Hardwood Business Hits The Floor Running

Hardwood Business Hits The Floor Running
By Ines Bebea



FAIRFIELD - Paul Yau had one goal in mind when he relocated his business from Napa to Solano Business Park in Fairfield. He wanted to take over the world . . . of premium hardwood flooring.

The owner of Gentry Hardwood Floors wanted a location that would position him in the gateway to Northern California and the rest of the country. He has been in business for four years and has not looked back since moving to Fairfield in 2005.

Yau manufactures premium hardwood flooring and distributes to retailers, developers, contractors and architects.

"Right now, we sell directly to 100 retailers in Northern California from Reno to Redding and Carmel," said Yau, who runs his business in a 12,000-square-foot facility. "I moved from Napa because I wanted a location that would give me direct access to Northern California, with transportation corridors to supply customers in all directions."

His strategy to make his flooring a hot commodity is already in place. Yau recently attended the Pacific Coast Builders Conference in San Francisco and the Surfaces Trade Show in Las Vegas to keep abreast of what's new in the home designing market.

"By attending trade shows I see firsthand the new developments and designs for homes and what the retailers are looking for," said Yau. "Hardwood floors are very attractive, and they help homes sell faster."

A career in the hardwood flooring was not Yau's lifelong dream. Yau, who earned a mechanical engineering degree from UC Berkeley stumbled into hardwood floors from personal experience. He wanted to replace the carpet in his Napa home with hardwood but was surprised at the cost.

"I really had no idea that hardwood floors were that expensive," he said. "So I looked into how the entire process was done and got into business myself."

Yau buys wood from Russia. It is shipped to China, where it is manufactured.

"Business has been really good," said Yau. "Now I'm looking for a bigger facility in Fairfield."

Finding suitable land will not be a problem for Yau. According to a land survey from the city's Economic Development Division, Fairfield has available land for industrial development and office space. Fairfield has averaged 400,000 square feet of new industrial development and 282,000 square feet of commercial and office development per year since 1990.

The city has permitted more than 7 million square feet of retail, office and industrial development since 1995.

"We have a lot of business parks that cater to different types of businesses, said Curt Johnston, assistant director of the Economic Development Division. "We actively recruit to brand the city as the next premium location for industrial and office development in the Bay Area."

Fairfield has attracted companies from Alameda and Contra Costa counties, said Johnston, who believes the market is ripe for businesses from San Jose, Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties that want to relocate and expand.

"Calbee America has a new facility in Fairfield, and Guittard Chocolates is beginning work on their production line," Johnston said. "We have land that is available for immediate development, as well as the infrastructure to support it.

"We are good at attracting firms who like the central location of Fairfield, with the proximity to the Bay Area counties and Sacramento."

Tim Ridosh, marketing director for the Fairfield-Suisun Chamber of Commerce, is not surprised that business owners are choosing to headquarter their businesses here.

"The perfect example is Copart, Inc. in Green Valley," Ridosh said. "They are an international company who will be celebrating 25 years, and they can do everything from Fairfield.

"All the development will come this way. Our land is cheaper, and we have a lot of it waiting to be developed. Our transportation corridors can lead you all the way to the East Coast, while our ports can take your products West."

Reach Ines Bebea at 427-6934 or ibebea@dailyrepublic.net.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

Just What The Doctor Ordered
Cancer Research Center Should Give Vallejo's Economy A Boost
By Shelly Meron/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com



A patient table and imaging system sits in the Heidelberg Ion Beam Therapy Center in Heidelberg, Germany. A similar setup is being planned by Touro University for a particle therapy center in Vallejo. (Courtesy photo)

Touro University officials announced a plan Thursday to develop a particle therapy center at the Vallejo campus, which will feature the latest in cancer treatment and research and is expected to boost Vallejo's economic development.

Touro University officials and others involved with the project believe the center, which will include state-of-the-art equipment from Siemens Medical Solutions, will lead to the growth of the University and the bio-medical industry in Solano County.

"It will accelerate our growth and, more importantly, it brings in contributing industries," said Dick Hassel, vice president of administration at Touro University's Vallejo campus. "The biotech corridor is really going to thrive from this technology because it's really seen as the future of medicine."

The $330 million particle beam treatment center will feature therapies currently only being offered in Germany and Japan. Dr. Michael Clearfield, dean of the College of Osteo- pathic Medicine at Touro University, said the new technology is the next step in cancer treatment, particularly what's known as proton therapy.

The particle beam center will allow doctors "to treat tumors that, to date, are untreatable" with traditional radiation therapy, Clearfield said.

He added that the new technology can better focus on tumors and would cause less damage to surrounding tissue. It also has the potential to treat cancer with less therapy sessions, allowing patients to return to their normal lives faster and with less side effects.

The center will consist of a 125,000 square-foot building, constructed as a green facility. It is scheduled to open in 2010 at the corner of G Street and Azuar Avenue in Vallejo.

The announcement comes after almost a year of negotiations between the university and the city of Vallejo.

Vallejo City Manager Joe Tanner said the project will jump-start the city's economy.

"I would expect the economic development of Vallejo to boom once this project is up," Tanner said. "We needed something to kick-start it, and this is the thing that will kick-start it."

Mike Ammann, president of the Solano Economic Development Corporation, said all of Solano County will benefit from the new center.

"This really solidifies for Solano (County) that we have the ability not only to manufacture, but to research, in the bio-science area," he said.

Touro University is already discussing possible partnerships with other research universities and institutions, according to Hassel, who would not go into details.

All who are involved in the project say it is an exciting, new chapter for Vallejo, Touro University, and medicine as a whole.

"The new knowledge that's going to come from this technology is really opening up a new chapter in medicine," said Clearfield. "It's exciting for us just to be participating in something like this."

Shelly Meron can be reached at business@thereporter.com.

On Their Guard

On Their Guard
Rio Vista Firm On Cutting Edge Of Technology In Freeway Barriers
By Shelly Meron/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com



Jeff Shewmaker, marketing manager for Rio Vista-based Barrier Systems Inc., stands next to the BarrierGuard 800, a steel safety barrier system. (Ryan Chalk/The Reporter)

With so much freeway congestion, it's only fitting that a company making some of the latest technology in freeway barriers is located in Solano County. Rio Vista-based Barrier Systems Inc. came to the area in 1991, and today produces several guard rail products, including a light-weight steel barrier and a moveable concrete barrier that can be used to re-direct traffic during high congestion.

The company's BarrierGuard 800 is a steel barrier that was recently used on I-5 near Redding to replace a small section of freeway barrier that was often hit by motorists. Barrier Systems Inc.'s chief operating officer, Chris Sanders, said the product provides an exciting alternative to freeway and bridge contractors.

"It's lightweight, so it's easy to transport," Sanders said. "And the life expectancy of steel barriers is much longer than that of a concrete barrier that's being moved" because concrete barriers break easily in transport.

Sanders said traditional concrete barriers weigh about 6,000 lbs., compared with 1,200 lbs. for a steel barrier of the same length. He also said a truck could hold 600 linear ft. of the steel barriers, compared with only 100 linear ft. of the traditional type.

"If you're trying to deliver some to a job site, you can drive one-sixth of the trucks," he explained.

The barriers are also quicker to assemble, using only one bolt with a crew of three capable of assembling up to 1,000 ft. of the barrier per hour, according to the company's Web site.

It can also be safer in certain circumstances, causing less damage to a car or to the barrier itself in the event of impact during a crash.

"They have a lower deflection," he said. "These barriers are very high performing barriers."

Although the upfront costs of installing the steel barriers is about three times more expensive than traditional concrete barriers - mostly because of the high cost of steel - Sanders said the costs are offset in the long-run.

"Yes, it costs more today, but it lasts much longer," he explained, adding that companies will also save fuel in transport because the barriers are lighter. "It is, upfront, a more expensive product. But over the life of the product, it is similar or better (in cost)."

The BarrierGuard 800 is widely used in Europe, but has also been used in projects in Georgia, Minnesota, New Jersey and South America. Sanders said about 150 miles of this technology have been used all over the world.

One of Barrier Systems Inc.'s other products is a moveable concrete barrier that can be used to close off certain areas on construction sites, as well as to direct traffic.

The barriers are lighter, so they can be easily moved several times a day at a work site if necessary. Traditional temporary barriers at some projects aren't moved for weeks, or even months, because they are so heavy and would take more time and money to move.

Even more exciting, says Sanders, is how the moveable barriers are being used to off-set traffic congestion. He cites the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in southern California as an example, where the barriers are moved depending on the time of day and what direction heavy traffic is headed.

"What the (barrier) system allows you to do is manage traffic congestion," he said. "We can create extra lanes in peak traffic direction, then reverse it in the afternoon for the afternoon commute. If there's unused capacity on one side, we can use those lanes."

It would seem California would be quick to install these barriers in other, heavily-congested areas. But it turns out the state is a bit behind in implementing the new technology.

"Other states have adopted it far more readily than we have," Sanders said. "It just hasn't been used (in California) as much. You're working with engineers and state governments. It's a slow process."

