Daily Business Report-Aug. 29, 2017
An early rendering of the $1.2 billion redevelpment of Seaport Village by 1HWY1, also known as Protea Waterfront Development.
Port of San Diego Seeking
Interim Manager for Seaport Village
The Port of San Diego is looking for an interim manager for Seaport Village after its lease expires next year to ensure its continued operation until a $1.2 billion redevelopment starts on the Embarcadero area, which includes the shopping and dining complex.
A Request for Proposals has been issued by the port for a third party to manage and operate Seaport Village after its lease expires on Sept. 30, 2018. Proposals are to be submitted by Oct. 12.
“This RFP presents a great economic opportunity because of Seaport Village’s ideal waterfront location between downtown San Diego and San Diego Bay, breathtaking views and inescapable foot traffic,” the port said in an announcement. The 14-acre site currently includes 70 specialty retailers and eateries, and on-site parking.
The Board of Port Commissioners selected the 1HWY1 team (also known as Protea Waterfront Development), and their “Seaport San Diego” concept for the redevelopment of the Central Embarcadero late last year. “Due to the size of the redevelopment and uniqueness of some of the proposed programmatic components, design, planning and permitting will likely take several years,” the port said.
The port said the RFP is a proactive step to provide for the continued operation of Seaport Village until redevelopment work begins.
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USS Coronado Uses UAV to Target
Anti-Ship Missile in Test off Guam
The San Diego-based Littoral Combat Ship USS Coronado fired a Harpoon Block 1C missile off the coast of Guam last week, successfully hitting a surface target behind the ship’s visual range, the Navy announced.
An MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial system made by Northrop Grumman and an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter manufactured by Lockheed Martin, both of which deployed with Coronado as part of its air detachment, provided targeting data for the Aug. 22 missile shot.
“LCS will play an important role in protecting shipping and vital U.S. interests in the maritime crossroads,” Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander of Task Force 73, said in a Navy news release.
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Protea Acquires 2 Kearny Mesa
Office Properties for $18.5 Million
San Diego-based Protea Aero Drive LLC has purchased two Kearny Mesa office properties, including a building originally constructed for Bank of America in the early 1980s that reportedly held up to $1 billion in cash and coin at peak operation.
The properties are the AeroVault building at 8875 Aero Drive, and the Aero Office Building at 8825 Aero Drive. They were acquired for $18.5 million from the seller, 8825 & 8875 Aero Drive Holdings LLC.
“The AeroVault is one of the most unique buildings in the market today,” said Brandon Keith, a senior vice president with Voit Real Estate Services, which was the broker for the sale. “The property was constructed for Bank of America in the early 1980s as their primary Southern California money vault, which purported to hold up to $1 billion in cash and coin at peak operation. Based on this specialized use, the building has no first floor windows, and features heavy concrete security elements throughout the ground floor.”
The history of the two-building asset is complex, according to Keith, who said that the AeroVault has been vacant for nearly eight years, and that both buildings underwent court ordered receivership, followed by foreclosure, and finally asset management by special servicer LNR Partners.
The buyer plans to renovate the AeroVault property into a tech and corporate office facility, and has retained Ware Malcomb as the architect on the project.
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Badiee Development and Exeter Plan
New Industrial Building for Escondido
Badiee Development has sold two industrial land parcels, originally slated for the development of the Escondido Innovation Center and Escondido Victory Industrial Park projects, to Exeter Property Group. The two companies plan to develop a single-tenant industrial building in place of the two previously announced multi-tenant projects.
Exeter plans to build a new 200,000-square-foot industrial distribution building on the Harmony Grove Road site in conjunction with Badiee Development as the project developer.
Construction is set to commence in the fourth quarter of this year with an estimated completion in summer 2018. The total 10.9-acre campus is located at 1925 and 2005 Harmony Grove Road, Escondido.
“Exeter Property Group has long been looking to engage in San Diego’s rapidly growing industrial market and Badiee Development’s Escondido sites provided the ideal opportunity for our first project in the area,” said Matt Brondik, principal at Exeter Property Group. “We plan for this to be the first of many like-kind industrial projects developed in partnership with Badiee Development in San Diego County.”
