Perry Dealy, who carried the 2.7-million-square-foot Pacific Gateway project through CCDC’s belated approval, says, “The next steps are to stay focused on having our lease signed with the Navy, continuing to work with CCDC on the (373,000-square-foot) Navy (office) building, engage the Coastal Commission on any issues they may have, and continue with our predevelopment on the private buildings, etc, etc.” The etceteras include lining up financing, made more difficult if Donald Bren’s Irvine Co. goes gangbusters on a planned 650,000-square-foot office tower across Broadway, just west of the Santa Fe Depot. Irvine Co. reportedly “went hard” with the property purchase last month.

Irvine Co. “pays cash for everything,” says a neighbor, including construction costs. That would make it harder for Doug Manchester, who can’t pay cash for everything, to finance a spec office building as the first private portion of Pacific Gateway, following the start of the Navy’s office building. But the scenario gets tougher: Irvine Co. may also pay cash to build condo hotels on Lane Field with Sam Hardage, getting it done faster than Manchester could. “We continue to be optimistic that our project will be financed given our location, quality, ownership, track record and financial capability,” says Dealy. “We are still into mid or end of next year before we will be able to get into the construction phase so we have time to put together our best deal in the marketplace.” (Three months ago Dealy anticipated an early 2007 groundbreaking.) Dealy continues: “Competition is always a fact of life in real estate and you are well aware of what Papa Doug has been able to achieve. We will have the best location, the best product and a phenomenal mixed-use master plan to sell.”

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Mayor Sanders is working the City Council to appoint Pete Davis back to the Port District board. See how smart he is.

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Where Mike McKinnon once planned to build a television studio for his KUSI with a condo/hotel tower on top on the Marina District’s last two undeveloped blocks, Nat Bosa has taken over. In a private transaction, Bosa Development has purchased the site across the street from the Convention Center from McKinnon and plans to build 172 condominiums in what may be Bosa’s greatest project yet. “These will be big and expensive,” says Bosa. “The biggest we’ve designed.” By big he means units of 1,800 to 2,000 square feet within a 438-foot-tall, 38-story building that will include retail space. Other than that, he’s not talking. “We are just starting the CCDC approval process,” he says. CCDC reports plans include the end of J Street being converted into a public park instead of a parking lot.

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If the sentiment of California sports fans is any indicator, the Chargers face a tough road funding a new stadium, whether in San Diego or elsewhere in the state. A Kiplinger California Letter analysis shows dim prospects for team infrastructure wants. The Oct. 4 issue predicts failure for a sales tax boost to fund a new arena for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, sky-high land prices nixing football in Anaheim, zero support in Los Angeles for funding professional pigskin, dead ballpark plans in Oakland, pie-in-the-sky chances for a San Francisco 49ers new stadium and a stubborn “no subsidy” stand in San Diego.

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Jonathan Pflueger, formerly Anthony’s Star of the Sea Room star who ran the Russian Tea Room in New York before opening Vertical Wine Bar in Laguna Beach, returns to San Diego to prepare for next month’s opening of his upscale creation facing Broadway in the fancy Sofia Hotel. What? Never heard of the Sofia? Ken and Judi Carroll Winslow are finishing the $17 million redo of the old Pickwick with 212 guest rooms, meeting rooms for nearby attorneys, fitness and yoga studios, the whole schmeer. You’ll be there.

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San Diego’s tourism industry will talk economic prospects on Nov. 9 when its four most influential organizations convene at the Zoo for the Hotel-Motel Association’s monthly luncheon. Doing the forecasting will be officials from Big ConVis, San Diego North ConVis and the Convention Center Corp.

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In the new Touchstone movie “The Guardian,” Kevin Costner spends plenty of time under water — good news to Carlsbad-based Aqua Lung and Aqua Sphere, gratified to see the actor wearing the company’s Seal XP, its best-selling swim goggle. Renowned oceanographer Jacques Cousteau started the company 60 years ago. Today, it manufactures extensive lines of scuba and swim gear.

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Jennifer LeSar

A year after leaving her job at Downtown’s Bank of America building to launch her own business, Jennifer LeSar has doubled the company’s personnel. LeSar Development Co., located at 2410 First Ave. in Bankers Hill, now has two full-time staff: LeSar herself — she’s president and CEO — and newly hired Kathleen Ferrier, project manager. The company does real estate consulting for private nonprofit organizations and government clients. LeSar also is chair of the CCDC board, a responsibility that ends in December. But her term on the board lasts until 2008, thanks to her reappointment in May by Mayor Sanders. LeSar, 42, spent four and a half years at BofA as a senior v.p. in the real estate equity investing group. She’s worked in the real estate industry for 20 years. “I decided after 20 years I was ready to be in business for myself,” she says.

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Professionals involved in residential developments — builders, landscapers, real estate agents, insurance brokers and others — will learn wildfire protection techniques during a series of workshops in March 2007 sponsored by the San Diego Natural History Museum. “Wildfire has always been a part of San Diego’s natural environment and fires will continue to burn in its wildlands,” says Christopher Blaylock, the museum’s project manager for wildfire education. “Development in the wildlands is increasing the number of homes exposed to the threat of fire. More and more homes, therefore, must be planned, built and maintained with wildfire safety in mind. This program seeks to teach fire-safe business practices to the professionals who are often hired to do that planning, building and maintenance.” For more information, call Blaylock at (619) 255-0289.

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Doctors and lawyers — sometimes adversaries — will be at the center of a joint master’s degree program in health law being launched in 2007 by UCSD and California Western School of Law. “This joint degree will bring lawyers and doctors together to evaluate and help resolve some of the most important questions in health care delivery, bioethics and health law,” says Steven R. Smith, dean of California Western. “A better understanding between lawyers and the medical field can only improve the quality of services we provide.”

