San Diego County Bar Association acquires Downtown office building for $6.83 million
CBRE arranged the $6.83 million sale of 330 A Street, a single-story office building in Downtown San Diego, to the San Diego County Bar Association. The seller was 330 A Street LLC.
The 9,000-square-foot, single-tenant building was initially constructed in 1962 and completely renovated in 2011 into its current creative office design, adding a rooftop terrace. The building is situated on a 10,000-square-foot parcel on the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and A Street.
Jeff Oesterblad and Marc Frederick of CBRE’s San Diego office represented the seller Street in the transaction. Tom Nicholas and Jack Blumenfeld of Colliers represented the buyer.
UC San Diego launches Intersections event series at Park & Market
UC San Diego Park & Market announced today the launch of Intersections, a new interdisciplinary event series, presented by UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies, taking place at the multi-tenant, mixed-use business, arts, and educational office building in downtown San Diego’s East Village. Starting in January 2023, a number of Intersections events offering new, diverse takes on traditional ideas and forms in a variety of disciplines, from artistic performances to educational lectures will take place at Park & Market’s state-of-the-art Guggenheim Theatre.
Intersections is curated by Andrew Waltz, Director of Arts Management at Park & Market. Upcoming Intersections events include a concert series curated and hosted in partnership with leading ethnographer-artist Yale Strom, which will offer authentic explorations of global music.
“Intersections fits directly into the mission of Park & Market, which is to forge connections between people, artists, educators, businesses and innovators both in San Diego and worldwide,” said Waltz. “We are thrilled to be working with curatorial partners including Yale Strom in order to bring world-class artists, writers, leaders and experts to our world-class venue. Even more exciting is the prospect of introducing San Diego audiences to ideas or approaches to traditional forms they might not otherwise encounter in a live space, in lineups they may not previously have imagined, all with thoughtful narrators to guide them through the experience.”
The upcoming Intersections concert series will be hosted by violinist Yale Strom, one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history.
To find out what events and performances are coming to Park & Market, please visit parkandmarket.ucsd.edu.
WNDR Museum, an unparalleled immersive art and technology experience, will open in San Diego Wednesday, Jan. 11. The new San Diego location will be WNDR’s second–ever location, part of a nationwide expansion from its flagship Chicago location. Located at 422 Market Street, the 15,000–square–foot museum will disrupt and redefine the traditional museum experience by inviting guests to fully engage with artworks and multi–sensory installations created by cutting edge artists, collectives, technologists, designers and makers.
WNDR San Diego will feature more than 20 exhibits created to ignite guests’ senses through breathtaking experiences. WNDR San Diego will be home to localized versions of popular exhibits found at WNDR’s flagship Chicago location alongside pieces by internationally acclaimed artists such as Keith Haring.
As guests travel through WNDR San Diego, they will be taken on a multi–dimensional journey where they will serve as an extension of each creator by interacting with various installations. Dance across Brightlogic x WNDR Studios’ Lightfloor and watch it react to your every move. Proclaim “what you know for sure” with WNDR Studios’ The Wisdom Project. Step into a garden house and weather the storm in the U.S. debut of Leigh Satchwitz +flora&faunavisions’ Inside Out.
New reading challenge at city libraries
Start off 2023 with a new book and join the San Diego Public Library’s (SDPL) Winter Reading Challenge. This year’s theme is “All the Feels” to encourage readers of all ages to explore how reading affects their emotions.
“The new year is a great time to read something you enjoy, whether that’s discovering a new book or picking up an old favorite,” said Library Director Misty Jones. “We hope the Winter Reading Challenge encourages people to visit their local San Diego Public Library location or check out the online catalog to find something engaging and inspiring to start 2023.”
The Winter Reading Challenge runs from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, 2023 and is open to readers of all ages.
Participants can earn prizes by completing a combination of five books, five hours of reading or literacy-based activities, like attending storytime at an SDPL location or sharing a favorite book with a friend. Upon completion, readers will be eligible for prizes including a “design your own” lunchbox or a cooler lunch bag.
Participants can register online and view a list of recommended books and activities by visiting sandiego.gov/WinterReading. Registration is also available in-person at any SDPL location and participants can visit the SDPL calendar to find storytimes and book discussions near them.
Rebecca Church appointed judge on the San Diego County Superior Court
Rebecca Church, 42, of San Diego County, has been appointed to serve as a judge in the San Diego County Superior Court by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Church has served as an assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California since 2015.
She was an associate at Duane Morris LLP from 2012 to 2014 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable Ruben B. Brooks at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California from 2008 to 2010.
Church earned a juris doctor degree from the California Western School of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Lorna A. Alksne. Church is registered without party preference.
San Diego Hardware celebrates 130th anniversary
San Diego Hardware celebrated 130 years in business in December! San Diego Hardware stands as the oldest family-owned and 10th-oldest business in San Diego and continues its tradition of unmatched hardware expertise and one-on-one customer service.
The company survived the pandemic and has expanded with a new online shopping site to let customers shop from the comfort of their couch, order samples and have them delivered or go to the store for a “grab and go” shopping experience. The online site also allows San Diego Hardware to expand its reach across the country.
