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ADDENDUM September 16, 2013

University of California, Irvine fell to No. 49 on the U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 list of the country’s top private and public colleges and universities, a five-spot decline that put it in a tie with Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., and the University of Florida in Gainesville. UC Irvine ranked the 14th-best public school nationally, down from No. 12 last year. Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo placed No. 41 on a separate list of liberal arts colleges, up eight spots. Chapman University in Orange ranked No. 7 on a list of universities in the Western region of the U.S., down from No. 6. Costa Mesa-based Vanguard University of Southern California was No. 10, the same as last year. California State University, Fullerton ranked No. 35, down from No. 31, followed by No. 63 Concordia University in Irvine, up from

No. 66.

Tustin-based mortgage lender New American Funding opened an office in Anaheim. The company, founded in 2003, has grown to more than 500 employees and services a portfolio of about $3.5 billion worth of loans. The company had its headquarters in Irvine until last year, when it bought an office at the Tustin Financial Center.

UC Irvine dedicated its Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, which has outpatient operating rooms and will conduct stem cell clinical trials in the future with the aim of restoring vision. Private donations, including some from local eye-care companies, funded the $39 million facility.

Irvine City Council voted unanimously to negotiate with FivePoint Communities on a deal for the development of amenities at the Great Park. Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint has offered about $200 million worth of development at the park in exchange for approvals to build another 4,600 homes on adjacent land it owns. It already has approvals for about 4,900 homes on its land.

Rancho Mission Viejo LLC got an investment from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System for its next phase of housing development in South Orange County. The investment by CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the U.S., accounts for a third of $100 million that’s backing Rancho Mission Viejo’s latest development phase, according to the developer, Orange County’s second-largest land owner. Rancho Mission Viejo opened the initial phase of its development in June, when the first of an expected 940 homes went on sale. The second phase will hold an additional 3,000 homes.

Lake Forest-based Del Taco promoted Mike Lucero to vice president of franchise development and real estate and John Druse to vice president of design and construction. The chain also hired Eric Grundmeier as vice president of supply chain and quality assurance, and David Wetzel as vice president of franchise operations.

Irvine-based cyber security services startup CrowdStrike Inc. raised $30 million in a funding round led by Palo Alto-based investment firm Accel Partners. The series-B financing included Warburg Pincus LLC, a New York City-based private equity firm that invested $26 million in CrowdStrike last year. Two-year-old CrowdStrike helps businesses and governments identify and fight security attacks, along with providing monitoring services.

Irvine-based staffing firm Decton Inc. acquired Cal-West Personnel Inc. in Fullerton on undisclosed terms. Decton provides job placements for various sectors, including healthcare, hospitality and construction. It makes about 500 placements a month and recently notched $60 million in annual revenue. Cal-West specializes in technical and light-industrial job placements.

Costa Mesa-based printed circuit board maker TTM Technologies Inc. plans to close one of its manufacturing plants in China and lay off about 600 employees there, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The company said in the filing that it will move production from its shuttered plant in Suzhou to one of its other facilities in China. The company has steadily cut production capacity this year in China, its main manufacturing hub, as demand wanes in its nonmobile business.

The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce named Island Hotel Newport Beach General Manager Donald Stamets chairman and board president. The position is a one-year term that began this month and was previously held by Tim Brown of Newport Beach educational consulting firm Tim Brown and Associates.


ECONOMIC INDICATOR

UP: Orange County home prices in August, when the median rose to $560,000, up 25.8% from a year earlier and 4% compared with the prior month, according to real estate data provider DataQuick.

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