qualify for historic tax credits, construction needs to begin before Dec. 31. *** Spieker Properties has purchased 28 acres in Eastgate Technology Park for $5.8 million. Spieker will build about 400,000 square feet of speculative office and research and development buildings. Rick Sparks and Nick Psyllos of CB Commercial represented seller University Technology Center while Brent Wright and Rob Hixson represented Spieker. *** Mark Grosvenor is now talking to CCDC about converting the creaking landmark El Cortez into a low-priced extended-stay hotel for business people. The agency would provide a $6 million, zero interest, 15 year loan. Grosvenor deserves some kind of award for dogged determination in trying to make the project happen. Delays already have cost him a $100,000 deposit that was used by CCDC to help cover some of the $155,838 it has spent providing him legal and financial help since 1992. Grosvenor also continues to upgrade his adjacent properties, spending more than $300,000 rehabilitating a yellow Victorian house at the southeast corner of Eighth Avenue and Beech Street and $800,000 overhauling the Grosvenor Inn Downtown. (Grosvenor owns 11 hotels in San Diego.) *** Winfield Medical, a manufacturer of pain-management intravenous safety products, has moved to a new 40,000-square-foot building in Mira Mesa and expects to add 50 people to its 100-person payroll by year’s end. CEO Jerry Englert, who also has operations in Brentwood, Tenn., Clarksburg, W.VA, and Denvers, Mass., says the San Diego Economic Development Corp. helped with the decision to expand here by finding sources of qualified employees. *** With CityFront Terrace a Downtown luxury rental success story, the Platt Partnership and The Judd Co. are talking about building a 75-unit apartment on the 20,0000-square-foot parking lot on Market Street between Second and Third avenues. In the meantime, Jonathan Segal is moving forward with his $2.2 million, 16-unit townhouse development on Kettner Boulevard between Beech and Cedar streets. Completion is slated for year’s end. *** To keep transients from bathing in the Children's Park, the Austin Design Group is preparing to install posts, chains and signs. A contract for the work should be awarded this month. *** Orange County political columnist Hugh Hewitt pegs Mayor Golding as a 10-1 shot to make the Republican U.S. Senate primary and face off against the Democrat incumbent, Barbara Boxer. Hewitt says the favorites, at 5-2, are Reps. Chris Cox (Orange County) and David Dreier (Los Angeles County). Hewitt also says that if the two congressmen both stay in the race, they could cancel each other out and open the door for a Golding victory. *** Year-end numbers at General Mortgage were up in nearly every category, says President Dick Palmer. The Mission Valley company originated nearly 1,400 loans in 1996, a 60-percent increase from the previous year. The average loan amount was $165,174, down from $180,921, says Palmer, suggesting that high-end buyers remained out of the market. *** Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and President Clinton's chief military advisor, will speak March 15 at Coronado's 12th annual Salute to the Military Ball. *** The Mission Valley YMCA opens this month its 5,000-square-foot Community Wellness Center in Hazard Center, directly across from the future Hazard Center Trolley Station. *** Fans of "General Hospital" are expected to pack Dick's Last Resort on March 15 when a band featuring soap opera stars Christian Taylor and Wally Kurth plays in benefit for the UCSD Foundation. *** Jobs for CFOs and other financial professionals will grow 5-10 percent this year, predicts Judy Thompson, who, as president of Mission Valley-based Judy Thompson & Associates, earns a living finding people such positions. *** San Diego Office Interiors has captured several top awards from Haworth Inc., the word's second largest furniture manufacturer. *** Coral Tree Internet Solutions Inc. in Sorrento Mesa has been selected by AT&T's Easy Commerce Services Division as its first full-service creative alliance program partner in San Diego. Formerly known as Videotex of America Inc., Coral Tree develops and maintains Web sites on AT&T's Easy World Wide Web servers. *** Europe, not Asia, will continue this year to provide the lion's share of foreign investment in California, says Dick Torre, principal of Global Capital Markets Inc. "Everyone talks about the influx of Asian investment money into California and the U.S., especially with the People's Republic of China takeover of Hong Kong this summer, says Torre, just back from a trip to the Far East. "(But) more business investment capital will continue to come from Europe than Asia, although Asia will be the main source of pure real estate investment." *** Santel Federal Credit Union is celebrating its 50th anniversary. *** San Diego’s largest locally owned office coffee service, Coffee Ambassador in Sorrento Valley, has purchased Aero Pacific Sales for an undisclosed amount. *** The Golden Lion, the two-story Downtown building beautifully restored by the late Chris Mortensen, was sold for $1.57 million by the Mortensen Family Trust to Dr. Jack Wasserman. Bill shrader and Michael Dyer of John Burnham & Co. represented both parties. *** Most Harbor Club residents select their homes for a particular view of the ocean, mountains or San Diego Bay. But the Wilkinsons, recently relocated from the Sacramento area, had a parental viewpoint in mind when they purchased a 17th-floor unit in the east tower, which in addition to its mountain/Coronado Bridge view, looks into the Clarion Hotel a few blocks away. Their son, Mark, is the food and beverage manager at the Clarion, and he talked his parents into moving south to be closer to him. Now they can check on Mark and he can literally "wave" back. *** Robert F. Driver Co. has just been named "Agency of the Month" by the national insurance trade journal Rough Notes. The cover of the publication's March issue features the recognizable Driver