The next generation of store leaders Bryan Haynsworth (the son of co-owner Bill Haynsworth) and Hannah Fleming Haynsworth (the daughter of co-owner Rip Fleming) took several years to develop the online site, painstakingly working to create an online marketplace to display the store’s thousands of decorative hardware items.
Military spending in San Diego grows by 4% to $19.3 billion
More than 115,000 active-duty service men and women now call San Diego home; they work alongside 3,000 military reservists, and 29,000 civilians directly employed in federal Defense jobs, according to the San Diego Military Advisory Council’s latest military economic report prepared by the Rady School of Management.
This year, Defense-related contract spending in San Diego grew by 4% to $19.3 billion, funding another 209,000 jobs. Significantly, all of these people generate additional economic activity as they live and spend within San Diego.
When the multiplier effect from this spending is considered, the total Defense contribution to the Gross Regional Product (GRP) grew by 1.8% to $56.2 billion and is responsible for 356,000 jobs. Because of the volatility in our economy through 2022, the best estimates of the San Diego’s GRP place it between 0-4 percent growth, which means that the Defense contribution remains a stabilizing 24.5 +/- 0.5 percent of total GRP. Strong, dependable, and resilient; the Defense economic sector is a vital component of our local economy.
City launches storefront improvement program for small businesses
Small business owners who are looking for a way to refresh their business might have a solution with the City of San Diego’s Storefront Improvement Program which offers free professional design and financial assistance to improve the curb appeal of local storefronts.
To qualify, businesses must be located in the City of San Diego and have a valid business tax certificate. Applicants also must be a commercial occupant of the property and have a street-level and street-facing property. The program is open to businesses that employ 25 or fewer people.
“The Storefront Improvement Program is one of the most effective and straightforward ways the City can help small businesses, by putting improvement dollars back in the hands of the owner,” said Christina Bibler, Director of the City’s Economic Development Department. “It was created specifically to help offset the cost of making businesses look nicer and has resulted in transformative results for over a hundred small businesses throughout the past decade.”
The program offers 10 hours of design time with a licensed professional and reimbursement of half the project cost up to $8,000. If businesses are located in the SD Promise Zone, a federally designated area, they could qualify for a 30% increase of $10,400 in project costs.
Applicants must identify what improvements they’d like to make, goals the improvements will achieve and how much they’d like to spend on the project. Each applicant must also include two high-resolution photos of the current look of the building with their completed applications.
To apply, business owners may visit sandiego.gov/economic-development/business/starting/improvement.
Seaport San Diego wins GOLD Award for design
Seaport San Diego has been honored with a design award, the latest milestone for the transformative redevelopment proposed for the Downtown San Diego waterfront within the Port of San Diego.
The $3.6 billion project is currently preparing to enter the environmental review process, a critical step for any large development.
Now, the project team has been presented with the 2022 ICSC GOLD Award for Evolving Innovation and Aspiration in the New Developments category.
ICSC highlighted Seaport San Diego’s design for dramatically increasing coastal access, recreational space, activities and water views of San Diego Bay while providing improved commercial fishing facilities and creating unique features including an iconic observation Tower, Aquarium, Learning Center and Blue Tech Innovation Center.
California doubling the number of EV chargers with $3 billion investment
The California Energy Commission has approved a plan for nearly $3 billion in funding for 90,000 new electric vehicle chargers in the state, accelerating the state’s transition to clean transportation. That’s a 30x increase in funding from 2019 levels.
The funding will double the state’s charging network from 80,000 publicly available chargers to 170,000, keeping the state on track to achieve its goal of 250,000 chargers installed by 2025.
The funds support the deployment of thousands of zero-emission trucks, school buses and transit buses to deliver clean air benefits and good paying jobs to neighborhoods across the state, and especially to communities hit hardest by the impacts of pollution from trucks and buses. At least half of the funding will benefit low-income and historically disadvantaged communities on the front lines of the climate crisis.
San Diego a Safe City for transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse youth
In response to the local and national escalation of violence and hateful rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ community— specifically the transgender community— the San Diego City Council approved Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Stephen Whitburn’s resolution declaring San Diego a safe City for transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse youth on Dec. 12. The resolution was drafted with community partners TransFamily Support Services and Transgender Health and Wellness Center located here in San Diego, with support from The Center
This year has seen an unprecedented wave of bigotry and violence towards the LGBTQ+ community in the form of both hate crimes and hateful legislation. The Trevor Project in their most recent survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health reported that 37% of transgender, nonbinary, and gender diverse youth have been physically threatened or harmed due to their gender identity. 93% of transgender and nonbinary youth voiced concerns of being denied access to gender-affirming medical care due to state or local laws.
“At a time when Transgender, non-binary, and gender diverse youth are facing staggering levels of discrimination and violence, we must remind everyone that our city is committed to equal justice for all and supports a safe and inclusive environment free from discrimination,” said Council member Stephen Whitburn. “To those who continue to perpetuate hate and bigotry on our citizens, I want to be clear, you will not intimidate us, you will not scare us, and you will not defeat us. We will continue to be a City that welcomes everyone.”
