Returning bowling to Downtown, Dan Hurd, Michael Merrigan and Richard Synott, owners of the Gaslamp Tavern at Fifth Avenue and E Street, will open the East Village Tavern and Bowling Alley at 930 Market St. in June. The 9,124-square-foot hotspot will include Downtown’s only bowling alley — the six lanes alone will occupy 4,000 square feet — plus an expanded bar and kitchen area. “We haven’t been able to do the menu we wanted (at the 2,200-square-foot Gaslamp) so this extra space will allow us to do that,” Hurd says. Hungry bowlers can look forward to grilled paninis, pastas and several entrée salads in addition to a food and beverage menu similar to the Gaslamp Tavern’s. This isn’t Downtown’s first bowling alley — at least three have rolled through 92101 at various times, including Academy Bowl, Sunshine Alley and Tower Bowl, which was located where One America Plaza now towers.

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San Diego may not have landed the headquarters for the state’s stem cell agency, but it is tops so far in garnering grant money. Operating as the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, the region’s leading research institutes have landed $37.3 million in 29 grants dispensed since late 2006. Members of the consortium are UCSD, Burnham Institute for Medical Research, Salk Institute for Biological Studies and The Scripps Research Institute. In the most recent funding round announced March 16, the consortium members received six grants totaling $16.5 million.

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Move-ins have started at Cisterra Partners’ DiamondView Tower, just in time for the start of the Padres’ 2007 season. One of the largest tenants of the 15-story office tower overlooking Petco Park will be Cox Communications, the company that broadcasts Padres games over Channel 4 San Diego. The big communications company is taking the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the tower that overlooks the major league ballpark. Channel 4 studios will be in the tower, plus Cox Media and staffs from the government and community relations, media and public relations and marketing and finance sections. Bill Geppert, v.p. and general manager for Cox, will have an office at DiamondView as well as one at Cox’s headquarters on Federal Boulevard. Cox employs 2,300 in the county.

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Credit Weston Harmer, the sales director at Smart Corner, with the clever idea of hanging ‘sold’ signs on the balconies of sold homes at the condo tower on C Street between 11th Avenue and Park Boulevard.

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Prices in Downtown’s housing market are being sliced and diced in various places for consumer consumption. One Web site zeros in on distressed resales, subtracts out anticipated commissions and reports that figure as the barometer of the Centre City housing market’s health. The San Diego Association of Realtors takes a look at the entire 92101 ZIP code, including much of Bankers Hill. Realtor Lew Breeze considers strictly resales in Downtown’s neighborhoods and doesn’t include Bankers Hill properties nor sales of developer-owned units in established buildings. For March (through the 28th) Breeze has the median price of a resale at $537,400, down $98,000, or 15.5 percent, from $636,200 a year earlier. In that month, 32 homes were resold, down from 55 a year ago.

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Downtown’s transit interests are headed for a clash April 12 over how to accommodate trolley ridership growth along the C Street corridor. The corridor now handles 35,477 ons and offs, a number that may triple by 2030. Metropolitan Transit System, which operates the trolley, sees three-car configurations as necessary for near-term growth. But new low-floor trolleys would stretch 273 feet in length, longer than the 200-foot block, which maxes at 241 feet if you count sidewalks and parking lanes. An option gaining favor is narrowing Seventh Avenue to two lanes.

Downtown Partnership interests, fearful that would lead next to four-car trolleys (364 feet) and stations requiring multiple street closures, are instead backing what they term a high-frequency circulator. It would feature two-car trains looping around the Centre City with longer-haul trolleys sticking to the tracks, and bigger stations, along the waterfront side of Downtown. Transit officials see problems with so many riders having to get off at either the MTS Tower or One America stops to then reboard a loop trolley. CCDC is working to craft a compromise.

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Among the good news in Downtown’s trolley planning dilemma is all sides now support extending C Street as a continuous one-way street from Kettner to Park Boulevard. That move, combined with replacing the buckling asphalt that trolleys now travel across, will greatly improve the environment.

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Perhaps portending a spreading regional economic slowdown, taxable sales in San Diego County rose 5 percent to $11 billion in the first quarter of 2006 when compared to the same quarter a year earlier, lagging the state average. Statewide taxable sales rose 7.9 percent to $128.8 billion. In Southern California, all other counties saw greater percentage growth than San Diego, led by San Bernardino (13.6 percent), Riverside (13.4 percent), Imperial (14.1 percent), Los Angeles (6.7 percent) and Orange (6.3 percent). Kelly Cunningham, senior fellow and economist for the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, notes San Diego appears to be ahead of the state’s economic curve, both for good and bad. Prior to 2005, he says, taxable sales growth was outpacing inflation, driven by equity freed up by soaring home values. “This gave San Diegans a lot of money to go on shopping sprees,” he says. “But by 2005 that had passed and further gains in retail sales are not occurring. San Diego’s slower retail sales activity now is a sign that the rest of California will soon be slowing down as well, along with the slower housing market. The question is will San Diego and California actually fall into recession because of the stagnating housing market?”

