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January 4, 2002
The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is awarding more than $36 million to subsidize 124 housing initiatives through its Affordable Housing Program.
The AHP is a competitive grant program that helps fund affordable housing projects for low-and moderate-income renters and homebuyers. The majority of the funds from this year’s grants will be used to help create approximately 6,810 rental units across the country.
This year’s award winners are lead by five San Diego-based organizations including Housing of North County, Community Interface Services, Urban Housing Corp., Community Housing of North County and BRIDGE Housing. These organizations, as well as a host of other groups throughout the United States, are being recognized for their successful development and execution of housing projects that provide low-income families and individuals with an affordable place to live.
Since 1990, the Federal Home Loan Bank has awarded $236 million in grants to help develop affordable housing in Nevada, California, Arizona and other states served by the bank's members. These grants have resulted in almost 52,000 rental and owner-occupied housing units, positively impacting the lives of thousands of people and their families in the Bank's tri-state region and throughout the country.
"The AHP ensures that community financial institutions are able to work together with housing advocates and nonprofit organizations to create housing opportunities for families and individuals who otherwise might not be able to buy a home or find an affordable place to rent," says Larry Parks, the bank’s senior v.p. of external and legislative affairs.
As of Nov. 1, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco had $110 billion in outstanding loans to its members. With $140 billion in assets, it is the largest of the 12 banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System. It serves and is owned by 307 commercial banks, savings institutions, credit unions, and thrift and loan companies headquartered in Arizona, California, and Nevada. For more information, click on www.fhlbsf.com.
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McMillin Commercial/Hillwood Development has sold the Parkway Center Four building located at 14303 Danielson St. in Poway to Lexington Properties Trust for $15.4 million.
The 135,755-square-foot office building is the corporate headquarters for Gateway.
The Burnham Real Estate Services * ONCOR International team of Phil Monroe and Adam Edwards represented both the seller, McMillin Commercial/Hillwood Development and the buyer, Lexington Properties Trust.
The buyer plans to hold the property as an investment.
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The San Diego Building Owners and Managers Association has announced its new board for 2002.
Returning to the board in her second consecutive term as president is Cybele Thompson of PM Realty Group and g.m. of the La Jolla Executive Tower.
The new v.p. is Joseph Murphy of Wells Fargo Plaza and senior real estate manager for CB Richard Ellis.
David Sikute of Insignia/ESG, co-chair of The Office Building of the Year (TOBY) Awards, is the new secretary.
Sonia Miró Perry returns to the board in a new capacity as treasurer. A property manager for RREFF Real Estate Investment Managers, Perry is the chair of the Strategic Long Range-Planning Committee.
Also returning to the board as general counsel is Ted Kimball of Kimball, Tirey & St. John. A practicing lawyer for more than 20 years, Kimball co-chairs the Government Affairs Committee.
Four Members-at-Large elected for 2002 are Terry Cohn of Neal Electric, Ed Muna of Southwest Value Partners, Randy Newhard of New Way Landscape & Tree Services, and Glenn Fibiger of USAA Realty.
Additionally, Tracie Hager of Burnham Real Estate Services resumes her role as past president.
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Netissimo, a smart card-based Internet technology developed by the Del Mar-based Humetrix company, will make its consumer product debut on Compaq Presario 5000 and 8000 Series Internet desktop PCs this month, says Bettina Experton, CEO and founder of Humetrix.
Compaq Presario 5000 and 8000 Series PCs with the Presario Internet Smart Card Powered by Netissimo can be purchased online at www.Compaq.com beginning Jan. 9 and through major retailers in mid to late first quarter of 2002.
Based on a patented system that allows for automated connectivity to the Internet and Intranets using smart portable devices — such as smart cards — with PCs, PDAs, cell phones or TV set top boxes, the Presario Internet Smart Card Powered by Netissimo will provide fast and easy Internet access.
By inserting the card — which features a memory chip — into Compaq's Smart Card Internet Keyboard, Netissimo allows users to automatically connect to the Internet, bypass the sign-in process for Web sites and secured online accounts requiring registration, instantly launch user-designated sites into multiple windows for speed browsing, enjoy secure access to personal Web-based accounts, access Web-based e-mail accounts with instant login of user IDs and passwords, and much more.
Users can safeguard the information on the card by selecting their own PIN — known only to the user — to prevent unauthorized access if the card is lost or stolen. The card also can store all of the login information on the card itself — rather than on a central online database — ensuring that highly sensitive account numbers and passwords can never be shared or sold.
Humetrix's Netissimo technology also includes a "security time-out" feature that automatically closes open sites and returns to the PIN screen in the event the user leaves the computer for a period of time and forgets to remove the card. Each member of a household can personalize and use their own card for their Internet destinations and accounts. Netissimo is compatible with most major ISPs (including AOL, Compuserve, MSN, Earthlink, cable modem, DSL and other LAN Internet connections) and browsers.
"It’s like having the Internet in your pocket," says Experton, who began developing smart card-based software applications for the health care industry in the mid-1990s as a physician and member of the faculty at the University of California San Diego Medical School. "With the explosion of e-mail, online accounts, and Web-based information, Netissimo becomes an indispensable tool to save time and remove the fear that highly sensitive personal information will fall into the wrong hands. I’m delighted to be working with Compaq in making this significant new advance in technology available to the consumer market."
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Mitek Systems Inc., a San Diego-based developer of automated document recognition technology, says that Heritage National Bank of Granbury, Texas, has purchased its CheckQuest check imaging system.
CheckQuest will allow Heritage National to automate check and item processing. The system's courtesy and legal amount recognition technology provides the bank with the ability to automatically balance the debits and credits of transactions.
As a result, the bank believes CheckQuest will reduce operator involvement and related expenses in the information capture process and increase the bank's operational efficiency overall.
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Multi Image Productions Inc. is touting a busy calendar of business for 2002.
This month the company heads to Dallas where it will produce the 2002 Teradata, a division of NCR, kick-off event. The event, with 1,200 attendees, will begin with a special kick-off presentation to welcome sales and retail employees.
Multi Image will also be producing the TaylorMade Sales Conference Jan. 17-21 in Orlando.
Additionally, Multi Image will produce the annual San Diego Building Industry Association’s installation dinner at the San Diego Hyatt Regency on Jan. 19. Having produced the event for 10 years, Multi Image is responsible for the staging and overall production of the event, which is expected to attract some 1,100 BIA members and others associated with the local building industry.
Multi Image Productions also is producing Pizza Hut Corp.’s National Leadership Conference taking place in Dallas, Jan.12-14.
Finally, Multi Image also is managing Pizza Hut Corp.’s internal marketing campaign; the project began in July 2001 and extends through March 2002, culminating in a major meeting in Orlando.
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San Diego has been named the third fittest city in the country by Men’s Fitness magazine. Two other California cities — San Francisco at No. 5 and Sacramento at No. 8. — also made the fittest top 10.
The national lifestyle magazine found that residents of the fittest cities tend to make fitness a priority, along with civic leaders who support them.
The magazine's fourth annual survey reveals Houston — for the second year in a row — to be the chunkiest city in the country. Flabby runners-up include Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia and Dallas.
To arrive at its findings, Men's Fitness evaluated the nation's 50 largest cities between July and September 2001. Cities were assessed in 16 commensurate categories, using data specific to each city.
The categories were selected as indicators, risk factors or relevant environmental factors affecting fitness, obesity and health. Sample categories include: sports participation, smoking, drinking, air and water quality, length of commute, availability of parks/open spaces and percentage of overweight/sedentary residents.
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