Watching the Chargers’ ongoing search for a new site, San Diego Community College Trustee Rich Grosch remains puzzled about the seeming lack of interest in the old Balboa Stadium site and surrounding surface parking lots sprawling but hidden behind City College and by I-5’s curve through Downtown. If securing future Super Bowls is part of the reason to build a new stadium, Grosch sees the location as a “no brainer.” “When talking about Super Bowl you need the hotel space and people need to be entertained,” he says. “If you are talking about (onsite) development rights, it is a different story.” He envisions freeway exits leading into parking structures that serve students and Balboa Park most days, and the stadium on weekends. “There are all sorts of good things that can come about in terms of urban planning with a stadium there,” he says. “You have the trolley and you have access to two freeways, one going east and the other going north and south. You don’t need one going west.”

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Nokia’s announcement it is exiting the CDMA business has real estate brokers pondering the future of the global telecom’s 300,000 square feet in Scripps Ranch overlooking I-15. Dave Marino, a broker with Irving Hughes which exclusively represents tenants, says if Nokia dumps its space and Intel, which is in a major corporate downsizing, exits its Evening Creek property, landlords, already facing competition from new buildings, could be stung. “It would really rock the 1-15 corridor,” Marino says. “The 15 corridor really never healed from 2003.”

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Fuel is up to $3.50 a gallon but it’s still free at Westfield Mission Valley — if you have an electric car. Installed more than eight years ago as part of an SDG&E/General Motors region-wide venture to encourage people to use the new technology, two electric car chargers remain online, providing free juice for the rare customer. “The electric car is not where it used to be, which is why we see just a little bit of use there,” notes Damon Bradshaw, center operations manager. “But we’re going to keep them going until the electric car market is dead and kaput, as long as someone uses them.”

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A heady sampling of the Qualcomm brain trust, led by CEO Paul Jacobs, will be on display during the Qualcomm Town Hall meeting on Sept. 6 at 5 p.m. at the La Jolla Marriott. The event is sponsored by CommNexus San Diego, the former San Diego Telecom Council. On the panel will be Sanjay K. Jha, president of Qualcomm CDMA Technologies Group, which has been the world’s largest fabless semiconductor company (Qualcomm designs communications chips which are built by other companies) for four out of the last five years. Rounding out the executive team is Gina Lombardi, president of MediaFLO USA, which is building a transmission system and chip technology to bring multiple TV channels to wireless devices. The cost is $45 in advance; $50 at the door. More information is at commnexus.org.

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Forty-one years of serving fabulous dining with spectacular views, first as Mr. A’s and then as Bertrand at Mr. A’s, have helped create special memories for thousands of San Diegans. So Penny Payton, who runs the show for Bertrand Hug, is collecting them. Send your recollections of romance or special events inspired by Mr. A’s to Payton at Arestaurant@aol.com, and she’ll probably thank you.

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Expect 10,000 San Diegans to participate Sept. 16 in the 15th Annual San Diego Heart Walk at Balboa Park. Teams in the non-competitive 5K walk are made up of employees of local companies, along with friends and family members of all ages. Walkers wearing red caps are heart disease survivors and walkers wearing white caps are stroke survivors. The survivor caps are reminders to themselves and all of the participants of their triumph over the diseases they survived. The red caps are sponsored by Scripps Health and the white by Alvarado Hospital Medical Center/SDRI. For the second consecutive year, the presenting sponsor is The Corky McMillin Cos. Company namesake Corky McMillin died less than a year ago from congestive heart failure. Scott McMillin, co-chair and CEO of The Corky McMillin Cos., says the passing of his father has placed an added significance to this year’s event. More information is at sdheartwalk.org.

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McCarthy Building Cos. Inc. has a contract with Children’s Hospital and Health Center to build a $25.7 million, 332,279-square-foot parking structure, which is to help accommodate an expected influx of new patients and visitors from future construction at the hospital. McCarthy also is doing pre-construction work on Children’s proposed $260 million, 279,000-square-foot Acute Care Pavilion in Kearny Mesa. Construction is to start in fall 2007 with completion in spring 2010. The parking structure for 1,051 vehicles is to be finished in fall 2007.

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Louise Kelly spent six years as executive director of the Gaslamp Quarter Association before joining her brothers — Michael and Richard Kelly — in the redevelopment business. Today, Kelly Capital’s real estate group under senior v.p. Louise Kelly is spearheading the renovation of The Ivy Hotel into a $75 million, 159-room luxury hotel at Sixth Avenue and F Street Downtown. A grand opening is planned for the fall. The hotel will be managed by MTM Luxury Lodging. Principal designers are Dayna Lee and Ted Berner of Powerstrip Studio in Hollywood. “We are creating an adult playground where the guest experience will be 100 percent focused on luxury, pleasure and decadent surprises,” says brother Michael, chair and CEO of the company.

