ADDENDUM

AMUSEMENT

Irvine City Council voted to seek bids for a water park that would be on city-owned land in Great Park, the Orange County Register reported. The council is seeking bids from operators for building and operating the water park. The city would lease the property to the winning operator, which would build the park.

AUTOMOTIVE

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. will pay $41.2 million to 33 states and the District of Columbia to settle an investigation of their “2012 restatement of fuel economy ratings and related advertising.” The South Korea-based automakers have their North American subsidiaries in Orange County. The agreement includes no admission of wrongdoing or violations of law. Hyundai and Kia in 2012 voluntarily adjusted fuel economy ratings for about a quarter of their 2011-13 vehicles, “reducing their combined city/highway fuel economy by 1-2 miles per gallon.” 

Porsche Motorsport North America left Santa Ana for Carson, a move first announced in 2012. The racing arm of Atlanta-based Porsche Cars North America Inc. sells race cars to customer teams in North America and provides them with parts, service and expertise “in between races and at the track.” Porsche Motorsport has been in Orange County since 1990.

EDUCATION

California State University-Fullerton President Mildred García was among 25 top education leaders recognized as “Hispanic Leaders and Role Models in Higher Education” by Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine. The listing notes that since her arrival at CSUF in 2012, the university’s six-year graduation rates have risen 24% and the achievement gap between minority students and their campus peers has dropped significantly.

HEALTHCARE

Allergan Plc President and Chief Executive Brent Saunders is now also chairperson of the drugmaker’s board of directors, replacing Paul Bisaro. Saunders has been president and chief executive since July 2014, when the company, then called Actavis Plc, bought Forest Laboratories Inc. in New York, where Saunders held the same roles. Bisaro was president, chief executive and chairman of Actavis prior to its purchase of Forest Laboratories, and was named executive chairman when the deal closed in 2014.

HOSPITALITY

An affiliate of local investor Mohammad Honarkar bought a Courtyard by Marriott and a Residence Inn Hotel in Palm Desert for $36 million. The adjacent hotels combine for 281 rooms, which works out to a purchase price of $128,100 per room. The seller was Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc., a Dallas-based REIT with a $687 million market cap. Twenty Four Seven Hotels, also in Newport Beach, will manage the hotels.

MANUFACTURING

Bravo Sports Corp. in Santa Fe Springs bought on undisclosed terms Nutcase Inc. in Portland, Ore., its third acquisition of a sports gear maker in the past 10 months. Nutcase will continue in its current location after the deal closes, Bravo Sports said. The deal is intended to help Nutcase improve product design, marketing and sales. Bravo Sports makes recreational and sporting goods, many under license from Disney, Marvel and others.

MEDIA

KOCE-TV, the main Public Broadcasting Service station in Southern California, moved its technical operations from Golden West College in Huntington Beach to Los Angeles, where it has two other offices. Other KOCE staff and the station’s studio are still based in Costa Mesa, where they moved to from Golden West in 2010.

REAL ESTATE

The owner of the building that houses 4th Street Market in downtown Santa Ana applied with the city to put two dozen apartments on the building’s second story, the Orange County Register reported. Most would be one-bedroom units. Building owner Ryan Chase said at the Grow Conference on economic development last week that the city’s downtown business district lacks only homes.

TECHNOLOGY

Google Inc. parent company Alphabet Inc. said it will trim its Google Fiber Internet expansion, which is still expected to include an effort in Irvine. The service, with connection speeds promoted as being as much as 40 times faster than basic broadband, has fallen short of some initial goals, including signing up 5 million subscribers, according to news reports.