Sanders said there are future plans to implement the moveable barriers on the Golden Gate Bridge, but he did not have a specific timeline for that project.

He was optimistic, however, about the future of the barriers in California, and around the country.

"There are a lot of bridges that have to get fixed in the U.S.," he said. "We believe that it will be used in a lot of bridge repair projects around the country.

"I think it will (change)," he said of the slow move toward the new barriers. "We're making progress."



Gerrit Dyke, senior engineer with Rio Vista-based Barrier Systems Inc., pulls up a rendering of a crash cushion design. (Ryan Chalk/The Reporter)

Shelly Meron can be reached at business@thereporter.com.

County's Population Predicted To Double By 2050

County's Population Predicted To Double By 2050
By Barry Eberling

FAIRFIELD - New predictions for California's population show a tidal wave of people heading to Solano County in the next four decades.

The county is now home to about 404,000 people. That will increase to 441,061 by the end of the decade, 503,248 by 2020, 590,166 by 2030, 697,206 by 2040 and 815,524 by 2050, according to predictions released Monday by the state Department of Finance.

By 2050, Solano County could have as many people as Fresno or San Francisco counties do today. The predictions released Monday show California as a whole growing from about 39 million currently to almost 60 million by 2050.

That would suggest a future Solano County that looks more like Los Angeles than the combination of cities, farms and open space that local leaders envision today.

But Solano County Supervisor Jim Spering said Monday the projections are probably inflated. Also, he sees Solano County as having a voice in what happens.

"The real question is what are we going to accommodate," Spering said.

Solano County's General Plan sets policies for land use patterns for farming and open space, Spering said. That will play a key role in how much population the county will absorb, he said.

Growth is being managed, Spering said. Cities will likely have higher densities and will have some expansion, he said.

"I think there's been a lot of lessons learned from the Bay Area," Spering said. "We know what works and what doesn't work. We understand the effects on the quality of life, the importance of open space and agriculture."

Solano County is updating its General Plan and is scheduled to finish next year. That will help decide the future of the county for the next 20 years.

Fairfield Mayor Harry Price said the county, with its freeway system and location, is a desirable place to live. He foresees Vacaville growing toward Winters and Rio Vista growing west on Highway 12.

Fairfield's General Plan calls for an ultimate population of about 135,000. But the county growth predicted by the state would suggest the city will grow far beyond that.

"Fairfield will be under tremendous growth pressure," Price said.

The ultimate limiting factor for growth in the city and in California could be water supplies, Price said.

Like the rest of California, the state predictions also show a transformation in the county's population by race.

As of 2000, Solano County's population was 49 percent white, 17 percent Hispanic, 12 percent Asian and 14 percent black. In 2050, the county could be 39 percent Hispanic, 25 percent Asian, 22 percent white and 6 percent black, according to the predictions.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

City Officials: Touro Project Exciting News

City Officials: Touro Project Exciting News
By SARAH ROHRS/Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald

If the notable Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., doesn't beat it to the finish line, Touro University will become the first facility in the United States to offer the latest technology in cancer treatment.

A day after Touro announced a combined particle beam therapy center for Mare Island's north end, several city officials said the project is "exciting" news for Vallejo.

The cancer treatment and research center would cost $231 million alone, which represents a significant investment in Vallejo's future, said Touro vice president Richard Hassel.

It is part of Touro's ambitious $1.2 billion plans for the former Naval base.

"If it comes to pass it will be the kind of development everyone has been wanting for Mare Island. It's exciting," Vallejo Mayor Tony Intintoli said. "It has a potential for creating an economic boom for Vallejo."

His sentiments were shared by council members Tom Bartee, Stephanie Gomes and Tony Pearsall.

The school has teamed up with international medical giant Siemens Medical Solutions to develop the facility. The 125,000-square-foot center is slated for the corner of G Street and Azuar Drive. Construction could start by the end of the year, with the center completed in 2010.

"It's actually a pretty big deal. It's actually huge," City Manager Joe Tanner said. "If they get this thing built, it will mean jobs, jobs and more jobs."

Technically, Touro's plans for Mare Island's north end are still in the proposal stage. However, Tanner said the deal is nearly complete, and both the city and Touro are "within inches" of signing.

The City Council will have the final say. Tanner said he is unsure when the deal goes to the council, but added, "we expect it to happen very soon." Earlier this year, the city agreed to negotiate exclusively with Touro to develop the north end.

Tanner said he predicts doctors will flock to Vallejo and professional office buildings will sprout up around the new cancer center and elsewhere in Vallejo.

Meanwhile, Mayo Clinic radiation oncologist Robert Foote said the Rochester clinic is also forging ahead with a center utilizing the same combined particle beam technology.

"I guess you could call it a race," Foote said. "We hope to be the first." He said Touro and Mayo Clinic officials met earlier this year to discuss the project.

Foote said combined particle beam therapy will use proton beams and heavy carbon ions, which have been shown to be more effective than conventional radiation therapy.

Touro president Bernard Lander said Mare Island is an ideal spot for a medical and research center with enough land to expand.

"There are people dying. We need more and more aggressive approaches to fight cancer," Lander said.

Within the north end, Touro also intends to build a large cultural center, hotel, retail areas, classrooms and student housing. The school opened in 1998 and is educating more than 1,400 students at colleges of osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, health sciences and education.

For more details on the project go to: www.touro.edu/general/news/particletherapy.

Contact Sarah Rohrs at srohrs@thnewsnet.com or 553-6832.

Touro's Radical Cancer Center

Touro's Radical Cancer Center
Vallejo University Announces Plans For New Disease Treatment
By SARAH ROHRS/Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald

First ships. Now particle beams.

Touro University's plans for Mare Island will involve a coup in the medical arena - a combined particle therapy center representing the latest technology in cancer treatment and research.

Touro says such a center will likely be the first of its kind in the United States. It will be a major part of the school's ambitious $1.2 billion plans for a 191-acre parcel on Mare Island's north end.

"This is great news for Vallejo," said Touro Vice President Richard Hassell. "This puts us on the international map."

Mare Island became synonymous with Vallejo as the Navy churned out 512 ships and repaired hundreds more. Touro University was one of the first to move in after the Navy closed the base in 1996.

In its ambitious expansion plans, Touro has teamed up with international medical giant Siemens Medical Solutions to develop the particle beam center. The university operates four medical colleges within its current 44-acre campus on the island's south end.

Particle beam therapy is a form of radiation therapy, and is still a relatively unknown part of the medical frontier. "This technology is still in its infancy and its boundaries are not known," Hassell added.

In the battle against cancer, combined particle therapy is available only in Japan and Germany, according to a Touro announcement. The Touro facility will receive and benefit from the latest technologies as they become available, Hassell said.

Touro and Siemens have signed a contract to develop the project, and are in the midst of ironing out final design details, officials said. Touro will use integrated software systems and Siemens equipment and technologies.

The 125,000-square-foot center is slated for a parcel at G Street and Azuar Drive. Touro development manager Bruce Lang said construction could start by the end of the year, with the center completed in 2010.

Within the north end, Touro also intends to build a large cultural center, hotel, retail areas, classrooms and student housing. The center will be a key part of a bio tech center, Hassell said.

Earlier this year, the City Council agreed to negotiate exclusively with Touro to develop the north end. The city could recommend completion of a development agreement if Touro meets several deadlines before the agreement expires in 90 days.

Dennis Falkenstein, Siemens Medical Solutions vice president of particle therapy solutions, was quoted in the Touro announcement saying that particle therapy is subject to final FDA clearance upon completion.

"Siemens has made a major investment in particle therapy research and development and looks forward to working on this project in the Bay area," he said.

The north end parcel is bordered by Azuar Drive, the Mare Island Strait, G Street and Highway 37.

Contact Sarah Rohrs at srohrs@thnewsnet.com or 553-6832.

City of Dixon Leaders to look at things needed by Genentech to build a research facility,

Dixon council faces a full agenda

Leaders to look at things needed by Genentech to build a research facility, as well as review the mayor's appointments to fill out three commissions.

By Melissa Murphy/Staff Writer

Article Launched: 06/25/2007 06:19:36 AM PDT


Vacating easements for a Genentech project, new commission appointments, design standards for the downtown and a 2007-08 general fund budget are on Tuesday's Dixon City Council agenda.

A public hearing is to be scheduled for July 24 to discuss possible relinquishment of light and air easements and a portion of a right-of-way for a Genentech biotech research facility to be built at 2727 Fitzgerald Drive.

Meanwhile, the mayor has made appointments to vacancies on three commissions. The council will have final approval of those appointments. Kay Fulfs Cayler, Chris Duncan and Wayne Williams have been appointed to the Planning Commission for terms that expire June 30, 2011.

Robert Dohr and Robert Sperry have been appointed to the Parks and Recreation Commission for terms that expire June 30, 2009. Salvador Torres is to serve an unexpired term on the Parks and Recreation Commission until June 30, 2008. Giovanna Camacho is to serve as a student representative on the Parks and Recreation Commission until June 30, 2008.

