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January 21, 2002
With Mayor Murphy doing the swearing-in honors, Gina Champion-Cain was officially named Friday as chair of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
She replaces Ruben Andrews.
“I first fell in love with San Diego during the winter in Michigan while wearing boots and mittens in my dorm room watching on T.V. the Chargers play football in the sun,” she said. “The deal was sealed when downtown’s own, California Western School of Law sent a recruitment video. I immediately called Georgetown and cancelled my enrollment. I packed 8 pieces of luggage, flew into Lindbergh seated on the left side of the airplane in awe of the skyline, bay and bridge. That day I committed myself to downtown San Diego, and today I am honored to have the opportunity to serve it through the Downtown San Diego Partnership.”
Champion-Cain identified five goals from the organization’s strategic plan that she will focus on this year.
They are:
• Defining Downtown’s role in the region.
• Affordable housing.
• A business development and retention plan for Downtown.
• Promotion of the arts.
• Improving the pedestrian environment.
With about 300 civic leaders looking on, Champion-Cain devoted the largest segment of her speech to the business development and retention effort.
“Bandwidth Bay has been a good starting point for a broader discussion about economic development in Downtown,” she said. “We all know the story — we aren’t experiencing the type of new business growth we have in the recent past. Fortunately we are shielded from the pain being felt by those up north, but we still have to stay ahead of the curve.
“As most of you know, a meaningful effort has recently developed between the Downtown San Diego Partnership, CCDC, EDC and the city's Economic Development Department,” she continued. “I must acknowledge the efforts by Peter Hall, Julie Meier Wright, Fred Baranowski and Hank Cunningham to think about economic development strategies for downtown San Diego.
“We are working on an economic development plan that will identify downtown’s economic future,” she said. “The plan identifies ways to retain and attract industries and businesses that will bring good jobs, as well as fill the commercial office space under development. We must formulate an economic plan that addresses downtown’s special issues of density, transportation and zoning. The Partnership has gone down this path several times in the past, but this time, with the support of CCDC, EDC and the City, we can turn our dialogue into real action.
“Our business development efforts are significantly energized by the arrival of the NBC 7/39 studios to one of downtown’s most visible high rises. We owe a tremendous amount of thanks to General Manager Phyllis Schwartz for her vision and foresight. We must build upon this energy and attract more anchor tenants to downtown.”
She also announced the organization’s 2002 committee chairs. They are:
• Chris Veum, Membership.
• Howard Greenberg, PBID Management.
• Tom Anglewicz, Urban Design.
• Debra Owen, Arts and Culture.
• Vic Kops, Social Action Collaborative.
• Greg Shannon, Visionary Plan Task Force.
• Leslie Wade, Public Facilities.
• Karima Zaki, Marketing.
“I am unabashedly optimistic that 2002 will be a very good year for all of us, but we need everyone in this room to help make it a success,” she said. “Van Gogh said ‘Great things are not done by impulse but by a series of small things brought together.’ I thank you very much for being here today and thank you for the opportunity to lead the Partnership this year. Let's put all the small things together...Let's make it all happen.”
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Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Cubic Corp., has received a $15.2 million contract from the Metropolitan Council in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn., to deliver the nation's first "smart" regional ticketing system for light rail and bus rapid transit.
Total value of the contract could reach $19.3 million if all options are exercised.
The new ticketing system is part of the Twin Cities' regional "smart growth" plan for the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. It will provide seamless fare collection among the region's transit systems and the state's first light-rail line. The contract will be managed by Metro Transit, the region's largest bus system and operator of the light-rail line when it opens in late 2003.
“Minneapolis/St. Paul is a big win for Cubic,” says Walter C. Zable, president and CEO, Cubic Transportation Systems. “It means we’re officially in the light rail and bus rapid transit business, in addition to the heavy rail customers-which have been our traditional core customer-such as London, Washington, New York and Chicago. Since many North American agencies are looking at light rail and bus rapid transit, it was essential for us to look at our business direction and position ourselves as a serious player in this market."