building on Fifth Avenue and Vice Chairman Rick Gulley, CEO Tom Corbett and new COO Tom Hall. *** National home renovations expert Bob Vila is again advertising spokesman for Presley Homes, one of San Diego’s largest home builders. Some Presley home buyers can soon opt for a Vila-style Craftsman garage workshop. *** The marketing communications firm of Stock/Alper & Associates has moved from the corner of Third Avenue and Ivy Street to larger digs at 408 Nutmeg St. *** When the city opened its emergency shelter Downtown two months ago, the turnout was staggering. Paul Downey, CEO of Senior Community Centers, says he's never seen a more dire situation. (As former Mayor O'Connor's flak he visited more than 60 shelters.) Since the shelter opened, SCC has taken on the "care and feeding" of 50 homeless seniors in addition to the 1,000-plus it already feeds each day. *** Thom Hunt, local running celebrity and past winner of the San Diego Marathon, has started a track club, Tozi Athletics, which is drawing quickly from Downtown’s business community. (Tozi is the ancient Aztec goddess of health and healing.) Tozi members include Annie Featherman of the state Attorney General's office, Sara Muller of Stoorza, Rich Walsh of the Ayres Group, Roger Wolff of M.L. Stern, Pony Walker of Virginia Nelson law offices and newly-engaged Janice Hayward of Nelson Communications. *** To attract locals, Planet hollywood is offering 10 percent drink and food discounts, Sunday through Thursday, to San Diegans who show proof of residency. The deal ends March 31. *** Of 236 accredited public administration programs, Public Administration Review has ranked SDSU's 18th, ahead of schools such as Harvard and Penn State. *** United First Methodist Church in Mission Valley has filed an application for a conditional use permit to construct a memorial garden adjacent to its property at 2111 Camino del Rio South. In addition to meditation areas, the garden will include a columbarium with recesses for cinerary urns. Approval is expected in about six months. *** Chicago-based Manga Entertainment Inc. is basing its new Animated Shorts division in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter. *** City Attorney Casey Gwinn has been named one of the country's top 45 legal leaders by American Lawyer magazine. *** After a brief stint with MacCracken & McGaugh, p.r. woman Leslie Wade is again flying solo. *** We love our cars. For every five people the San Diego region added between 1986 and 1995, four more motor vehicles hit local roadways, says the San Diego Association of Governments. In that same time frame, the number of minivans and sport utility vehicle trips on local roads each year has nearly tripled to 1.5 million and now represents about one in every five driving trips made. *** Author Harriet Schechter "More Time For Sex: The Organizing Guide for Busy Couples" is on a speaking tour in Australia this month. *** The University City Foundation for Public Schools has awarded grants to area public schools: Curie, Doyle and Spreckels Elementary Schools, Standley Middle School, where the fourth annual awards ceremony took place, and University City High School. The funds were raised primarily through the Taste of the Triangle. Major sponsors include Ann Wille & Associates Real Estate Brokerage, Boney's Marketplace, Golden Triangle Chamber, Grossmont Bank, Hyatt Regency La Jolla, La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary, The Lodge at Torrey Pines, The Market-place in University City, SDG&E, University Square Shopping Center and Metropolitan Magazine. *** Filling the void left by the closure of UCSD's dental clinic a year ago, San Diego Comprehensive Oral Health Center has opened in Hillcrest. Chairman Philip Baldwin reports the new dental clinic targets medically compromised patients, including those with AIDS, HIV, cancer and hemophilia, who can’t afford access to mainstream professional dental care. *** VQS Enterprises of San Diego has again won the Printing Association of America's prestigious First Place award for four-color process printing in the open-web division. Presented to VQS owner Don McCurdy at the association's national conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, the award was for a local newspaper entitled Gusto! Culinary News that was produced at VQS's new facility in Carmel Mountain. *** Vince Siciliano joined First National Bank as chief operating officer, not CEO, as reported in our February Metropolitan Movers section. Metropolitan Magazine regrets the error. *** Taking its cue from the impending 1998 Super Bowl, the Centre City Development Corp. this month publishes "Touch-down Downtown 1997," a breezy "playbook" of 40 projects that will either be finished or reach a milestone between now and the Jan. 25 kickoff of the big game at Qualcomm Stadium. The theme is the brainchild of the CCDC's Donna Alm, who, noting the expected completion of the trolley to the stadium, foresees Downtown serving as the site of the world's largest tailgate party. "Think of the Gaslamp Quarter as the 50-yard line, with goal lines at Balboa Park and the waterfront," she says. *** Working from her live-work loft in the Pioneer Warehouse Downtown, Diana Cavagnaro is a nationally known milliner. As owner of Designer Millinery, she designs and makes hats; has been for 16 years, since learning the craft at the Old Globe Theatre. Along with earning a living, Cavagnaro does nice things, like make hats for children with cancer who have lost their hair from chemotherapy treatments. She’ll do nice again when the Gaslamp Quarter Association holds its annual Easter Bonnet Parade and Hat Contest Saturday, March 29, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and L Street. Before the 11 a.m. hat judging, Cavagnaro has agreed to spend from 9 to 10:30 a.m. helping the first 50 children who attend make their own hats. For those interested in hat making, Cavagnaro teaches classes at Mesa College. For more in-formation, call
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