Thomas Bradley, Russ Cayler and Joan Schindel have been appointed to the Transportation Advisory Commission. Their terms will expire June 30, 2011.

The Downtown Dixon Business Association would like the council to approve new architectural design guidelines and a special downtown zoning district.

The Planning Commission considered a proposal to amend the Zoning Ordinance in response to the downtown association's request. It unanimously chose to recommend to the City Council the approval of the amendments to the zoning ordinance that creates a Central Commercial District.

In other action, the council will have the option to adopt a resolution approving the 2007-08 General Fund Budget.

In addition to spending less than planned during the current fiscal year, the city has collected more revenue than expected. The City Council has been given a preliminary General Fund budget of $14.9 million for the next fiscal year, with $17.3 million in estimated available resources.

The current fiscal year of 2006-07, is projected to end on a high note, bringing in $17.2 million in revenue - $1.1 million more than anticipated. The city, in contrast to its projections for 2006-07, expects to have spent $293,203 less by June 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

Other matters the council will discuss Tuesday include disapproving the Jackson Square project that proposed to subdivide the 2.57-acres into 42 parcels, including 40 townhome sites, one common area of 1.51 acres and one vacant parcel of .11 of an acre.

Vice Mayor Michael Smith would like to discuss residential curbside recycling to be provided by the Dixon Sanitary Service.

Councilman Michael Alexander would also like to discuss a possible $5,000 contribution from the city to this year's Lambtown festival on July 28 at Hall Park.

The City Council meets at 7 p.m. in the Council Chamber, 600 East A St.

Melissa Murphy can be reached at dixon@thereporter.com.

Unlike other counties, Solano not facing water reductions

June 25, 2007

Unlike other counties, Solano not facing water reductions

By Barry Eberling


FAIRFIELD - Solano County residents can use water this summer without taking extraordinary conservation steps and feel no guilt.

That's not true everywhere in California. The Sonoma Water Agency has been ordered by the state to cut water use by 15 percent. Los Angeles and San Francisco are both strongly urging customers to conserve water.

A dry winter will do that. The Sierra Nevada snow pack - the state's major water source - was 71 percent below normal levels. Levels in many of the state's rivers, such as the Russian, have been low.

Solano County is in better shape than many areas. Local officials don't want residents to waste water but are not asking people to forgo showers or skimp on watering the lawn.

"None of the cities are in a situation where they even have to ask for voluntary reductions," Solano County Water Agency Manager David Okita said.

Residents might give thanks by filling a glass full of water and toasting the Lake Berryessa reservoir.

Lake Berryessa is Solano County's ace-in-the-hole. The reservoir, which is 87 percent full, is able to withstand several dry years in a row. Virtually all of its water goes to the county's farms and cities.

"Generally, a single year is nothing to worry about," Okita said.

The 23-mile-long reservoir depends on rainfall in the coastal mountains, not a snow pack. Because of its size, water levels are slow to drop. Although the lake got only half its normal 24 inches of rain last winter, it still can easily supply local cities and farms.

SCWA considers the area in drought conditions when Lake Berryessa reaches 50 percent capacity. That last happened in 1994.

Fairfield Assistant Public Works Director Rick Wood said the city has spent a lot of money for reliable sources of water. The payback for ratepayers is they don't face mandatory conservation, he said.

"We emphasize conservation as a way of life at all times," Wood said. "But there's no reason for exceptional efforts for conservation in Fairfield."

The reliable water source is one of the items Fairfield uses to attract businesses, he said.

Fairfield gets about 60 percent of its water from Lake Berryessa and 40 percent from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Vallejo, Suisun City and Vacaville also use Lake Berryessa water.

The reservoir formed after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation built Monticello Dam 50 years ago. Solano County leaders had lobbied the federal government for almost two decades to build the dam.

Dixon and Rio Vista do not get Lake Berryessa water, relying instead on well water. Yet, these cities also do not face a water crisis.

The Solano Irrigation District helps provide water to Dixon. Water in the wells remains at decent levels, SID General Manager Suzanne Butterfield said.

"One dry winter does not a drought make," she said.

If next winter is just as dry, it would be prudent to start requiring reasonable water conservation efforts in Dixon, she said.

But for now, Solano County residents can go about their usual lives without giving water supplies a second thought.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

Vallejo M.I. water project funding OK'd

M.I. water project funding OK'd

By DAN JUDGE/Times-Herald staff writer

Article Launched: 06/24/2007 09:20:19 AM PDT


Federal funding for a water quality project on Mare Island has been given initial approval, Congressman George Miller, D-Martinez, has announced.

A congressional panel has recommended that $650,000 from an Environmental Protection Agency program be funneled into an upgrade of Mare Island's aging sanitary and storm drain system.

"That whole system was originally built in the 1800s," said Susan McCue, Vallejo's economic development manager. "We really need to upgrade the system and getting that federal funding is a really critical step."

Mare Island Naval Shipyard was closed in 1996 and the island has since been undergoing commercial and residential development.

In an effort to reach that goal, the city needed to overhaul the entire sanitary and storm drain system.

Vallejo budgeted money for the required local matching funds and asked Congress for help in completing the project.

Completion of the system is expected to improve the region's water quality while aiding Mare Island's commercial development.

Miller also announced that $100,000 in funding was given initial approval for the Maritime History Center for Working Families in Richmond.

Originally the Maritime Child Development Center, it was built during World War II as a nursery school for children of women working in the nearby Kaiser Company shipyards.

The Rosie the Riveter Trust plans to rehabilitate the building to create a historical center.

"I am pleased that the Appropriations Committee is supporting these two important projects in Vallejo and Richmond," Miller said in a prepared statement. "They will both enhance economic development and, in Richmond, the park project will enhance our community's and our nation's understanding of the important role the people and workers of Richmond played during World War II."

Funding for both projects is subject to final approval by the full Appropriations Committee and Congress.

We need vision, infrastructure

We need vision, infrastructure

By Doug Ford

Article Launched: 06/23/2007 08:53:24 AM PDT


Two events in the past 10 days indicate that Solano leaders are on the way to developing a bright vision for the county's future. The first, on June 13, was a reception for new California Transportation Commission members Carl Guardino and Jim Earp at Solano Economic Development Corp.'s really nice new offices at 360 Campus Lane in the Fairfield Corporate Commons business park.

The second was the second Solano Economic Summit on June 19 at the Courtyard by Marriott. It was sponsored by Solano County, the City-County Coordinating Council, Solano EDC, the Solano Transportation Authority and the University of California, Davis.

I'm hopeful that the first event will help move us toward a solution to the county's biggest infrastructure problem: the very overloaded freeway interchange in Cordelia. For far too long, our state has been living off the capital of an infrastructure that was built two generations ago when Pat Brown was governor. We need a great deal of modernization of existing transportation facilities and the building of new ones from one end of the state to the other if we are serious about providing a good future for our rising generations. We can hope that Commissioners Guardino and Earp will be able to persuade state leaders to do that.

Economic Summit II brought together a broad spectrum of leaders from across the county and beyond to explore the possibilities and then to shape a common plan for our county's economic future. A lot of good ideas have been proposed, and several are already in practice. Too many ideas have been proposed to even begin to discuss them here. I'll only touch on a couple of the best.

First, there is general approval for continued emphasis on support for biotech. We already have the world's largest manufacturing facility for biotech pharmaceuticals, the Genentech plant in Vacaville. We also have biotech-related manufacturing by Alza, Chiron, Synder, and several smaller companies. This is a good start on a strong economic cluster. We need to continue to work on improving support for this cluster through better and expanding education.

Jim DeKloe, a Solano Community College professor, got things started more than 15 years ago when he proposed a program to train biotech technicians to work in the Vacaville cluster. Unusual for an academic, he made it a point to go out and talk with prospective employers about designing the curricula for the program. He worked at the Genentech headquarters in South San Francisco for six months, and at UC Davis even longer to learn about what was needed. Then he established the first biotech manufacturing technicians program, with laboratory equipment donated by Genentech. Many of the program's participants have been hired away before they could complete it.

More recently, the BioTech System consortium of Solano, Yolo and Sacramento counties has been established to partner with local biotech industry, community college and university faculty, high schools and regional organizations. It has been slow going to get high school students involved in the tremendous opportunities provided by biotech, but much progress has been made in the past couple of years. Now students at Vacaville, Benicia, Rodriguez, and Hogan high schools can get a head start toward careers in biotech through a Regional Occupational Program (ROP) offered by the Solano County Office of Education. Everyone involved, far too numerous to list here, deserves our accolades! We need to keep building on and expanding this effort.

Another area that has great potential in Solano County is energy. We already have a very large investment in the production of energy with the large Valero Oil refinery in Benicia and other energy companies that are developing and expanding solar and wind energy. And we have strong engineering departments at UC Davis and the California Maritime Academy, the first focused primarily on transportation applications and the second on improving energy use in ocean vessels and in buildings.

Now what we need for the field of energy is an effort comparable to what Jim DeKloe got started.

• The author is retired from the U.S. Air Force, lives in Dixon and serves on the Solano County Board of Education.

