|
April 11, 2001 Construction has officially begun on the massive
International Gateway of the Americas redevelopment project, which
will help ease congestion and revitalize the border area.
This
public-private project of LandGrant Development and the City of
San Diego Redevelopment Agency will feature a modern, open-air
shopping complex, office tower, hotel and an international pedestrian
bridge connecting Avenida Revolucion in Tijuana with the heart of the
project across the border in San Diego.
The first phase will
include a 630,000-square-foot, open-air shopping center that includes
mostly retail outlet stores and several restaurants located in a food
court.
The project will also feature courtyards, fountains,
esplanades, and plazas. Leases have been signed by more than 30 retailers
including Banana Republic, Liz Claiborne, Tommy
Hilfiger, Nike, Nautica, Old Navy, The Gap
and others.
Phase II of the project would include a landmark
pedestrian bridge over the Tijuana River still subject to federal and
local government approval, a transportation terminal to facilitate buses,
taxis and private vehicle traffic, duty-free retail shopping, an office
tower and a hotel and conference center.
This phase, which would
cover 10 acres and include 540,000 square feet of development, may also
include a cultural center to provide artistic and educational exhibits,
displays and live performances.
With financial backing coming from
JE Robert Cos., the International Gateway will be a $205 million,
1.4 million-square-foot project, with the international pedestrian bridge
designed to serve as the landmark for this significant redevelopment
project.
"The 'Bridge of the Americas' will represent the
strengthening relationship between our two nations, and will offer a
cleaner, safer crossing option for the San Diego/Tijuana region, helping
to ease congestion at the current San Ysidro port of entry," says C.
Samuel Marasco, president of LandGrant. "With the traffic issues and
the millions of people that come to this region every year, we've known
that San Diego has needed this bridge and marketplace for a long time, and
the public voice confirmed our beliefs. It is clear that residents and
public officials from both sides of the border are pleased to see the
project come to fruition."
***
Inflow will sponsor
DrinkExchange on April 19 at Juke Joint Cafe, 327 Fourth
Ave. in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Founded in San Francisco three years
ago, the mission of DrinkExchange is to help Internet professionals
promote themselves by fostering an off-line community where what you
provide is roughly proportional to what you imbibe.
Instead of
buying drinks for yourself, you buy drinks for others, and others will buy
drinks for you. The Web's foremost social network, we provide a forum for
Web professionals to get together, toss back a few, and meet new people.
To receive San Diego DrinkExchange invitations, visit
www.drinkexchange.com/html/main/sandiego.html and join the list.
***
Manpower Temporary Services of San
Diego has processed more than 14,700 W-2 forms for 2000.
These
workers represent 1,050 clients throughout San Diego County and signify an
increase from the 13,070 W-2 forms released during the 1999 tax
year.
A national survey of staffing companies by the National
Association of Temporary and Staffing Services reveals that staffing
companies employ 2.9 million people per day and 72 percent of temporary
workers are retained on a permanent basis.
"We are excited to see
the strong employment market here in San Diego," says Phil Blair,
president of Manpower. "Despite decreasing employment and economic growth
nation-wide, it is encouraging to know that San Diego is defying the trend
and remaining consistent in its growth."
***
DataQuick in San Diego has begun
integrating its operations with CourthouseDirect.com, a specialized
Internet portal headquartered in Houston, to provide users with a
one-stop-shopping experience when retrieving deeds of trusts and grant
deeds.
"This alliance will greatly benefit DataQuick and their
customers," says Paul Cones, president and founder of
CourthouseDirect.com. "Working with a recognized real property data
provider such as DataQuick will create valuable brand awareness and
recognition for CourthouseDirect.com as well."
CourthouseDirect.com
is the largest provider of courthouse document images on the Internet with
65 percent of the U.S. population centers online.
The database of
courthouse documents from county real property and official records
contains about one billion pages and more than 150,000 images are being
added daily.
In addition, CourthouseDirect.com is the
one-stop-shop for public records providing corporate information,
addresses, telephone numbers, drive-it maps, and links to free county and
statewide databases of public records nationwide.
DataQuick's
partnership with CourthouseDirect.com further expands the company's
product offering to title customers by providing the necessary tools at
one easy-access location.
"DataQuick is making considerable strides
toward becoming the industry standard for providing cutting-edge products
and services," says DataQuick President Mike Ela. "Real estate and
mortgage professionals now have a central place to fulfill their needs for
reports and to download documents."
DataQuick is a a subsidiary of
MacDonald Dettwiler.
***
Unlike the roller coaster ups and downs of
stock prices, the cost of cell phone service in March continued to descend
like a glider, drifting 0.3 percent lower than the average costs in
February, according to the latest survey by Econ One, an economic
research and consulting firm which studies costs in the wireless
industry.
The average monthly cost of service in 25 major cities,
across four typical usage plans (30, 150, 300 and 600 minutes) was $38.90
in March. Average costs were down in 16 cities, up in five cities, and
unchanged in four.
In San Diego the average monthly cost was $39.72
in March, .2 percent lower than the average monthly charge.
"For
four of the last five months, our survey cost index has varied by less
than 1 percent from month to month," says Charles Mahla, senior
economist with Econ One. "For some time now, we've been noting that
wireless price changes would likely diminish in their swings. It appears
that we're now seeing that. Plan changes have slowed, and month-to-month
drops in costs have slowed with them."