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Without a home computer for e-mail, the distance between a mother or father on deployment and the child left behind is almost unfathomable. To link them, Kids in Touch is planning to distribute a flotilla of donated, gently used computers with Microsoft Windows 2000, Internet Explorer and StarOffice applications to Southern California military families in late August or early September.

To sustain the program, Kids in Touch has received donations from Qualcomm and Northrop Grumman but more tax-deductible contributions are needed. To help — or for help — call (858) 337-7355 or visit kitcommunications.org.

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Version 2.0 of the San Diego Supercomputer Center (rendering right) is coming online. Ground has broken on the $33.7 million, 80,000-square-foot expansion, doubling the size of the UCSD campus center. When finished in June 2008, Supercomputer Center capacity will reach 18 petabytes of tape storage and 1.4 petabytes of disk storage. (A petabyte is 1,073,741,824 megabytes.) The expansion designed by EHDD Architecture of San Francisco includes new offices, meeting rooms and auditorium. The existing center will remain open during construction by Barnhart Inc., which also is building UCSD’s Hopkins Parking Structure.

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Fire professionals will gather in San Diego this autumn not to contain and control fires but to better comprehend them. The Association for Fire Ecology holds its International Fire Congress Nov. 13 to 17 at the Town & Country in Mission Valley. Under the magnifying glass will be global warming, which the association identifies as creating longer fire seasons and more frequent and severe wildfires. “We expect attendance around 3,000 — the largest gathering of fire professionals in history,” says Robin Wills of Chico, association president. For more, visit fireecology.net.

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Call it the EmbARTadero. Embarcadero Marina Park North and the grassy area just south of Seaport Village become even more picturesque when the Port of San Diego takes the wraps off a Sculpture Show and ArtWalk on the Bay all day Oct. 14 and 15 with a preview reception from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 13. The ArtWalk is free. Tickets to the juried sculpture show, which will include as many as 700 works, are $12. For more information, visit sandiegosculptureshow.com.

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The Kiwanis are coming, the Kiwanis are coming! More than 2,200 from 528 clubs in three states are expected at the annual district convention Aug. 17 to 20 at the Town & Country. Incoming governor is George Francis of Vista. The convention concludes with a $1 million race of plastic yellow duckies on Lake Murray at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 20 to benefit Pediatric Trauma Prevention and Hope 4 Kids. The duck bill is $5 each or $25 for a six-quack-pack from Kiwanis Clubs countywide or on the Web at cnhkiwanis.org.

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The Hilton San Diego Mission Valley Hotel’s $11 million renovation will be unveiled at a grand opening Sept. 13. The project included extensive remodeling of the 349 guest rooms, lobby and concierge, meeting spaces, executive lounge, pool area, fitness facilities, hotel façade and landscaping. The hotel has a new restaurant and lounge called STISH, a name derived from its steak and seafood fare. Nicolas Villamil is executive chef. The space that once housed the Monterey Whaling Company will become a new, 3,000-square-foot high-tech meeting center featuring three customizable rooms.

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Fifteen years ago 21 physicians from Rancho Bernardo to Ramona began the Centre for Health Care with a focus on physician-directed care for patients — and enough time between patient and physician. The group practice has grown to more than 230 employees and 40 providers with a network of 350 contracted physicians and partnerships with Palomar Pomerado Health, UCSD Medical Center and Children’s Hospital. The Web site is cfhc.com.

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The USS Midway once was a carrier in battle, then a hulk in mothballs and now is a museum on the Embarcadero; it’s never been a cruise ship. But it will be the focus of a shakedown cruise aboard the Carnival Spirit departing San Diego Dec. 1 to the Mexican Riviera for eight days. Accommodations run from $757 to $1,577 per person double occupancy. A talk by “Midway Magic” author Scott McGaugh will be among the Midway highlights during the cruise. An orientation reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 30 aboard the flattop. RSVP to midway.org. or (619) 544-9600 Ext. 290.

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Gary who? An item penned by the publisher in the July 5 edition regarding identity theft misidentified Dan Yates as president of Torrey Pines Bank, where Gary Cady presides. Yates is president of Regents Bank. We knew that.

Elsewhere, the names of Ray Carpenter’s sister Katha and his son Chad were misspelled.

The Metropolitan regrets the errors.

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Schubach Aviation moves its Challenger 601 into 30,000 square feet of new hangar space built as part of Premier Jet’s new luxury fixed base operation at McClellan-Palomar Airport. The long-range Challenger, one of 14 private charter jets offered by Henry Schubach’s company, offers sweet comfort. Seating up to nine passengers, two crewmembers, and a cabin attendant, the jet cruises at 530 miles per hour at an altitude of 41,000 feet. In-cabin amenities include a full kitchen, private restroom and flight phone. DVD players with individual monitors are available for each passenger, and two large flat-screen monitors for use with presentations. Having outgrown its previous space of 14 years just a few yards away, Schubach signed a 10-year lease for the new runway frontage hangar space plus a 3,500-square-foot office space on the second floor of Premier Jet’s new facility.