Rally for biotech Don't let jealousies sabotage Solano's economic growth

Rally for biotech

Don't let jealousies sabotage Solano's economic growth

By Michael Ammann

Article Launched: 06/24/2007 07:19:08 AM PDT


The potential for biotechnology growth in Solano County is tremendous. While Solano County and its individual cities have succeeded in attracting some of the key corporations in this dynamic industry, much more can be accomplished if we can create a more effective and viable partnership of business, government and education.

The good news is that we have been successful with nominal budgets, but one has to wonder how much more we could achieve with adequate economic development funding and common goals and strategies.

The bad news is that the state of California has woefully failed to provide the dollars and incentives necessary to compete for this booming industry. It has been put on the shoulders of cities and regional entities, such as Solano Economic Development Corp., to shoulder the financial burden.

With such phenomenal financial returns for local communities, it is no

wonder the competition is growing. Today, it no longer is a national competition to attract and maintain major employers in the biotech field - it is now an international competition. And the promotional dollars are flowing at enormous rates. Singapore and Scotland are two examples of how competitive the biotech field is worldwide.

In Singapore, output from drug factories has jumped more than 30 percent in the past year alone, to a record $14.8 billion. Singapore has poured resources into academic and industry education, creating a pool of skilled labor. It is graduating some 3,500 university students each year, and another 3,000 trained technicians. This has attracted four major companies in the past year: Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Lonza and Schering-Plough.

Scotland is another example of a nation's all-out effort to attract biotech. Bristol-Myers Squibb recently broke ground in Devens, Scotland, for a $660 million biomanufacturing plant. Insiders predict that Scotland is working diligently to bring more major companies to the region.

These two examples alone demonstrate the international competition for the biotech expansion - and why Solano County must strategize to meet the challenge to attract these highly favorable economic expansions.

At the recent BIO 2007 convention in Boston - the world's largest show for the industry - California competed against Singapore and a score of other "big hitters" who came with millions of dollars in exhibits, receptions and gifts.

TEAM California - a nonprofit organization comprised of local economic development organizations and a handful of large cities, counties and corporations - was also at the convention, but not with the financial clout others had.

As in Solano County, TEAM California relies on effective personal contacts and the natural resources of California to entice corporations and developers. There have been successes, and Solano County certainly is one of the stars in this area.

Solano County relies on its Economic Development Corp. and local economic professionals to attract business. The county is strategically placed to become a leader in the biotech industry. It is situated between two major metropolitan areas and near two of the finest research universities in the world, the University of California at Berkeley and Davis. These universities are both receiving financial support and are expanding their biotechnology research capabilities even more.

Solano County also has a built-in work force, with many well-paid workers just waiting for good jobs so they won't face the commutes to the Bay Area or state capital.

The Solano EDC, working in partnership with local cities, is putting up a valiant battle to attract major employers to our area. In some ways, it is an easy sale. The natural beauty of our communities goes a long way toward getting companies interested in locating here. They like the variety of lifestyle available here and the fact the county has low crime rates and good higher education opportunities.

But, compare Solano County with Boston, for example, and it is easy to understand why we are facing a battle for the economic future. Boston is also an attractive place to live and it, too, has a solid bio-industry.

At the Bio 2007 trade show last month, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council spent $1.2 million to create a pavilion. That's almost twice the annual budget of economic development expenditures in Solano County!

Solano County's future for economic development will depend on three things:

• A recognition from cities, county officials and private industry that biotech is good business for here.

• A strategic game plan to attract firms. Solano EDC, working in partnership with government and the private sector, must build on its current marketing campaign plan to create a long-term strategy to pursue biotech firms.

• Adequate funding to compete in this market. The stakes are high, the payoffs are tremendous, and our professionals need to be armed with the best marketing tools we can afford.

How simple it all sounds. Just do three things and Solano County will have even more successes in the biotech field. Yet the battles of turf and egos are something that has to be overcome.

We all must recognize that if a major employer selects a city in Solano County for expansion, the entire county has the opportunity to benefit. Genentech, for example, recently chose Dixon for its new research and development facility. This will benefit all other cities. It will open up job opportunities for our residents. It will generate more interest in Solano County, which means a greater chance for another firm to move to the area. Biotech firms tend to cluster together, to share and attract suppliers and a labor force.

It truly is one big puzzle that has to be put together, and all of the pieces must fit and none be lost. If just one city, or the county government, or a major developer, or a vital labor organization is missing, the puzzle will not be completed, nor will the goals be reached.

Solano EDC is the county's economic arm, with 200 members. Working through its Marketing Committee, comprised of local cities, nonprofits and business, the EDC is dedicated to getting more companies to "plant their business in Solano County" because, when it's all said and done "Solano's got it."

• The author is president of the Solano Economic Development Corp., a private-public partnership designed to attract and retain business and industry in Solano County.

PG&E offers economic-development grants

PG&E offers economic-development grants

East Bay Business Times - 2:14 PM PDT Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said it would offer a total of $400,000 in economic-development grants to local organizations and agencies throughout its territory.

The utility is accepting applications through August 17 for grants ranging from $2,500 to $10,000. Applicants can apply online at www.pge.com.

The program goal is to increase or retain jobs in the primary businesses that support the local economy, Helen Burt, senior vice president and chief customer officer for PG&E, said in a statement.

Last year PG&E awarded approximately $380,000 to 63 community-based organization and local government agencies.

Financial outlook good for schools in Vacaville

Financial outlook good for schools in Vacaville

By Julie Kay/ /Staff Writer

Article Launched: 06/27/2007 05:09:18 AM PDT


Despite challenges that include a decline in student enrollment, there is reason for a good outlook regarding the financial health of the Vacaville Unified School District, officials say.

At Thursday's school board meeting, John Niederkorn, the district's finance director, will explain the specifics to the board and the public, will discuss the district's 2006-07 budget and will present a proposed budget for the 2007-08 school year.

Niederkorn's presentation marks an annual ritual of projection. Without definitive information on how much money the governor will designate for education in his 2007-08 budget, district finance directors make educated guesses, revising their proposals after the state budget comes out.

This initial proposal must be approved by the school board and submitted to the county office of education by July 1.

Niederkorn's proposed 2007-08 budget projects an ending balance of about $17 million, compared with 2005-06's approximately $15 million.

The district's ending balance in 2004-05 came to about $11 million.

Niederkorn projects the district will receive about $92 million in revenues in the coming year, and will spend $89 million. The ending balance figure for 2007-08 factors in the district's ending balance from last year.

Niederkorn had positive words regarding the significance of the proposal.

"While there is nothing to celebrate regarding any 'unexpected good fortune' we do have satisfaction in our growing fiscal stability as evidenced by our growing ending fund balance," he said.

"Yes, we continue to decline in enrollment, but not as much. We are making progress as we demonstrate improved student performance, we are addressing employee compensation concerns, we are funding our district's priorities."

The school board meets at 7:30 p.m. in the City Council Chamber, 650 Merchant St., Vacaville.

Julie Kay can be reached at schools@thereporter.com.

Energy Department picks Bay Area for new bioenergy institute

Energy Department picks Bay Area for new bioenergy institute

San Francisco Business Times - 11:50 AM PDT Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will lead one of three new U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Research Centers, the federal government said Tuesday, intended to accelerate basic research of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels.

The DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute - along with sibling research centers in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Madison, Wis. - includes University of California campuses at Berkeley and Davis, Stanford University, the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday that the department will invest up to $375 million in the three centers as part of President Bush's "Twenty in Ten" initiative, which seeks to reduce U.S. gasoline consumption by 20 percent within 10 years.

The centers are expected to begin work in 2008 and be fully operational in 2009.

The Energy Department will fund the centers for the first five years of operation, through fiscal 2013.

"The collaborations of academic, corporate and national laboratory researchers represented by these centers are truly impressive and I am very encouraged by the potential they hold for advancing America's energy security," Bodman said in a press release.

Jay Keasling, who will be the director of the Berkeley institute, said during a press conference Tuesday that the Joint BioEnergy Institute will work with the BP Energy Biosciences Institute, funded earlier this year with a $500 million award from oil giant BP.

"It will be complementary, but it doesn't overlap," Keasling said.

The Joint BioEnergy Institute will work on liquid fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass, specifically the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into biofuels.

Lignocellulose, the most abundant organic material on the planet, is a mix of complex sugars and lignin that gives strength and structure to plant cell walls. By extracting simple fermentable sugars from lignocellulose and producing biofuels from them, the potential of the most energy-efficient and environmentally benign fuel crops can be realized.

Other members of the Joint BioEnergy Institute leadership team are Harvey Blanch, Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley, as chief science and technology officer; Wolf Frommer of Stanford as vice president of feedstocks; Blake Simmons of Sandia as vice president of deconstruction; Paul Adams of the Berkeley Lab as vice president of technology; and Kathe Andrews-Cramer of Sandia as vice president of strategic integration.

In all, the centers will bring together diverse teams of researchers from 18 of the nation's leading universities, seven Energy Department national laboratories, at least one nonprofit organization and some private companies. All three will use different plants both for laboratory research and for improving feedstock crops.

