SDBJ Weekly Edition

$25B Offers Little Relief For Local Housing Market

REAL ESTATE: Settlement May Prevent Some Home Foreclosures

The $25 billion legal settlement with five major mortgage banks stands to bring some $18 billion in assistance to California borrowers, but won’t improve the local housing market very much, say housing experts.

Japan Airlines Flights To Serve San Diego

TOURISM: Direct Service Will Boost Travel From Asia

San Diego will get a bigger share of the burgeoning growth in California travel by Asian consumers, when Japan Airlines begins direct nonstop service between Tokyo and Lindbergh Field in December.

Protest Puts Contract In ‘Holding Pattern’

DEFENSE: Competitors Vie for $638M Navy Electronics Deal

A $638 million U.S. Navy electronics contract is now in a “holding pattern” after a second government contractor filed a protest over the award, according to a Navy spokesman.

Sold on Walmart as Economic Stimulus

RETAIL: Store Expected to Draw Customers, Other Businesses to Area

A Walmart store arriving in South San Diego this fall is expected to bring a needed lift to business activity as well as add more than 250 jobs.

Water Customers Can Now Go With Information Flow

There’s now an app for that. San Diego County Water Authority customers can access current news releases, including a 24-hour water-related news feed, not to mention videos and links to other important information via smartphones, thanks to a mobile application recently completed by local IT design firm Bytes Inc., which is headed by founder and CEO Sanjiv Prabhakaran.

Local Cruise Ship Industry Riding a Falling Tide

TOURISM: Perfect Storm of Adversity Washes Over Business; Mexico a Factor

With visits to San Diego by cruise ships on the decline the Port of San Diego is stepping up efforts to promote the beleaguered cruise ship industry. Drug-related violence in Mexico, the accidental sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia last month off the coast of Italy, and the imminent exit of Carnival Cruise Lines from the local market in combination have significantly reduced the number of cruise ships scheduled to make port calls in San Diego in the coming year.

Biotechs Create Jobs Along With Innovations

TECHNOLOGY: Optimer More Than Doubles Staff To Advance Dificid Drug

San Diego County’s biopharmaceuticals sector is an important part of the local economy and as diverse as the 16 companies represented on the San Diego Business Journal’s list of Biotechnology Companies for 2012.

Life Sciences Venture Capital Soars 45% in Q4

Companies in San Diego’s biotechnology and medical device industries continued to receive the largest share of local venture capital during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree Survey, conducted in partnership with the National Venture Capital Association.

Cost-Cutting Comes With Benefits for the Community

FINANCE: Finding Ways to Save Creates Opportunity to Give

George Brooks-Gonyer calls it “donor fatigue.” It’s a problem that nonprofit organizations face in the current financial climate, and it’s getting worse, said Brooks-Gonyer, a onetime chief financial officer for the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.

Two Local Banks Post Higher Earnings for 2011

BANKING: Cal Bank & Trust, Regents Report Decline in Problem Assets

Two local banks recently reported improved financial results for 2011, citing a reduction in the amount of reserves they had to put aside to cover loan losses as problem assets declined.

CCDC Chair Denies Permits For Project

The chairman of the Centre City Development Corp., the entity that oversees redevelopment downtown, has rejected permits for a proposed Fat City Lofts mixed-use project.

REIT Determines Whether Time Is on Potential Tenants’ Side

REAL ESTATE: Firm Employs Strategy as It Invests in New Areas

Realty Income Corp. is standing by a core strategy that helped it cap a year featuring a company record $1 billion in acquisitions, a significant boost in annual revenue, and a streak of consecutive stock dividends that approached 500 months as 2011 drew to a close.

Firms Dealing With Distressed Properties Are Still Busy

REAL ESTATE: Local Situation Relatively Good; No Quick Fixes Nationally

Local firms handling fallout from delinquent commercial real estate loans, such as Trigild and Douglas Wilson Cos., are starting 2012 with plenty on their plates, even as national indicators of property distress have dwindled significantly from peaks seen in 2009 and 2010.

Gen-Probe Test Offers Alternative to Invasive Prostate Biopsies

SCIENCE: Firm Expects Significant Sales Growth From Its FDA Approvals

San Diego-based molecular diagnostics company Gen-Probe Inc. has won the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval for a test that detects the over-expression of a gene linked to prostate cancer.

Startup Field Getting Crowded, Outlook for Funding Is Murky

TECHNOLOGY: New Tech Businesses Employ 500 People; Software Is King

Stanley Kim proudly calls himself a serial entrepreneur.

Investors Bet on Bioprinting as the Next Big Thing in Medicine

SCIENCE: Organovo Raises Funds to Advance Novel Tissue Technology

Backers stepped up and invested $6.5 million in Organovo Inc.

Irwin Jacobs Stresses Business Need for Strong Cultural Climate

WORKFORCE: Qualcomm Co-Founder Also Calls For Improving Education

Qualcomm Inc. co-founder Irwin Jacobs has spoken out in support of a push by local biotech company CEO Philip Low to get mayoral candidates to present proposals for improving San Diego’s entrepreneurial climate.

DJO Global Breaks $1 Billion Sales Threshold for the 1st Time

Annual sales at Vista-based DJO Global Inc. surpassed $1 billion for the first time in 2011, said President and CEO Mike Mogul.

Military Program Changes, Cost-Cutting Measures Lead to Layoffs

WORKFORCE: Retired Admiral: Pentagon Strategy To Benefit Region

Job creation is slowly returning, but Northrop Grumman Corp., Sony Electronics and several other San Diego County employers reported job losses recently.

Bright Ideas Win Race For Cash

FINANCE: Local Biotech Leads Investment Pack Despite VC Challenges

Even amid a risk-averse investing environment, there’s always money available for the most innovative drug and medical device ideas, said Joseph Panetta, CEO of the San Diego-based life sciences trade group Biocom.

Executive Profile: Douglas Bryant

Douglas Bryant is president and chief executive officer of Quidel Corp.(QDEL), a leading provider of rapid diagnostic tests and cellular-based virology assays.

Regional Report

News and notes from communities around San Diego County

Real Estate Roundup

Projects, developments and other activity in cities in and around San Diego County

Gala Guests Can Spy Some Real Talent as Actor Takes the Stage

The La Jolla Playhouse gala will feature entertainment by stage and screen actor Peter Gallagher.

Facing Growing Problems After Redevelopment

The death of redevelopment is destined to wreak havoc on existing policies and land use requirements that have been designed to accommodate growth in our urbanized areas.

Jobs, Not Taxes, Will Raise Revenue for State

California Governor Jerry Brown has proposed a package of tax increases totaling $6.9 billion as his “solution” to the state’s long-standing budget problems. Unfortunately for Governor Brown and his pro-tax allies, these tax increases require voter approval and are scheduled for the November 2012 ballot.

4G+4G Divided By Wi-Fi=?

TECHNOLOGY: Free Wi-Fi May Spoil 4G Party, Some Say

Wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless are moving aggressively to sell extra-fast 4G Internet service to people with smartphones and tablets.

This Hole in Education Can Sink Careers

Academic institutions are charging more tuition and producing more graduates than ever before in a saturated marketplace where the competition is thick and the opportunities are slim

Region Is Ready for IT Health Care Cluster

San Diego has a chance to do what it has done so well in biomedicine and wireless technology, this time developing a regional cluster of stakeholders in the rapidly advancing field of health care information technology.