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The San Diego chapter of the Licensing Executives Society has selected as its chair Chris Steinhardt, a Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear partner. Other officers are Sam Tahmassebi, chair elect, and Ross A. Epstein, immediate past chair.

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One of the major issues facing developers is how to build buildings that are more efficient and leave less of a negative impact on the environment. It’s a topic that will be addressed at the Aug. 13-15 Sustainable Facilities Summit at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines Resort. Craig Lehmann, president of CraigMichaels Inc., producer of the summit, says the event will give those responsible for overseeing the nation’s largest building programs solutions to incorporate sustainable principles into their future projects and how to improve existing buildings. Some of the presenters will be from Ford Motor Co., Wal-Mart Stores, United States Green Building Council, Kaiser Permanente, Duke University, Starbucks, Los Angeles Unified School District and the Natural Resources Defense Council. For more information, visit sustainablefacilitiessummit.com or craigmichaelsinc.com.

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Stingaree will entertain registrants for the AIDS Walk San Diego at the annual “Activation” party from 6-8 p.m. on Aug. 23 at 454 Sixth Ave. Downtown. A $20 cover charge will be used toward registration fees for the AIDS Walk, scheduled for Oct. 1 in Balboa Park. The walk is a program of the LGBT Community Center. To make a reservation for the party, send an e-mail to activation@aidswalksd.org by Aug. 18. For more information, call (619) 291-9255 or visit aidswalksd.org.

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A 12-story affordable housing project with two underground parking levels will be built by Father Joe’s Villages and developers JMI and Lennar at 16th and Market streets. It will offer 40 one-bedroom units, 51 two-bedroom units and 45 three-bedroom units. The developers received an award of $10 million from the state Department of Housing and Community Development for the support of affordable home ownership. The developers are to contribute an additional $22 million. The housing project was designed by Joseph Wong Design Associates. Construction is to start later this year with completion in 2008.

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A two-day Old Town Art Festival featuring the work of more than 150 artists, a taste of Old Town foods, hands-on art activities for children and live entertainment is planned Sept. 16 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sept. 17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The festival will be held in the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park just steps from more than 150 restaurants, shops and historic sites. The location on San Diego Avenue is just a short walk from the San Diego Trolley Transit Center. Admission is free.

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The San Diego County Assessor/ Recorder/Clerk’s office warns that a Sacramento-based concern is soliciting San Diego businesses, offering to refile their fictitious business name statement before it expires for a $120 fee. The reality is that the filing fee for a single statement in San Diego is $20 for one name. Publication is even less. The San Diego Metropolitan Uptown San Diego Examiner fulfills the legal requirement to publish the FBN for only $12 ($15 by credit card). Even the initial filing can be handled too, for $50 per statement, which includes the county’s fee. For more, call (619) 233-4060 Ext. 312.

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While the California Department of Parks & Recreation auditions the next act to operate the state-owned Theatre in Old Town, the current tenant, Miracle Theater Productions, is previewing a North County location and changing its Old Town bill. Miracle has extinguished the Wagnerian burlesque “Das Barbecu” to reheat the show-stopping “Forbidden Broadway: SVU” for a six-week return engagement — which likely will be held over — beginning Aug. 8. “We run theater like they do in New York,” says Miracle’s Colleen Buchmeier. Miracle may next be running one in Encinitas. Artistic director Paula Kalustian and producing director Jill Mesaros — both North County residents — hope to build a theater off El Camino Real on vacant land donated to the city more than 10 years ago for construction of a theater.

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Petco Park soon will go to the dogs — speedy Chihuahuas, that is. The search for a Chihuahua that kicks tail will take place between the first and second innings of the 1:05 p.m. game of the Padres vs. the Cincinnati Reds Sept. 3. Spectators are encouraged to cheer on their favorites. Tickets are $5 per person, which allows entry to the Park at the Park for the game. For more information, visit petco.com/petcounleashed.

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CT Realty purchased the 84,640-square-foot Amistad Distribution Center in Otay Mesa for $8.7 million from Voit Development to renovate into an industrial suites business center. Currently unoccupied, the two buildings will be divided into 48 condominium units starting at 1,800 square feet. Each unit will have its own private loading dock, rollup door and storefront. Completion is planned for late summer. The project at 10065 and 10145 Via de la Amistad will be known as American Industrial Suites. The units will be offered for lease with the potential to purchase.