Officials at the Tuesday press conference said the research could have potential applications beyond biofuels.

The department's Office of Science in August 2006 called for competitive applications, and government officials said the three centers were chosen following a merit-based, competitive review process that included external scientific peer review of the applications.

Government officials would not say how many applications were received.

Repairs to ease drivers' despair on I-80

June 29, 2007

Repairs to ease drivers' despair on I-80

By Barry Eberling


FAIRFIELD - Workers are making $2 million in emergency repairs along the local stretch of Interstate 80 to smooth out the ride just a little bit.

The state Department of Transportation makes a few repairs on the deteriorating pavement just about every year. Workers take out the worst potholes in the Fairfield and Vacaville area, where the decades-old concrete pavement in some areas sinks several inches.

"They're trying to keep (the pavement) together," said Daryl Halls, Solano Transportation Authority executive director. "They understand the highway is falling apart."

Some repairs will be made on westbound I-80 near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, Caltrans official Keith Wayne said.

The agency also made $2 million in emergency repairs last summer. It replaced 250 concrete slabs, each several feet wide.

Although Caltrans annually gets rid of the most jarring potholes, plenty of crumbling pavement remains. The emergency repairs are buying time.

"They're just kind of bandaging it until the major resurfacing can take place," Halls said.

That long-awaited, $120 million renovation project is to begin next year. It will repair pavement from Leisure Town Road in Vacaville to near Hiddenbrooke in Vallejo, except for a stretch near Cordelia that was repaved in 2004.

Also next year, Caltrans will start building carpool lanes that will extend eight miles from Red Top Road to Air Base Parkway. Because of that work, Fairfield will be the last area to get the pavement renovation.

Halls said the renovation project will start at both the Vallejo and Vacaville ends and work toward Fairfield.

For now, though, the freeway will be a little smoother because of the emergency repairs that began last week. The California Transportation Commission approved the repairs at its meetings in early June.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

UC Davis joins bioenergy research partnership

UC Davis joins bioenergy research partnership

Sacramento Business Journal - 2:46 PM PDT Tuesday, June 26, 2007

University of California Davis will become a partner in a new $125 million federal bioenergy research center, according to the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday.

The federal funds will finance national laboratories at three research universities in Northern California, including UC Davis. The university will receive about $5 million from the program, said Pamela Ronald, the chief Joint BioEnergy Institute researcher at UC Davis.

Researchers will look at how to convert plants into energy for buildings, industry and transportation.

"We will be studying rice as a model grass crop, as well another plant model, Arabidopsis, to understand exactly how the cell wall is constructed," Ronald said in a news release.

Other UC Davis scientists will look for microbes that are adept at degrading the cell walls, critical to the biofuels production process.

Joint BioEnergy Institute partners are UC Davis, University of California Berkeley, Stanford University, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Leadership for the project will come from the Berkeley Lab.

"These centers will provide the transformational science needed for bioenergy breakthroughs to advance President Bush's goal of making cellulosic ethanol cost-competitive with gasoline by 2012, and assist in reducing America's gasoline consumption by 20 percent in 10 years," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a news release.

UC Davis has more than 100 faculty researching energy from biomass.

UC Davis lands federal grant for "knockout mouse" project

UC Davis lands federal grant for "knockout mouse" project

Sacramento Business Journal - 2:28 PM PDT Tuesday, June 26, 2007

by Celia Lamb

Staff writer


University of California Davis has received a four-year, $4.8 million federal grant to breed mutant mice for research.

The National Institutes of Health grant will fund the storage and distribution of cells capable of developing into 10,000 types of mice.

Kent Lloyd, the associate dean for research at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, is the principal investigator of the "Knockout Mouse Project" repository at UC Davis. The NIH wants to create knockout mice representing the whole mouse genome within five years.

The project name comes from the genetic engineering technique used to mutate the mouse cells. Researchers "knock out" a specific gene to alter the cell's protein production. The method lets biomedical researchers study the role individual genes and proteins play in disease and to test drugs for specific medical conditions.

The Children's Hospital of Oakland Research Institute will store and distribute DNA used to mutate the mouse genes. UC Davis will store the mutated embryonic stem cells. The UC Davis facility is expected to become financially self-sustaining after four years by charging fees to people who use it.

The UC Davis Mouse Biology Program has a similar facility that accepts mutant mice from researchers and make them available to other laboratories. The new operation will contain only mice developed through the Knockout Mouse Project.

Repairs to ease drivers' despair on I-80

June 29, 2007

Repairs to ease drivers' despair on I-80

By Barry Eberling


FAIRFIELD - Workers are making $2 million in emergency repairs along the local stretch of Interstate 80 to smooth out the ride just a little bit.

The state Department of Transportation makes a few repairs on the deteriorating pavement just about every year. Workers take out the worst potholes in the Fairfield and Vacaville area, where the decades-old concrete pavement in some areas sinks several inches.

"They're trying to keep (the pavement) together," said Daryl Halls, Solano Transportation Authority executive director. "They understand the highway is falling apart."

Some repairs will be made on westbound I-80 near Air Base Parkway in Fairfield, Caltrans official Keith Wayne said.

The agency also made $2 million in emergency repairs last summer. It replaced 250 concrete slabs, each several feet wide.

Although Caltrans annually gets rid of the most jarring potholes, plenty of crumbling pavement remains. The emergency repairs are buying time.

"They're just kind of bandaging it until the major resurfacing can take place," Halls said.

That long-awaited, $120 million renovation project is to begin next year. It will repair pavement from Leisure Town Road in Vacaville to near Hiddenbrooke in Vallejo, except for a stretch near Cordelia that was repaved in 2004.

Also next year, Caltrans will start building carpool lanes that will extend eight miles from Red Top Road to Air Base Parkway. Because of that work, Fairfield will be the last area to get the pavement renovation.

Halls said the renovation project will start at both the Vallejo and Vacaville ends and work toward Fairfield.

For now, though, the freeway will be a little smoother because of the emergency repairs that began last week. The California Transportation Commission approved the repairs at its meetings in early June.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

Corporate park buildings OK'd in Fairfield

Corporate park buildings OK'd

By Shelly Meron/Business Writer

Article Launched: 06/29/2007 06:41:10 AM PDT

Plans to construct three buildings in the Green Valley Corporate Park in Fairfield advanced Thursday, with applications approved for two professional buildings and one retail building.

The buildings are part of a project that was approved by the planning commission in 2001. The project will result in about 2 million square feet of office and research and development space, located in the North Cordelia area between Green Valley Road and Suisun Valley Road in Fairfield.

There were no objections to the approval of the three buildings at Thursday's public hearing.

The Corporate Park will eventually include between 17 and 20 buildings.

It already houses a building for Copart Inc., and two hotels - a Homewood Suites and a Staybridge Suites - are scheduled to be completed next month. The Corporate Park will also feature business-related retail stores, such as copy and shipping stores, financial services, and insurance companies.

The next step in the process for developer Harvey Shein is to apply for building permits for the three buildings. Shein said he hoped to begin construction in the fall, and finish by the spring or summer of 2008.

$125 million from the U.S. Department of Energy over 5 years to 130 scientists from Bay Area including UC Davis

Lean structure, partnerships to shape new bioenergy center

East Bay Business Times - June 29, 2007by Michael Fitzhugh

A lean startup structure and industrial partnerships will give the East Bay's new Joint Bioenergy Institute an edge in getting the fruits of its research to market according its key architects.

"As discoveries are made by scientists, we need to transition those to the public," said Jay Keasling, a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory director and UC-Berkeley professor designated as JBEI's top boss. "Having companies engaged in and funding research is a very good thing. It allows us to transfer the science to them and get their products out to the public even faster."

The close collaboration, led by the Berkeley lab, is expected to receive $125 million from the U.S. Department of Energy over five years to marshal the expertise of as many as 130 scientists from Sandia National Laboratories, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, UC-Berkeley, UC-Davis and Stanford University.

In all, three bioenergy centers were funded, including JBEI. The University of Wisconsin, Madison, will lead the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will lead the third center, the Bioenergy Science Centers, to use grasses, trees and microbes for making liquid fuels.

At JBEI, "the idea is not to just fund a bunch of academic researchers who show up and pursue whatever research they want, but to have people who truly talk to each other," said Kathe Andrews-Cramer, Sandia's manager of computation systems biology and JBEI's vice president of strategic integration.

"This is the first time I can remember the DOE actually stating that they want a large amount of industrial involvement and something like a startup company mentality," said Harvey Blanch, the new institute's chief science and technology officer and a UC professor.

To meet that demand, Andrews-Cramer said lead scientists gathered together daily at times for the last nine months making difficult budget and project proposal decisions together.

Another novel decision echoes that of scrappy tech startups and leading pharmaceutical companies which rely on rapid information sharing: the use of Web-based lab notebooks - from San Diego's KineMatik USA in this case - which will aggregate researchers' notes and data in a central database in real time.

"It means you never have to hunt somebody down and dig a lab notebook out of their bottom drawer to get data. That means you can do analyses you could never have done before," Andrews-Cramer said. "Being able to track what doesn't work as well as what does work can be some of the most useful information you'll ever have."