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If the cost of gas is getting you down, how is it for folks who fly their own planes? At Montgomery Field’s Crownair the self-serve price of a gallon of 100-octane low lead was $3.89 at the end of March.. Cheaper at $3.69 was Jet A fuel.

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Donald D. Woolley, a 20-year veteran of Rick Engineering Co., has been named a principal and elected to the company’s board. Meanwhile, principal Houshmand Aftahi has retired from the board after 45 years of service to the company. Woolley heads the mapping, surveying and photogrammetry division, overseeing services throughout seven offices in the Southwest. Before coming to Rick, he worked throughout the western United States, Saudi Arabia and the Caribbean. Aftahi joined the company in 1962 as he was completing his degree in civil engineering from SDSU. He served on the board for 37 years. Roger Ball, president and CEO, says Aftahi will continue in of counsel capacity for the near term as projects he has headed are completed.

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Vicente Fox, who just completed his six-year term as Mexico’s first independent president since the 1920s, will be honored by UCSD’s Institute of the Americas with a gala reception and dinner at 6 p.m. April 25 at Downtown’s U.S. Grant Hotel. “President Fox truly understood that his election represented an end to Mexican presidencialismo — the top-down control of the nation’s political life,” says Institute President Jeffrey Davidow, who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico during Fox’s term. Tickets are $250 for the public reception and dinner or $500 for a private reception with President Fox. To reserve, call (858) 453-5560 Ext. 114.

The following afternoon, the Institute of the Americas will honor a colleague, Wayne Cornelius, founder of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at UCSD. The institute will pay tribute to Cornelius and Jorge Bustamante, professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, for their three decades of policy analysis on U.S.-Mexican migration. The 3:30 p.m. event is free.

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A $15 ticket buys a self-guided culinary tour of at least 15 restaurants in the Coast of Pacific Beach Restaurant Walk from 5 to 9 p.m. April 17. Elegant and casual restaurants on Mission Boulevard and Garnet Avenue are participating. For tickets and more information, contact Discover Pacific Beach at (858) 273-3303 or visit pacificbeach.org.

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Artists representing 37 countries submitted more than 9,800 entries, but only 103 pieces will be exhibited in the third Art of Photography Show at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery in Horton Plaza from April 14 through May 28. Tim Wride, curator and head of the department of photographs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, judged the show and will award $5,000 in cash to the top 15 artists he has chosen at an opening reception on April 14 from 6 to 9 p.m. “This is the best art show that’s ever been here,” says Craig Huisenga, gallery director at the Lyceum. “There’s been more foot traffic and more art sold at this show than any previous exhibit in our 20-year history.” This is the third year of the exhibition. “The pieces selected by Mr. Wride were created by artists with something to say about our time,” says Lisa Smith, associate producer of the event. “This aspect is very valuable to serious contemporary art collectors today.” The gallery is free and open seven days a week — from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 5 p.m. on weekends.

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Author and corporate consultant Ken Blanchard and Grand Canyon University are bringing the school’s executive MBA program to San Diego. Beginning in May, the 12-month program will have a heavy emphasis on training executives in business ethics and servant leadership. “A great advantage of the Ken Blanchard Executive MBA program is that people will retain leadership capabilities that will allow them to make stronger contributions to their current employer,” Blanchard says. The curriculum, taught by Blanchard and business leaders, is based largely on his new book, “Leading at a Higher Level.” The program hosts three intensive four-day sessions run by Blanchard while students take the remaining course work online. Course work begins July 9. The application deadline is May 25. Call (866) 398-9971 or visit gcu.edu/emba for more.

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Carlsbad Oaks North Business Park will bring 2 million square feet of office, R&D and industrial development to the city of Carlsbad over the next six years. The 400-acre master-planned development is located on Faraday Avenue, between El Camino Real and Melrose Drive. San Diego-based Techbilt Cos. is the developer. Kilroy Realty Corp. purchased 24 acres for $15.8 million. With grading of 53.2 acres (eight lots) finishing earlier this year, work on an additional 46.5 acres is under way.

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Fuddruckers has signed a 10-year, $1.9 million lease for space in the old First National Bank Building at Fifth Avenue and Broadway and is tentatively scheduled to open in a portion of the space in August. “Broadway Lofts is extremely well positioned in Downtown for Fuddruckers as it is sandwiched between the Central Business District, which will pull in the majority of their lunch crowd, and the Gaslamp Quarter, which will pull in most of their nighttime crowd,” says Lauren Trussell of CB Richard Ellis. “Most restaurants in the area are fine-dining or a bistropub-style venue. Having a Fuddruckers adjacent to the Gaslamp Quarter creates more options for the Downtown workforce, residents, families and tourists alike.”

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Turner Construction Co. has completed $1.2 million in tenant improvements at its new 21,000-square-foot office at 9330 Scranton Road. The company joined two suites — finance and operations — from the first floor into one third floor office. The move accommodates a growing staff and includes a large training room that seats up to 100 people. Turner employs 124 people.

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Dave Gilbert and Dan Feder, founders of Five Point Capital, a San Diego equipment leasing company, received the Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2007 from the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the USC Marshall School of Business. The presentation was made during the center’s annual Network Day.

