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December 31, 2001
Valley Rim Office Building, a 51,675 square foot four-story building over two-stories of covered parking on 1.61 acres which is located at 3517 Camino Del Rio South in Mission Valley, has sold for $5.5 million.
The seller was Transcontinental Realty Investors of Dallas. The buyer was M.V. Phoenix Associates LLC of Phoenix, with Tod Thorpe as a managing member. U.S. Bancorp provided a loan of $4.5 million.
The property is 92.6 percent leased, with 40 percent of the building occupied by the state of California. Other major tenants include C. Palmieri Enterprises and Walden Family Services.
The Arizona-based buyer and Texas-based seller have both been active in San Diego recently: Entities of this buyer acquired the 71,545 square foot Financial Plaza at 11770 Bernardo Plaza Court in Rancho Bernardo from Mass Mutual for $10.8 million in December 2000, then it acquired the 57,493 square foot Chesapeake Plaza at 9555 Chesapeake Drive in Kearny Mesa from this same seller, Transcontinental, for $6.58 million in July.
Entities of the seller sold the Chesapeake building described above, and in June 2001 it sold the 61,528-square-foot Daley Office Plaza at 4355 Ruffin Road to Touchstone Investments for $6.21 million.
Andrew Meyers of BRE Commercial/NAI represented the seller. Meyers and Richard Gonor, also of BRE, represented the buyer. Gonor has been hired by the buyer to handle leasing.
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Mark Ashcroft is the new president of American commercial operations for San Diego-based SOLA International Inc., a global designer, manufacturer and distributor of spectacle lenses. He replaces Brett Olson, who resigned Friday.
Ashcroft, who will be responsible for SOLA's businesses in North and South America, will report to Jeremy C. Bishop, president and CEO of SOLA International Inc.
Ashcroft, 39, most recently served as v.p. of European commercial operations, a position he has held since October 1999. He joined the company in August 1998 as the managing director of UK operations.
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The price of a gallon of regular gas in San Diego on Friday was $1.206, down 2.9 cents from a week earlier and well below the record $2.025 hit May 29.
For the 15th consecutive week, the average price of a gallon of gasoline declined throughout Southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona according to the Weekend Gas Watch, compiled by the Automobile Club of Southern California.
“The rate of decline for gasoline prices is slowing throughout the reporting region. This could indicate that prices might level off near where they are currently," says Jeff Spring, Auto Club spokesperson. "Prices are increasing on the wholesale market and fuel sold there is coming from overstocked inventories, not from new production. Within a couple of weeks, as the supply gets more in line with demand, it’s likely that we’ll see prices begin climbing upward."
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The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, San Diego area chapter, has presented five $500 educational scholarships that were underwritten by RLLW Inc., operators of 66 Pizza Hut stores in the county. The scholarship recipients who have a family member with MS include: Kevin Brogan, Timothy Carr Jr., Marissa Craig, Julie McCarthy and Marin McCarthy.
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San Diego is one of five California markets targeted by READ California's new advertising campaign, unveiled by the office of the secretary for education, designed to encourage children to read on a daily basis and to remind all Californians to promote reading achievement among youth.
The campaign includes English and Spanish language television commercials, billboards and a radio campaign developed by advertising agency Lawrence & Ponder IdeaWorks in Newport Beach.
"Children who read every day go further in life and have more options from which to choose," says Kerry Mazzoni, California secretary for education. "Reading scores of California children are on the rise and programs like READ California have contributed to these gains. Another important factor is parental involvement. Parents who read to their children every day make a significant contribution to their child's future success."
Three 15- and 30-second television spots will debut at the end of this month. The television ads, "Clouds & Imagination," "Writing and Reading" and "Strange Jobs" are targeted at kids aged 9 to 11, teens aged 14 to 16, and parents. A fourth spot, "Dinosaurs," an animated commercial aimed at kids aged 6 to 9, will debut in 2002. All of the ads feature the tagline, "Read Today. See Where it Takes You."
This year’s approach to the ads takes into account recent studies that show that getting children to enjoy reading while they are young is critical, and parents who become involved at home help their children do better in school.
In addition to the commercials, the advertising component will include 375 READ California billboards throughout the state and radio campaigns targeted to the kids and teen markets. Viacom and Clear Channel have donated the billboard space.
The READ California program also features a Web site, readcalifornia.org; and a comprehensive public relations program managed by Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, to include tie-ins with California's sports teams, such as the Golden State Warriors, Oakland As, San Diego Chargers and San Francisco 49ers; an original improvisational and sketch comedy show developed by the renowned Groundlings Theatre troupe; a theatrical movie trailer/PSA; and the return of Readapalooza, a statewide tour to elementary schools.
READ California will run through June 2002 and will concentrate heavily in the Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno, Los Angeles and San Diego markets.
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