An 11-company industrial advisory board - dealing in everything from agricultural feedstocks to auto engines - will help keep the institute's research connected to commercial realities.

The institute expects to receive its funding in the next couple of months, said Blanch. For now, the search is on for a facility offering the 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of lab space Blanch estimates the institute will need.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joint Bioenergy Institute

Business: Bioenergy research and development
Founded: 2007
CEO: Jay Keasling
Employees: 130 expected
Temporary address: Berkeley West Biocenter, 717 Potter St., Berkeley 94710
Web site: www.jbei.org


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

mfitzhugh@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1425

Developers gear up for new office projects across East Bay

East Bay Business Times - July 2, 2007
http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2007/07/02/focus1.html





Developers gear up for new office projects across East Bay
East Bay Business Times - June 29, 2007by Jessica Saunders
Story Images
The curved blue-glass facade of 2100 Franklin, downtown Oakland's first new office building since 2002, might also be seen as the wave of the future in East Bay office development.

With an eye on skyrocketing San Francisco office rents, a strong economy and declining Class A vacancy, developers holding East Bay land are starting to dust off their blueprints and prepare permit applications. And some, like 2100 Franklin developer Brandywine Realty Trust, are already ahead of the forming wave.

Nine-story 2100 Franklin, to be completed in October, will join existing 20-story 2101 Webster St. to form the 675,000-square-foot Center Twenty One complex. Dan Cushing, the REIT's managing director for Northern California, has several tenant proposals in hand for the new building. Companies that have toured the space include financial institutions from San Francisco, and technology, financial management and health care companies.

Cushing is intrigued by the tech and financial interest in his project. "You think of San Francisco as the high-end financial district. To see them coming this direction is interesting."

But it is not surprising. San Francisco rents in the first quarter were 21 percent higher than in the same period a year ago, and a recent flurry of downtown building sales is pushing the envelope further - up to $60 to $70 a square foot annually, with some premium-view spaces now at $100 a square foot per year. Morgan Stanley's February $2.65 billion acquisition of the 10-building, 3.9-million-square-foot former Equity Office Properties Trust San Francisco portfolio from Blackstone Group translated into $675 a square foot.

That's an estimated $75 per square foot above replacement cost, or new construction. Above-market sales also lead to higher tax assessments that get passed on to tenants.

When rents go up substantially, tenants get mobile and look for cheaper alternatives, said Bill Nork, senior vice president and manager for Cornish & Carey Commercial/ONCOR International's Emeryville office. He noted that leases signed during the tenants' market that followed the dot-com implosion are now expiring, another market driver.

"We have a real interesting 12 to 18 months ahead," Nork said.

East Bay rents are cheaper - an average of $26 per square foot a year - but certain submarkets are homing in on the key $50-per-square-foot annual figure ($4 to $5 a month) most market observers say would justify new construction. The upper end of the Oakland City Center submarket rental range in the first quarter was $3 per square foot a month, or $36 annually, according to NAI BT Commercial market research. Premiere buildings rent higher, such as 1333 N. California St. in downtown Walnut Creek, where space is $3.40 per square foot per month.

Those figures are steadily rising. Average asking rents are up 11 percent to 12 percent in downtown Oakland and 22 percent in Emeryville in the past year, which NAI BT attributes to landlord pressure, including newcomers Brandywine, which merged with Prentiss Properties in 2005, and Hines, which bought the Watergate Towers in Emeryville in December.

Meanwhile, vacancy rates in the inner East Bay - Emeryville, Berkeley and Oakland's Jack London, City Center and Lake Merritt districts - were at 10.3 percent with a building base of 20.5 million square feet, according to NAI BT. Nork put the downtown Oakland vacancy rate at 7 percent. Nothing new has been built in downtown Oakland since Shorenstein Realty Services finished the 21-story, 487,224-square-foot 555 City Center, at 555 12th St., in 2002.

Enter Brandywine, which acquired the 2100 Franklin project in the Prentiss merger and, with vacancy rates going steadily down, saw strong market support for going forward. With its Oakland portfolio 96 percent occupied, the 215,000 square feet of new space would accommodate both new tenants and current tenants who need to grow.

"We wanted to be the first to deliver and catch the window where there are no other competitors," said Cushing, who puts the current downtown Oakland vacancy rate at 9 percent, including sublease space.

The project included a makeover for the older 2101 Webster St. location, joining it to 2100 Franklin with a nine-story atrium lobby. It will be a new main entrance that is 1½ blocks closer to BART for Webster tenants. Floor sizes range from 24,000 to 49,000 square feet. Outside, the architecture is enhanced by 2100's curved glass south wall, which extends from the street corner to the side of 2101 Webster. Each piece of glass is in a slightly different plane from its neighbors, so no two reflections are quite the same, Stephen T. Wright, principal with Wright Heerema Architects of Chicago, said in an e-mail.

Although no tenant contracts for 2100 have been announced yet, Brandywine has enough confidence in the Oakland market to go forward with plans for 2 Kaiser Plaza, located next to the 28-story Ordway building it also owns. Cushing said a permit application will be submitted to the city around mid-July for an office building that may eventually include a residential component. Brandywine also owns a developable parking lot on Webster Street, adjacent to World Savings Center at 1901 Harrison St.

Another Oakland landowner whose plans have drawn considerable interest is Shorenstein, which has two developable parcels near the 3.5-million-square-foot, five-building City Center complex. The company is working on plans for a 500,000-square-foot office building - on the block bordered by 11th Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Way, 12th Street and Jefferson Street - with Korth Sunseri Hagey Architects, who designed 555 City Center, said John Dolby, vice president of leasing for Oakland City Center. The site is currently a parking lot. Shorenstein expects to get city approval for the project sometime in the fall, Dolby added.

Shorenstein's other parcel, the block between 555 City Center and 1111 Broadway, which contains an underground parking structure with a park on its roof, has long been entitled for a 10-story, 300,000-square-foot office building, Dolby said. But for now, the focus is on designing a high-rise for the parcel labeled "T-12" on the City Center site map. "It's very early on," he said. "We're not in a horse race to get this project done. We want to take the time to design a great complex."

Elsewhere in Oakland, SKS Investments is planning a 210,000-square-foot office building at 1100 Broadway, including adaptive reuse of the former Key Systems building facade, to begin construction in late 2008, according to the company's Web site. SKS representatives did not return a phone call seeking comment, and city officials had no application on file earlier this month. Another long-discussed project is a 63-story tower with 1.1 million square feet of office space, plus retail and a hotel, at 1930 Broadway, but developer Peter Wang did not return a phone call seeking comment. City officials were waiting for a planning permit application expected in the fall.

Outside of Oakland, the office building wave is also gathering strength. In Emeryville, Wareham Development is finishing its EmeryStation East, which offers 245,000 square feet of Class A research and development space and has attracted interest from tenants including Novartis in a submarket that at 5 percent vacancy is effectively full.

Over in the Interstate 680 corridor, CarrAmerica and Sunset Development are among the companies planning new office developments. Sunset expects to get approval from the city of San Ramon this fall to begin construction in 2008 on City Center, a 39-acre mixed-use development within Bishop Ranch office park that will include 680,000 square feet of office space spread over three buildings, the company's chief executive officer, Alex Mehran, said.

CarrAmerica's recently proposed campus expansion is among several ongoing and proposed developments within Hacienda Business Park in Pleasanton. Other projects include Roche Molecular Systems' new 138,000-square-foot building, the 24,600-square-foot multitenant office building nearing completion at4733 Chabot Drive and a 5,000-square-foot expansion of ValleyCare Medical Center on West Las Positas Boulevard. There's still room for expansion in Hacienda, including at Oracle's campus and on the land between Roche and the existing Dublin/Pleasanton BART station, Hacienda Business Park general manager James Paxson said.

Other projects that may simply be awaiting a tenant to get under way are Sierra Pacific Properties' Metroplex Center on Willow Pass Road in Concord, which is already entitled for a second office tower, and RREEF's undeveloped parcel next to One Concord Center at 2300 Clayton Road in Concord.

A 12-story office building with 290,000 square feet of space and ground-floor conference center are planned for Contra Costa Centre near the Pleasant Hill BART station. Millennium Partners and AvalonBay Communities Inc. expect to get started after the new nine-level BART parking garage is completed in 2008.

High-rises are not the only way developers are attempting to address office demand throughout the East Bay. Reynolds & Brown is working to complete the first Class A office park in Antioch, 121,000-square-foot Bluerock Center on Lone Tree Way, which it will own and manage. Its two-story buildings are targeted at small medical and professional users.

Another approach is creating campuses of for-sale small office buildings on their own lots. Earlier this year ExTerra Realty Partners LLC broke ground on the first phase of Montevina, in the Tri-Valley Technology Park in Livermore, and Opus West Corp. began its Fremont Tech Center in Bayside Business Park in Fremont.