San Francisco had the
largest decrease -- 2 percent to $43.34 -- but, even so, it remained the
most expensive city surveyed. Minneapolis and Phoenix had the next largest
decreases.
"Local cost changes continue to be driven by one or two
plan changes rather than sweeping introductions of new pricing schemes,"
Mahla said. "It doesn't take much in the way of specific plan changes --
one or two small alterations to a plan will do -- to see the kinds of
changes in costs we are now witnessing."
The five most expensive
cities surveyed in February -- San Francisco, Cincinnati, Los Angeles,
Boston and New York -- were the most expensive in March, as well. San
Diego ranked sixth on the list.
Atlanta, for the second month
running, had the lowest average cost -- down 1.1 percent to $36.43 -- and
Phoenix, again, had the second-lowest -- down 1.5 percent to
$36.77.
To see the survey, visit
www.wirelesssurvey.com.
***
Chasma Inc., which bills itself
as the first and largest company in the world operated entirely by teens
and a leading developer of wireless interactive entertainment, is working
to create next-generation entertainment applications for teens. The
games/applications will be compatible with Qualcomm's new Binary
Runtime Environment for Wireless applications platform.
"Qualcomm
is very pleased to have the opportunity to work with Chasma, a key
developer in next-generation wireless entertainment applications," says
Peggy Johnson, senior v.p. of Qualcomm and g.m. of Qualcomm
Internet Services. "Chasma is serving an important role in the industry by
providing the wireless Internet to teens and gamers
worldwide."
"This is a major step toward the future of
next-generation technology and entertainment," says Dave Bell, CEO
of New Hampshire-based Chasma. "We are excited to help pave the way in the
development of `for fun' wireless applications with an industry leader
like Qualcomm. I am confident our work will have a positive impact on the
wireless world for many years to come."
***
Rancho Santa Fe Technology Inc.
has completed the installation of a high-speed structured cabling system
for an existing 40,000-square-foot EDS facility in Rancho
Cordova.
Trestand Conrique, president of Rancho Santa Fe
Technology, says the project included the installation of an enhanced
Category 5 structured cabling system from the AMP NetConnect
product line. AMP NetConnect, a part of Tyco Electronics Corp.,
provides products and service offerings for complete premises cabling
systems.
The cabling system for EDS features a one gigabyte
backbone in a campus environment and provides a high-speed 100-megabyte
throughput to each desktop in a local area network comprised of 300+
stations.
The existing facility was used to combine two EDS
divisions - SSMC and Healthy Families.
***
Kintera Inc. has hired Matthew
Russo, v.p. of channel development and Scott Zimmer, v.p. of
administration and finance.
“I am delighted to announce the
addition of these two key individuals to the Kintera team,” says Harry
Gruber, CEO of Kintera. “Mr. Russo's expertise in both business
development and strategic partnering will help build upon Kintera's
current relationships and develop new ones."
Before joining
Kintera, Russo was the director of business development at Gateway
Inc., a leading international direct marketer of personal computers.
Zimmer held positions in the golf equipment industry, including a
position as CFO at Cobra Golf Inc.
***
FeRx Inc. announced that Dr.
Richard W. Keatinge has joined FeRx as v.p. of corporate
development and Dr. Kenneth A. Norton has joined as senior director
of pharmaceutical development.
“Keatinge and Norton have played
integral roles in the development of their previous companies and both
bring extensive experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical
industries to FeRx,” says Dr. Jacqueline Johnson, president and CEO
of FeRx Inc.
Separately, FeRx announced that W. Todd Myers,
formerly the company's v.p. of finance and business development, has been
named CFO and Dr. Scott R. Rudge has been promoted to v.p. of
operations and site director of the company's Colorado
laboratories.
FeRx also has moved its corporate headquarters to
expanded offices in San Diego's La Jolla Gateway and its Colorado research
and operations facility to the new Colorado Bioscience Park, located near
Denver.
Prior to joining FeRx, Keatinge was v.p., business
development at Digital Gene Technologies Inc.
Norton was
director of analytical research and development at InfiMed Therapeutics
Inc., where he authored the company's first IND and implemented its
cGMP manufacturing and testing systems.
***
Axiom Biotechnologies Inc. has
added Paul England, Paul A. Insel, Curtis D. Klaassen
and David R. Webb to its scientific advisory board.
England
was the senior v.p. of research at Aurora Biosciences and is at
present the senior scientific fellow and had a key role in the development
and implementation of Aurora's UHTS screening platform.
Insel is
professor of pharmacology and professor of medicine at UCSD and
director of the Medical Scientist Training Program.
Klaassen,
professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas
Medical Center, is an international expert in the field of
pharmacology and toxicology.
Webb serves as corporate v.p.,
technology, at OSI Pharmaceuticals.
"Paul England's
experience in high-throughput screening and Curtis Klaassen's extensive
knowledge of pharmacology and toxicology will be of significant value as
we continue to expand our compound screening and lead evaluation
capabilities," says Dr. Pandi Veerapandian, CEO of Axiom. "In
addition, the GPCR expertise of David Webb and Paul Insel will be a major
asset to both our collaborative and our internal drug discovery programs
since GPCRs represent one of the most important classes of drug discovery
targets."
***
Click Below to View Previous Daily Business
Reports
|