The contract includes an option to buy additional equipment for the Northstar Commuter Rail line currently under evaluation by regional officials and the state transportation department.
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Path 1 Network Technologies Inc., a San Diego firm that produces broadcast quality video-over-IP technology, has entered into an agreement with a leading international semiconductor company for the design of next generation, high-speed communications devices for the networking equipment market.
The agreement is expected to generate about $2.5 million in revenue from fixed payment provisions of the contract, and up to about $3 million in royalty payments based upon product sales revenues.
Under the agreement, Path 1 will provide a high-speed 10 Gigabit packet processing chip design to the customer. The design will incorporate many elements of Path 1's technology in QoS packet switching and Media Access Control. The resulting semiconductor device will be engineered for the development of advanced enterprise and carrier class fiber optic telecommunications equipment.
"The revenue called for under this contract represents a meaningful step towards recognizing the company’s plan of being cash flow positive in 2002,” says Path 1 CEO Frederick A. Cary. “We are delighted to have entered into the agreement and in the validation that it represents for our advanced technologies."
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In additional Path 1 news, the company has received a $10 million equity line of funding, arranged by the New York investment banking firm, Jesup & Lamont.
Frederick A. Cary, Path 1 CEO, says the funding may be utilized to support the company’s operational needs over the next several quarters.
"This funding is important for Path 1 and the management of our cash flow through the year ahead,” Cary says. “We intend to start drawing against the equity line for no more than our current cash requirements for the near term with the ability to consider larger draws as we anticipate and manage expected sales growth during the year ahead. The availability of this capital will be critical for us as we begin to move our video products from beta trials to successful implementations and execute our business plan throughout 2002."
The funding arrangement is an important development for the company as it also announced that it has declared a default in its previous investment agreement with R&S Invest. Path 1 is considering its rights under the contract.
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Nereus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has signed a 114-month lease for 31,207 square feet of wet lab space within the recently completed Wateridge Summit at 10480 Wateridge Circle Drive in the Sorrento Mesa area of San Diego. The lease is valued at more than $11 million.
The biotech company, currently headquartered on Towne Centre Drive in University Towne Centre, is relocating to the new facility in May 2002.
Nereus Pharmaceuticals develops therapeutic compounds for the treatment of inflammation, cancer and infectious diseases.
Multi-Tech Properties Inc. is the project owner and developer. Brian Driscoll and Eric Northbrook of SIOR and Chad Urie of Colliers International are the exclusive leasing representatives. Brian Mulvaney and Joel Tomlinson of Voit Commercial Brokerage Co. represented Nereus.
Wateridge Summit is a Class A, corporate office and biotech project consisting of three free-standing, two-story buildings of 46,142 square feet, 29,141 square feet, and 31,207 square feet, totaling 106,490 square feet on an 8.64 acre campus-like setting, overlooking Interstates 805 and 5, just north of Mira Mesa Boulevard.
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Increases in pump prices became a trend throughout Southern California, southern Nevada and Arizona as price levels increased in the region for the second consecutive week, reports the Weekend Gas Watch, compiled by the Automobile Club of Southern California.
The average price of self-serve regular unleaded gasoline in San Diego is $1.291, which is 4 cents higher than last week's level. Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $1.158 per gallon, which is 9.3 cents above last week's price. Motorists in the central coast have an average price of $1.264, that is 8.1 cents above last week's price.
"Prices in the L.A.-Long Beach area jumped up the most during the week, but they still remain lower on average than most of the region," said Auto Club spokesman Jeff Spring. "During the past few weeks, gasoline refiners have been selling fuel out of overstocked inventories, thereby reducing the overall supply of gas.
"Since crude oil prices are fluctuating around $20 a barrel, there may be momentary price decreases, due to the soft economy. However, we expect to see gasoline prices generally moving upward for at least the next few weeks."
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