In Solano County, the State Compensation Insurance Fund is building a 434,375-square-foot office campus at Vaca Valley Business Park in Vacaville, and new construction is under way at Green Valley Corporate Center in Fairfield. Developers are also preparing to build the next phase of the Fairfield Corporate Commons, which is located across Suisun Valley Road from Green Valley and which will be 800,000 square feet when complete.

jsaunders@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1427



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Mercedes dealership to open in Fairfield's auto mall

Mercedes dealership to open in Fairfield's auto mall
East Bay Business Times - June 29, 2007by Jessica Saunders
Stephanie Secrest | East Bay Business Times



Sean Quinn, community development director of Fairfield, with an artist’s sketch of the new dealership. afford.

View Larger Mercedes-Benz USA will open a 49,000-square-foot dealership in the Fairfield Auto Mall by the fourth quarter of 2008, expanding the mall's roster of luxury nameplates.

George Grinzewitsch Jr., owner of Von Housen Automotive Group of El Dorado Hills, was looking for 4.5 acres in Solano County to house a new Mercedes dealership that would be owned by former Mercedes-Benz USA President and CEO Paul Halata and his son Mark Halata.

Mercedes' interest in Solano County was welcome news to Fairfield, which wanted to capitalize on the auto mall as its biggest tax-revenue generator. "We had been trying to attract a higher-name dealer in there for quite a while," said Sean Quinn, Fairfield's director of community development.

The only problem was that large parcels were becoming scarce at the 31-acre property along Interstate 80, which already hosts a dozen dealerships, he said. Finally, it came down to Simon Buniak, who owned 4.5 acres with freeway frontage and was planning to build a Mazda and Suzuki dealership there.

Although Buniak was actively marketing the site and had submitted building plans to the city, "he didn't need all the land, only about 1.5 acres," Quinn said. "After extensive negotiations he agreed to sell to Mr. Grinzewitsch."

The Mercedes property deal closed about a month ago. Quinn said Buniak, owner of Golden State Mitsubishi and Suzuki in Sacramento, would build his dealership in a new addition to the auto mall property, on a city-owned 1.46-acre redevelopment parcel where a motel was demolished. "It was an extremely complicated negotiation," he said.

Grinzewitsch, whose company operates dealerships in El Dorado Hills, Rocklin and Reno, will develop the Mercedes property for lease by the Halatas. City officials have done a "conceptual review" of the proposed building and expect to receive full plans within the next month, Quinn said. Escondido-based Marca Architecture Inc. designed a glass-and-metal two-story structure with rooftop parking. Groundbreaking is expected in early 2008.

The mall, which generated $3 million in city tax revenue in 2006, currently hosts Acura, Chrysler, Jeep, Kia, Plymouth, Dodge, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Lincoln, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Volvo dealerships. In addition to incoming Mercedes, Mazda and Suzuki, Saturn has plans in for a 22,258-square-foot building at the auto mall.

jsaunders@bizjournals.com | 925-598-1427

Stay A Day, Or Longer, At New Hotels

Stay A Day, Or Longer, At New Hotels
By Ines Bebea



Barbara Glove, general manager of Homewood Suites, looks over one of the studio units in the new hotel on Monday. (Mike McCoy/Daily Republic)

FAIRFIELD - Whether for a family vacation or business trip, the two hotels under construction in Fairfield are banking on giving visitors the comforts of home away from home.

Furnished with full kitchens - refrigerators, silverware, stoves, microwaves and dishwashers - the Homewood Suites by Hilton and the Staybridge Suites in Green Valley will change the way guests think about their extended stays.

"There is nothing like the rooms we are offering in the market right now," said Denis Olson, president of Sonmar Development Corporation. "We feel that we can offer visitors to Napa and the surrounding areas affordable prices. Green Valley is an area that is expanding and very accessible by Interstate 80 and Interstate 680."

Homewood and Staybridge, which are located at 4755 Business Center Drive, are the first hotels in Northern California for the Fargo, N.D.-based company. Sonmar Development Corporation operates 46 other hotels in the Midwest. Homewood Suites will be a four-story building with 85 suites built as studios and one- or two-bedroom units. Each room will have a kitchen, queen size bed, sofa and flat screen television.

The soft opening for Homewood Suites will be July 19, and the grand opening is July 23.

The Staybridge hotel, a three-story building with 82 rooms, is scheduled to open in August.

"Guests of both hotels will be totally wowed by what we offer," said Barbara Glover, general manager of Homewood. "We're geared toward extended stays for families on vacation and business travelers. You will find amenities that you may not have at home."

Amenities in Homewood include an indoor pool, a basketball court, free laundry rooms, a business center and a meeting room. There will be a hot breakfast in the morning, as well as dinner with wine or beer Monday through Thursday, Glover said.

"Having these two new hotels means that we need to promote our area as a destination to both corporate and leisure travel," said Beth Javens, the new executive director of the Fairfield Hotel Association. "We have a very diverse visitors base, and it's good to have additional resources. We want to get the message out that we are in the Capital corridor and that we can offer different amenities for different clients."

Reach Ines Bebea at 427-6934 or ibebea@dailyrepublic.net.

Luxury Still Leads

Luxury Still Leads
North Vacaville Development Continues At Steady Pace
By Shelly Meron/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com



Existing home sales may be down for the month of May, but sales of new, luxury homes in Vacaville don't seem to be slowing. The Cheyenne at Browns Valley development by builder D.R. Horton has sold 46 of its luxury homes since opening in December, and is beginning construction for the second phase of sales. So far, 37 of the total 221 homes planned for Cheyenne have been built.

"We've been fairly steady," said Steve Laird, sales representative at Cheyenne. He added that during the first phase of sales, "we were the fastest-selling community in Solano County."

The community offers eight different floor plans, ranging between 2,775 and 4,312 square feet. Cheyenne offers a three bedroom, three bathroom plan; a four bedroom, three bathroom plan; two four-bedroom, three and a half bath plans; a four bedroom, four bathroom plan; a five bedroom, three and a half bath plan; and two five-bedroom, four and a half bath plans.

The homes range in price from the mid $700,000s to the low $900,000.



Luxury homes like this are selling well at the Cheyenne development in Vacaville. (Joel Rosenbaum/The Reporter)

These are high-end homes, with 10,000 to 14,000 square foot lots, three- or four-car garages, and some with in-law units called "carriage units" built above the home's garage. Laird said the carriage units - which are 650 square feet and include a bedroom, a living area, a kitchen area, a bathroom, and a washer and dryer - have been surprisingly popular.

Cheyenne offered only one home with a carriage unit during the first phase of construction, a feature that garnered a lot of attention from potential buyers. Laird said Cheyenne will offer two more homes with carriage units in the second phase of construction.

Inside the homes, amenities include granite countertops in the kitchens, maple cabinetry, and Whirlpool appliances. Buyers even have the option of working with professional designers to customize their home down to the small details.

Laird said the expansion at Genentech Inc., and the construction of a new Kaiser hospital in Vacaville, has meant more people looking for higher-end homes in the area.

"Vacaville is really growing and this is a nice area," he said. "We see the market improving here with Genentech and Kaiser."

Laird said the homes available at Cheyenne are seen as "move-up luxury homes," and are typically bought by people looking for an upgrade from their first or second house. He said potential home-buyers are attracted to the neighborhood's rural, country feel, as well as the proximity to the Bay Area, Sacramento, freeways and Lake Berryessa.

There are still some obstacles to overcome, however, including prospective buyers who are concerned about selling their current home.

"People are still buying houses, but (sellers) aren't getting what they were getting last year," Laird explained. "They have to sell at the right price today."

This is why D.R. Horton offers a program that helps potential buyers sell the homes they are in, providing competitive marketing analysis and helping buyers price the house appropriately.

Laird said the company has also offered incentives, including covering closing costs, in the past, and did a price readjustment for the development in March of 2006.

Still, according to Laird sales are going well and people are excited about the second phase of construction at Cheyenne.

"A lot of people are coming in and looking," he said.

• The Cheyenne at Browns Valley sales office is located at 7065 Shelton Lane in Vacaville, and is open Tuesdays through Thursdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Fridays through Sundays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Mondays by appointment. For more information, call 455-7128 or visit www.drhorton.com.



The kitchen of the three-bedroom, three-bathroom model in the Cheyenne development features an open, modern look.

Shelly Meron can be reached at business@thereporter.com.

All Revved Up

All Revved Up
Fairfield Auto Mall Speeds Toward Expansion
By Shelly Meron/Business Writer
TheReporter.Com



The Fairfield Auto Mall will continue to expand with the planned addition of a Mercedes-Benz dealership next year. (Ryan Chalk/The Reporter)

Car shoppers who visit the Fairfield Auto Mall will have a few more dealerships from which to choose in the future, starting with a new Mercedes Benz dealership.

The new addition - along with a few relocations and some future plans - are part of the city of Fairfield's effort to expand the auto mall, attract more luxury dealerships, and bring in more revenue through sales taxes.

Fairfield City Manager Kevin O'Rourke acknowledged this is not the city's first attempt at expanding the auto mall. But, he said, since starting the effort in 2000 - when there were only three dealerships at the auto mall - the city has made encouraging progress.

