Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bancorp named Steven Buster the new president and chief executive of the company and its subsidiary, Pacific Mercantile Bank, following the retirement of founding President and Chief Executive Raymond Dellerba.
Glenair Inc., a maker of electrical and fiber-optic connectors in Glendale, leased an industrial facility in Anaheim for manufacturing operations, with plans to hire up to 300 workers. The company signed a 15-year lease to occupy the 205,887-square-foot location.
Newly foreclosed homes made up the smallest slice of the county’s home sales in more than five years, according to DataQuick Information Systems. The real estate data service reported that 8.6% of home sales in March had been foreclosed on in the preceding 12-month period. That’s a big drop from the year-ago level of 24%.
Great Park board members agreed to work with nonprofit groups to run some park programs, putting off deciding on proposed cutbacks to programs and events at the Irvine facility. Park staff have said program cuts could save $2 million a year.
CoreLogic, based in Irvine and owner of the country’s biggest housing database, bought CaseShiller home price indexes for $6 million. FiServ Inc. sold the indexes in a deal that closed March 20, the company said. The Case-Shiller indexes will still opereate as before and be separate from CoreLogic’s monthly Home Price Index.
Irvine-based Habit Restaurants LLC is set to roll out its second food truck for parties and other events next month. The truck can service parties ranging from 100 people to more than 500 people. The company decided to add it after its first one drew big demand after it went on the road in late 2011. The second truck comes as Habit Burger continues to grow its 69-restaurant chain. The company has opened five restaurants so far this year, with plans to open a total of by 20 year-end. One of the coming restaurants is a second store in Irvine that will be the company’s first Southern California drive-thru location. The restaurant has a planned summer opening.
Lake Forest-based Nexiant announced a company name change last week. The privately held provider of cloud-based software for the industrial market is now known as MarginPoint. It said in a news release that the change more clearly reflects its focus on helping customers save money.
Stoplights in 14 areas of the county will be synchronized after the Orange County Transportation Authority board approved spending about $15 million from proceeds of a half-cent sales tax voters passed in 2006. The work will adjust signals based on traffic patterns and congestion, with the intention of reducing stop times.
The Federal Aviation Administration gave Boeing the go-ahead to repair its 787 passenger jet’s batteries, a move that could see the planes back in the air in coming weeks after being grounded three months ago due to concerns fires could start in the batteries.
Irvine-based professional services firm Resources Connection Inc. promoted Tony Cherbak to be its new chief executive. Cherbak is scheduled to take the top post on May 28, replacing Don Murray, who has had the role since 2009.
CoreLogic, based in Irvine and owner of the country’s biggest housing database, bought Case-Shiller home price indexes for $6 million. FiServ Inc. sold the indexes in a deal that closed March 20, the company said. The Case-Shiller indexes will still operate as before and continue to be separate from CoreLogic’s monthly Home Price Index.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
UP: Orange County’s unemployment rate fell to 6.3% in March compared to 6.6% a month ago and from 7.9% a year ago, according to the latest report by the state Employment Development Department. The county added 5,100 jobs in March, with construction employment seeing the biggest gain.