The program is the only one of its kind in the West. “Graduates with a Master of Advanced Studies degree in health law will be better able to deal with and solve the complicated medical issues that are arising in our global environment,” says Bryan Liang, associate professor of anesthesiology at UCSD and professor of law at Cal Western. “Coursework will delve into the controversy around issues such as the U.S. drug supply and safety, online pharmacies, medical malpractice and access to Medicare — everywhere medicine and law interface.” UCSD Extended Studies will administer the program and provide student advising. Information on graduate admission requirements and application procedures are available at (858) 964-1313 or hlaw.ucsd.edu.

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Real estate trends may be heading downward, but at The Olson Co. folks are still smiling. The home builder just drew a No. 1 ranking for customer service satisfaction in an Eliant nationwide survey. The company outranked a competitive field of 300 residential developers on every aspect of its product, from design to construction to workmanship and installations. Eliant is the building industry’s leading provider of Homebuyer Satisfaction Solutions, conducting 300,000 surveys annually.

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What do you get when you team an illustrious publisher with an innovative digital design/marketing firm? The ultimate storybook setting. Simon & Schuster and San Diego’s Geary Interactive created a page-turning Web site for Diane Setterfield’s novel, “The Thirteenth Tale,” taking visitors straight into the story’s antiquarian bookstore setting. The book is now a New York Times No. 1 best seller. The Geary-designed site — thethirteenthtale.com — has won new fans, too, no doubt because of its “novel” approach in plopping readers directly into the book’s pages. In this Web project, they all lived happily ever after.

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“It’s very good,” says John Burnham, owner of the UPS Store now on Washington Street and Third Avenue in Hillcrest, some four blocks from his old digs at Fifth and Pennsylvania. The big difference: About five times the parking by sharing 22 spaces with Hollywood Video next door. Close to Mercy and UCSD Medical Center, he’s hoping more doctors rent mailboxes.

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Junior Achievement of San Diego and Barnhart Inc. broke ground on a new Enterprise Village project in Mission Valley. JA is creating a Free Enterprise Center as a permanent home for its program offices with enough room to house Enterprise Village, a new learning lab for fifth graders. Enterprise Village is a 10,000-square-foot mini-municipality in which kids can discover how free enterprise works in a city - where they actually run businesses, make laws, become philanthropists and pay taxes. Barnhart is managing the construction team for JA and soliciting labor and material donations from San Diego construction trade contractors.

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Nepi Ilgaz has left her positions with Connect and San Diego MIT Enterprise Forum to join her family’s business, TestCountry Inc., as a v.p. of business development. The company offers FDA approved instant or lab-based health test kits to consumers and businesses. Ilgaz was executive director for the forum and director of affiliate programs for Connect. Her duties at the forum transferred to Bethany Kraynack, program manager, and at Connect to Kathy Sargent, program manager for the Venture Roundtable Program.

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Michael and Bibiana Bulloch have enjoyed such success since the Downtown opening nearly two years ago of their One World Fine Foods they are preparing to offer franchises. The couple’s goal is to become the leading brand of neighborhood natural markets. The stores will combine the characteristics of a convenience market with healthful products and service, all within a 2,500 to 4,000 square foot location. Between 2002 and 2004 sales of specialty foods rose 16 percent in all grocery stores, 20 percent at specialty stores. “Not only is One World the right concept at the right time, but the Sixth and Cedar location has proven that our demographic and lifestyle studies pinpoint the right locations which match unmet demand in the marketplace with our fresh, novel offering,” says Michael Bulloch. More is at oneworldfood.com.

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Tovey/Shultz Construction is building the city of San Diego’s new Fire Station 47 at 6041 Edgewood Bend Court in Pardee Homes’ Pacific Highlands Ranch. The station, designed by STK Architecture, will be equipped with fire engine, ladder truck and ambulance. The $5.2 million project will open late next year.

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For the third consecutive year, ARTS, a nonprofit group that creates art programs for children and families facing adversity, and Mixture, a home furnishings and accessories store, will present a Nov. 16 Children’s Art Auction. Children’s art projects will be on sale at the 6 p.m. event at Mixture, 2210 Kettner Blvd. in Little Italy. Admission is $10. Sales will benefit the ARTS (A Reason To Survive) program.

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The intimate chamber music ensemble Camarada, which takes its name from the Latin for chamber, takes its sound to Little Italy Dec. 1 for a 7 p.m. annotated concert at the floral design studio, Botanica, 2310 Kettner Blvd. The camaraderie begins with a 6:30 p.m. champagne reception. Tickets are $40-$50. For reservations, visit camarada.org or call (619) 231-3702.

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A new line of Scandinavian bling is jingling cash registers from Hollywood’s Fred Segal to Del Mar’s Madison in the Flower Hill Promenade. Bjorg Jewellery features Indian subcontinent designs crafted by Norway’s Bjorg Nordli-Mathisen and distributed by Yasmin Springer, a Swede from San Diego, through her company, Image in Focus. “I will be selling (wholesale) mostly at trade shows,” says Springer. “I have the whole U.S. territory.” For the smorgasbord of designs, visit bjorgdesign-usa.com.

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The San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park will be the first West Coast venue for a new exhibit of the photographs of Annie Leibovitz. She became chief photographer for Rolling Stone in 1973, and her iconic portraits since have included the pregnant, nude Demi Moore in Vanity Fair as well as President Clinton, Colin Powell, Nicole Kidman and Brad Pitt (below). The collection of nearly 200 photos, including Leibovitz’s own family images, will be on exhibit from Feb. 10 to April 22, 2007.