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RAF Pacifica Group to Develop
New Distribution Facility in Carlsbad
Encinitas-based RAF Pacifica Group Inc. has announced it will develop a new 83,000-square-foot build-to-suit distribution facility in Carlsbad for San Diego Hat Company. Located at Lot 7, Whiptail Loop East, the new Class A industrial facility will be situated on a 7.57-acre parcel which San Diego Hat Company recently acquired from Hughes Whiptail LLC for $5.875 million.
RAF Pacifica Group assigned the land ownership rights over to San Diego Hat Company during its own initial escrow process and has designed the new building.
San Diego Hat Company, a Carlsbad company, has selected TFW Construction as the general contractor. The building is anticipated to be completed the second quarter of 2018.
San Diego Hat’s new distribution facility will include 10,000 square feet of office and mezzanine space on the first floor, six dock loading doors.
Cushman & Wakefield represented RAF Pacifica Group. San Diego Hat Company was represented by Cresa.
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Sunrise Management Takes Over
Renovation of Phoenix-Area Properties
San Diego-based Sunrise Management, which specializes in the management of multifamily properties, has begun $2.4 million in renovations and repositioning for two Phoenix-area multifamily properties recently acquired by a partnership of Phoenix-headquartered Modern Residential and Boston-based Henley USA. Totaling 481 units, the properties are Sonoma Pines in Peoria and Sonoma Villas in Mesa, Arizona. Sunrise will assume all day-to-day project and property management at both properties, overseeing renovations of both communities.
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NIH Commits $2.6 Million to Fund
HIV Self-Testing Procedures
GenomeWeb
The National Institutes of Health has earmarked $2.6 million in fiscal 2018 to fund a series of projects aimed at developing HIV diagnostic procedures for self testing.
Despite the benefits of at-risk individuals testing themselves for HIV, current self-testing technologies only detect the host antibody response to infection that arises weeks after initial infection, the NIH said in its funding opportunity announcement, adding, “No self-testing technologies have yet been developed that are able to detect HIV during peak viremia and transmissibility in acute infection.”
The grant will be used to fund three to six research programs focused on the early-stage development of technologies that enable rapid self-testing in the earliest stage of initial HIV infection, and/or can detect HIV rebound in treated individuals as early as possible following treatment interruption or loss of viral control.
Ideally, the self-testing procedures will be cost-effective, minimally dependent on electricity, and culture- and refrigeration-independent, the agency said.
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Record Enrollment for
Cal State San Marcos
The fall semester at Cal State San Marcos kicked off Monday with nearly three dozen new faculty, several new programs and the highest enrollment in campus history. CSUSM is welcoming nearly 17,000 students, the highest anticipated enrollment in the university’s 27-year history.
Among those students are more than 2,500 freshmen, an increase of 17 percent compared to last year, and 1,900 transfers, a 21 percent increase.
CSUSM has 32 new tenure-track faculty members this fall, plus one who will start in fall 2018.
Julia Johnson began her appointment as the dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, Behavioral and Social Sciences on July 1. Johnson came to CSUSM from the University of Wisconsin La Crosse where she served as dean of the College of Liberal Studies.
Lorna Kendrick began her appointment as the new director of the School of Nursing on July 1. Additionally, Amy Carney began a one-year appointment as associate director of the School of Nursing on July 1.
Scott Ybarrondo was sworn in as CSUSM’s new police chief on June 20. Ybarrondo previously worked for the San Diego Sheriff’s Department for more than 26 years, including the past five as a captain.
An American Indian Studies major is being offered for the first time this fall.
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Personnel Announcements
Matt Sirianni Joins Fident Capital as Associate
Fident Capital, a local boutique real estate investment bank, is expanding its team with the addition of Associate Matt Sirianni.
As an associate, Sirianni will be responsible for the underwriting, packaging, and capital solicitation for all debt and equity placement opportunities. In addition, he will assist with the management of internal systems that drive company operations.
Prior to joining Fident Capital, Sirianni was a senior financial analyst with Wells Fargo’s commercial real estate group in San Diego, where he began his professional career. As part of Wells Fargo’s Community Lending and Investment platform, he specialized in underwriting over $200 million in New Markets Tax Credit transactions, a hybrid equity-debt, public-private financing product used to incentivize commercial real estate development and operating business investment in low-income communities. He was also responsible for database enhancement projects,
Sirianni holds a Bachelor of Arts in Finance and Real Estate from the University of San Diego and is a member of the Urban Land Institute.