The co-CEOs received their bachelor’s degrees in business administration with emphasis in entrepreneurship from USC in 1998. In 1999 they founded Five Point Capital, which last year ranked No. 82 on the Inc. 500 America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies list with a three-year growth rate of 944.7 percent. The company, located at 10525 Vista Sorrento Parkway, employs more than 160 people.

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“Making the Buyer’s Market Work for You” is the new slogan of a Web site sponsored by the Building Industry Association of San Diego County and the San Diego Association of Realtors and targeted at consumers.

The new site — sandiegohomeownership.com — provides consumers with information about the housing market and how to buy a home in San Diego. Promoted via an advertising campaign airing on local television and radio stations, the local initiative is part of the California BIA’s ongoing Campaign for California Homeownership, which was launched in 2005 to promote public policies that help increase homeownership opportunities in the state.

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If you’re looking for a job this quarter the good news is 41 percent of San Diego employers expect to be hiring, the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reveals. The bad news:you would have been better off a year ago when 53 percent were predicting job gains.

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‘Survivor’ by Nanette Martin

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The Lorri Sulpizio family has made a $250,000 gift to the Children’s Museum/Museo de los Niños San Diego. The Toddler Space, a section within the new museum that will be a multisensory, exploratory environment for children beginning to crawl or walk, will be named after the Sulpizio family. “I have fond memories of visiting the old Children’s Museum with my family as a child and want my children to be afforded the same learning and educational opportunities at the new museum when it opens,” says Sulpizio, a longtime San Diego area resident and mother of two. “The new museum will be a great attribute to Downtown and will be a unique place for kids to learn while having fun.” The location is at First and Front streets and Island Avenue.

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AirTran Airways begins a regular nonstop service between San Diego and Atlanta on May 24 and nonstop service to Orlando, Fla., on June 29. Three flights a day will go to Atlanta at 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 9:15 p.m. Flights to Orlando will be on Fridays and Sundays at 10:25 p.m.

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Redundancy in business is generally not good. But in computers and binational communications, it’s essential. Last month, Cox Communications and CableMás finished installing a second cross-border fiber-optic cable system linking the United States and Mexico — a redundant system to one they installed in 2002 (from San Ysidro to Tijuana). Cable executives call the entire system a “fiber ring.” With the construction of the second cross-border link in Otay Mesa, the two cable companies ensure that if fiber is cut on any part of the ring, an automatic backup system will engage so service will not be interrupted.

The binational communications network was constructed by the cable companies to enable businesses such as maquiladoras with locations on both sides of the border to communicate with each other through a fiber-optic connection. Other service providers, such as AT&T, offer fiber optics on the U.S. side, but use traditional microwave technology once the connection crosses into Mexico.

Besides offering television signals and specialized programing reaching both sides of the border — Cox’s Channel 4 San Diego is picked up in Mexico by CableMás — the cross-border link has the capability of offering high-speed binational data connection between universities, hospitals, governments, private industry and other entities.

Steve Gautereaux, Cox v.p. of network management, says the idea for the cross-border fiber ring originated with informal conversations he had with Carlos Alvarez, g.m. of CableMás in Tijuana, in 1992. Alvarez’s family owns CableMas, the second largest cable television company in Mexico.

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It seems forever ago that “Forever Plaid” forever played the Theatre in Old Town — still dark now that the winning bidder for the theater concession in the California state park decided not to sign. When the California Department of Parks and Recreation put the contract out to bid last year — as it did with the park’s commercial concession in 2005, signing Delaware North and ousting Diane Powers’ Bazaar del Mundo — it also served to put out Jill Mesaros and Paula Kalustian, who didn’t bid. Their Miracle Theatre Productions had a boffo run for over a decade, operating the 248-seat structure with orchestra pit, lobby, snack counter and ticket window. The contract’s winning bidder was Insta-Theatre Inc. with principal Mark Anderson, a former franchisee for The Improv. The deal stumbled. With historical period requirements and mandated upgrades to include electrical, roof, carpet and landscaping, the numbers don’t pencil, says one local theater owner who didn’t bid. “I can’t afford it.” The park district has been talking with potential operators who inquired on the theater. “We are in negotiations now with one of those parties and we hope to have a new operator (this month),” says Donna Renner, state parks concessionaire specialist. “If we don’t, it can go out for rebid. That’s a six-month process so we could rent out the theater to make sure the facilities are used.”

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San Diego Bay’s Spanish Landing will be crawling with Swamp Critters, Creole Cowboys, Cajun Playboys and other uptempo, downbeat denizens of the Crescent City sound from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. May 11 to 13 for the Gator by the Bay Zydeco Blues & Crawfish Festival. Besides dancing to more than 25 bands on four stages, the event will be boiling over with crawfish flown in from Louisiana and plenty more Cajun cookin’. Evening dancing runs from 9 p.m. to midnight at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina. Tickets are $15 day or night. For the entertainment schedule and more information, call (858) 492-8748 or visit gatorbythebay.com.