ECONOMY
Two reports by University of California-Irvine researchers show most job growth in two decades in Southern California originated outside of central business districts. The trend identified in the reports appears to apply in Orange County, which grew significantly over the study’s 1997-2014 time frame without an easily identified downtown area among its 34 cities. The lack of a dominant city or central business district is helpful in some ways, said John Hipp, director of the Metropolitan Futures Initiative at UCI’s School of Social Ecology. “What works in Irvine might not work in Oxnard. These reports uncover those nuances and emerging trends.” Analysis also showed non-downtown areas with expanding employment tended to be closer to freeways, airports, rail lines, downtown Los Angeles and the coast, and that jobs related to business services decreased in high-density areas.
EDUCATION
Debra Fitzsimons was appointed acting chancellor of the South Orange County Community College District following the retirement of Chancellor Gary Poertner on July 1. The chancellor acts as chief executive of the district, overseeing its three colleges and districtwide operations, a $700 million budget, and nearly 4,000 employees. The board will initiate a nationwide search for a permanent chancellor.
FINANCE
Vinny Smith’s Toba Capital in Newport Beach led an $11 million Series A round for business software maker Grow. Smith, who became a billionaire after Quest Software in Aliso Viejo was sold for $2.8 billion to Dell four years ago, will take a board seat at the Provo, Utah-based company. Toba is led by several former Quest executives and is OC’s largest venture capital firm.
HEALTHCARE
Julie Miller-Phipps, former executive director of Kaiser Permanente’s Orange County service area, was named president of its Southern California region, effective next month. She left Orange County in 2014 to serve as president of the Kaiser Permanente Georgia Region. Mark Costa, former executive director of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, took over for her here. Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Region includes operations in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura counties.
HOSPITALITY
Walt Disney Co. in Burbank and affiliates of Hong Kong-based Wincome Group will divvy up $560 million in tax money to be reimbursed over 20 years to build three luxury hotels in Anaheim. Plans call for the projects to open between 2019 and 2021 and combine for 1,910 rooms. Anaheim City Council agreed to the partial rebate on the city’s 15% transient occupancy tax under a hotel incentive program introduced about a year ago. Developers of new hotels will get 70% of the tax returned to them for the first 20 years.
Newport Beach & Co. said it handled 18% of hotel room bookings in the city in its fiscal year 2016, which ended June 30, up from 15% last year. About 909,000 hotel nights were booked in Newport Beach, 160,000 of which it facilitated. The destination marketer for the city said its hotel bookings translated into an economic impact of about $96 million, up 31% over last year. STR Inc. in Hendersonville, Tenn., and Tourism Economics in Wayne, Penn., collected the data.
RESTAURANTS
Irvine-based Taco Bell plans to expand its experimental cantina restaurant style to Las Vegas as part of its effort to open more locations in busy urban areas, according to news reports. The two-story restaurant will be on the Las Vegas Strip and will serve alcoholic drinks and exclusive shareable menu items. The concept debuted last year in San Francisco and Chicago. Taco Bell plans to open 2,000 restaurants by 2022, of which 200 will be in urban areas.
RETAIL
The direct-sale jewelry company formerly called Cookie Lee filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, according to the Orange County Register. Tustin-based Vivi listed assets of under $50,000 and liabilities of $1 million to $10 million. The company, which was founded in 1992, was sold in 2014 to Debbie Millar, co-founding partner of the HÔM luxury residential real estate group in Newport Beach. Vivi ranked No. 7 on this year’s Business Journal’s list of female-owned companies.
SPORTS
The Los Angeles Rams agreed to hold the team’s annual summer training camp on the University of California-Irvine campus for the next several years.
