ENTERTAINMENT
Newport Beach-based Festival Fun Parks LLC acquired Noah’s Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., on undisclosed terms. Festival Fun Parks is an affiliate of Palace Entertainment in Newport Beach, which runs 40 family entertainment centers, theme parks and water parks nationwide.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. promoted Khanh Tran to president, a post that had been held by James Morris, who will remain chief executive and chairman. Tran had been chief financial officer and chief investment officer. He received the Business Journal’s CFO of the Year award in the Private Company category in 2011. Adrian Griggs will become chief financial officer.
Huntington Beach-based NuVision Federal Credit Union and Kinecta Federal Credit Union in Manhattan Beach have called off plans to merge. The credit unions said they reached a “conclusion that continuing the merger process … would be too disruptive to their business and members,” according to a joint statement.
GOVERNMENT
The City of Santa Ana closed its fire department after 128 years of operation and signed a contract with the Orange County Fire Authority. The move will save money at a time when Santa Ana is grappling with a $30 million budget deficit, according to city officials.
The Anaheim City Council voted 3-2 against a proposal to put $158 million in tax incentives for two hotels planned at the GardenWalk retail mall up for approval on a citywide ballot. The rejection of a referendum came after City Attorney Cristina Talley said a legal squabble could ensue because the council previously approved the incentives and other parts of the project, a move that could be viewed as a contract with developers.
The Fountain Valley City Council gave final approval for a project near the city’s Civic Center, where a 127-room hotel, 27 single-family homes, 61 townhouses and 2,300 square feet of retail space is planned. The council voted 4-0, with one abstention, to approve the project despite some residents’ concerns about traffic.
LAW
Costa Mesa-based Rutan & Tucker LLP elected Kim Thompson as managing partner, a position that had been held by L. Ski Harrison since 2009. Harrison will continue as a partner in the firm. Thompson’s term as managing partner is two years, following Rutan’s policy of rotating managing partners and executive committee members.
MEDIA
Tom Johnson, a former publisher of the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa and the Newport Beach Independent, was named publisher of The Current, the Orange County Register’s weekly newspaper for Newport Beach and Costa Mesa.
REAL ESTATE
The Irvine City Council unanimously approved zoning changes and an amendment to the city’s general plan for a 55-home development planned on the site of the former site of Vista Verde Elementary School. Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. is set to build single-family housing there.
Newport Beach-based Irvine Company declined to extend a lease for the 38-acre Traveland USA, a recreational vehicle dealership. The developer plans to put the land near the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway in Irvine to a new, unspecified use.
RETAIL
Hobby Lobby Inc. will open an arts-and-crafts story in retail space formerly occupied by Mervyn’s in Marketplace at Laguna Niguel. The 80,000-square-foot store will be the Oklahoma City-based chain’s first in California. Hobby Lobby has about 500 stores in 41 states.
Costa Mesa-based El Pollo Loco Inc. hired Sausalito-based Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners for creative services on the grilled-chicken chain’s general and Hispanic advertising accounts. The agency’s initial work for El Pollo Loco is set to debut next month.
OTHER NEWS
Crystal Cathedral Ministries Corp.’s board fired three family members of Crystal Cathedral founder Robert H. Schuller: daughter Gretchen Penner, from a TV-production job; her husband, Jim, from an executive producer slot; and Jim Coleman, husband of Senior Pastor Sheila Schuller Coleman, from a position of creative services director. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, abstained from the vote. The Catholic Diocese of Orange bought the ministry’s 40-acre campus last month and is allowing it to lease back buildings for up to three years.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
DOWN: Employment in OC in January, when companies shed 29,700 workers and the jobless rate rose to 8% from 7.8% in December. The January jobless rate was down from a 9.2% a year earlier, and total employment remained above 1.3 million here. The jobless rate was 11.3% statewide in January, and 8.8% for the U.S.