"We take pride in the fact that the effort that the staff started with the City Council in 2000 was succesfful," O'Rourke said. "These are huge accomplishments by the staff and the council."

Today, the 23-acre auto mall houses more than a dozen car dealerships, including Acura, Toyota, Volvo, Infiniti, and Chrysler. But getting there wasn't easy.

The process began with the city acquiring much of the land from Busch Properties, which wanted to sell it in one piece rather than parcel out the land to individual dealers in individual sales. The city entered into an agreement to buy the 23 acres from Busch Properties and find existing and new car dealers to buy the individual parcels created by the city.

Luckily, the city was able to quickly unload the property, for a slightly higher price than it paid for it. The extra money went to road improvements in front of existing dealers and other related projects.

The latest addition to the mall - a new Mercedes Benz dealership - will be owned and operated by Paul Halata, a retired Mercedes Benz USA president and CEO, and his son, Mark. The Halatas closed escrow earlier this year on a parcel that will house a 49,000 square-foot building, complete with a two-story, state-of-the-art glass building and a roof-top parking area.

Construction on the Mercedes Benz dealership is expected to start at the beginning of next year, with an anticipated opening at the end of next year. Phase III of the expansion, as the Mercedes dealership is referred to, will also include under-grounding of utilities, new pavements and curbs, new gutters, landscaping, and demolition of an old fire station.

"It's been seen as a huge improvement to that stretch of road," said O'Rourke. "We expect that the residential areas nearby are going to feel a shot in the arm to the area."

An old motel nearby - a hotbed of crime according to city officials - has already been demolished.

"When we bought and demolished the motel out there, we had people calling us and thanking us," said Sean Quinn, director of the city of Fairfield's planning and development department. "It was a high crime public nuisance."

O'Rourke said having a Mercedes Benz dealership in Fairfield will help the city attract more luxury car dealers, and bring in more sales tax revenues.

"The more expensive the vehicle going out the front door, the more sales tax coming in to the city," said O'Rourke.

To make the Mercedes deal happen, some maneuvering was necessary.

Halata wanted to buy an auto mall parcel owned by Simon Buniak, who currently owns a Suzuki/Mitsubishi dealership in Sacramento. Buniak agreed to sell, and is now planning to open a dealership of his own on another parcel near the auto mall.

Buniak said he hopes to begin construction on his dealership - he would not disclose what car make - next spring. He said having a dealership in Fairfield was an attractive idea.

"Fairfield Auto Mall has good visibility from the freeway," Buniak said. "It's strictly auto-related. It's convenient for consumers to go from car dealership to car dealership to complete their shopping."

When asked if he had any other dealerships planned for Fairfield, Buniak said he was "definitely entertaining that possibility."

Other transactions include the move of the Saturn dealership to a parcel on Auto Mall Court, bought from the Ford dealership. Ford built its own new dealership at that location before selling some of the remaining land to Saturn.

Construction on the Saturn dealership is scheduled to begin in the fall and end in the spring of next year, weather permitting. The additions of Ford and Saturn will bring the auto mall's size to 31 acres.

Meanwhile, the Chevrolet dealership on Martin Road was sold and closed escrow in March. City officials said its new owner may add dealerships to that area in the future.

O'Rourke said the city was also waiting for litigation to be resolved relating to the Fairfield Wal-Mart store, which is hoping to relocate to North Texas Street. If that land becomes available, it could be used for more dealerships, but a decision is not expected for another year or two.

But even when all the new dealerships move in and some of the dust settles, the work isn't done for O'Rourke and Quinn. They say after these additions, the city will still have four or five parcels - about 14 acres - available at the auto mall.



A computer-generated image shows what the planned Mercedes-Benz dealership will look like. (Courtesy)

Shelly Meron can be reached at business@thereporter.com.

Benicia Span To Provide Relief For Commuters

Benicia Span To Provide Relief For Commuters
By Barry Eberling

BENICIA - Frustrated commuters stuck in evening traffic jams on the Benicia Bridge have watched their time-saving salvation slowly being constructed amid the waters of the Carquinez Strait to the east.

Their long wait is just about over. The $1.2 billion second Benicia Bridge span - some 17 years in the planning and seven years in the building, and plagued by cost overruns and delays - could open in late August or September.

"It will make a big difference in getting people across the bridge," said David Thacker, who commutes from Fairfield to his job in Martinez and experiences the bridge backups, particularly on Friday evenings.

The new bridge could also be a double-edged sword for Solano County. With the traffic backup removed from the bridge, local transportation leaders expect congestion to move to the next potential bottleneck - the Interstates 80 and 680 interchange near Cordelia, some eight miles away.

But there's no denying the new bridge is a milestone. One Benicia Bridge with three lanes going each direction just isn't enough to handle bustling I-680. Evening rush-hour traffic sometimes backs up for several miles into Contra Costa County.

"This is a big clog," state Department of Transportation spokesman Keith Wayne said.

Once the new span is in, it will carry five lanes of northbound traffic. The old Benicia Bridge will carry five lanes of southbound traffic, with one lane being devoted to walkers and bikers.

Thacker opposes tolls but is glad to see the money he forks over daily being put to good use.

"If I'm going to pay $4, give me a quality ride," he said.

Toll Plaza Deluxe

Once the new bridge opens, Thacker and other commuters will be paying their money at a toll plaza deluxe, a sort of Tiffany of its kind. The modern-looking complex of metal, glass and concrete will whisk drivers through faster than ever. About the only thing old-fashion is the standard-brand analog clock in each yellow toll booth.

Originally, the plaza had been built with 17 lanes. But even as it sat awaiting opening day, the Bay Area Toll Authority decided to remodel it at a cost of $1.1 million. Workers removed several of the new toll booths in January to make room for the first open-road tolling lanes in the Bay Area.

Motorists with FasTrak transponders will be able to drive through the toll plaza at freeway speeds in two lanes. It will be just like the FasTrak lanes that already exist on Bay Area bridges - except that drivers won't have to slow down to 25 mph.

"That's clearly the wave of the future," BATA spokesman John Goodwin said.

Thacker pays his tolls with FasTrak. He looks forward to being able to use the open tolling lanes.

"That will really speed things up," he said.

The Interchange Backup

Meanwhile, local transportation leaders are trying to prepare for life at the Cordelia interchange once the new bridge opens.

The interchange is already a notorious traffic snare. But the situation improved in 2004, when the state built new lanes and connector ramps near the interchange.

Thacker already sees the old traffic congestion returning. People at times are once again beginning to take to local roads to avoid the interchange, he said.

"Over the last two years, with all the building, there's a lot more people," he said.

Now comes the opening of the new bridge. No longer will traffic be metered by the toll plaza there. Instead, it will flow until it hits the bottleneck of the interchange.

Solano Transportation Authority Executive Director Daryl Halls said interchange backups could be as bad as before the new lanes and connectors got built.

The STA and Caltrans are trying to come up with an answer. Construction on new carpool lanes on I-80 near the Cordelia interchange is expected to begin next year.

In the short run, though, commuters such as Thacker may find their drives easier at the Benicia Bridge and harder once they reach the Cordelia interchange.

Finding a Way to Celebrate

When the original Benicia Bridge opened in September 1962, the state held a celebration. Gov. Pat Brown gave a speech on the ferry M.V. Carquinez.

That original span cost $100 million, or $651 million in today's dollars. Forty-five years later, plans that went before BATA in June to celebrate the opening of the new, $1.2 billion span had a $595,000 pricetag.

Even busing an expected 10,000 people to the event from parking areas would have cost $210,000, more than twice the amount of the original span.

The BATA board turned the celebration down as being too expensive. It will look at a scaled-down proposal on July 11.

When the Al Zampa suspension bridge opened over the Carquinez Strait in 2004, the adjacent town of Crockett played a big role in the celebration. But Benicia and Martinez aren't leading the way for the Benicia Bridge celebration.

"The bridge is in a remote location, while Crockett is right in the shadow of the bridge and the connection between the community and bridge is strong," Goodwin said.

People got to walk the length of the Zampa Bridge that opening day. But that won't be the case with the new Benicia Bridge span, which doesn't end in a park or downtown.

"Just a tangle of freeway ramps, with no way to safely get pedestrians back to civilization," Goodwin said.

But the new bridge is a critical link for a freeway system serving Solano County commuters. People such as Thacker will celebrate its completion by using it and saving time at the new toll plaza.

Reach Barry Eberling at 425-4646 Ext. 232 or at beberling@dailyrepublic.net.

New Benicia Bridge facts
The new bridge:
-- Is more than 1.5 miles long and 84 feet wide.
-- Has a span made from a lightweight concrete that was poured in place, as opposed to having sections constructed elsewhere and then hoisted into place.
-- Caused controversy during the early 1990s as Caltrans looked for a location to the east or west of the old span. One proposed location would have destroyed a historic sandstone powder magazine in Benicia.
-- Had its groundbreaking in July 1999. Caltrans at the time predicted the new bridge would be finished by June 2003.
-- Can be fitted for light rail, although there are no plans now for any such system.