The July 19 passing of renowned architect César Pelli is being felt in OC’s Arts District.
“The world lost a master of urban architecture,” said Elizabeth Segerstrom, co-managing partner at South Coast Plaza, in a statement last week on Pelli, who was 92.
His Costa Mesa work included Plaza Tower on Anton Boulevard, the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Samueli Theater and the extension of South Coast Repertory.
Those buildings played a huge part “in fulfilling Henry’s vision of a cosmopolitan center” in Costa Mesa, Segerstrom said.
Pelli’s passing comes two months after the loss of another architectural icon, I.M. Pei, whose Pei Cobb Freed & Partners designed Irvine Co.’s striking new batch of offices in the Irvine Spectrum and Newport Center.
Pei “taught all of us about the beauty of geometry and material authenticity in architecture,” John Koga, Irvine Co. VP of planning and design,” told the Irvine Standard last week.
“Who is J.D. Power, and what do his associates do,” asked an earnest 2018 article in online publication Vox, a story that tried to make sense of how a company best known for being name-checked in every Super Bowl car commercial and handing out trophies could see its valuation rise from $400 million in 2005 to $1.1 billion in 2016.
It’s time for an update at Vox, which was founded by political commentator and Irvine native Ezra Klein. The Costa Mesa firm announced its sale last week to S.F.-based PE firm Thoma Bravo. The deal’s in the $2 billion range this time, and should close by year-end.
CEO Dave Habiger said that the deal will help fuel growth for his firm.
For OC’s cadre of carmakers and other consumer-facing product makers, maybe this growth plan means more trophies?
Notable trophies are already going to one collection of OC-based automakers; June’s release of the J.D. Power 2019 Initial Quality Study named Genesis No. 1 among all new cars, followed by Kia and Hyundai. They were also the top 3 in last year’s ranking.
The trio, two based in Fountain Valley and the other in Irvine, each count Korean manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group as their parent. The “gap between Korean brands and others continues to widen,” thanks in large part to “infotainment and other electronic components,” the study said.
An award for Duarte’s City of Hope, just ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 11 cancer center in the nation, and the highest ranked cancer hospital in the western U.S. It was also No. 4 in the country among 885 surveyed hospitals for “exemplary patient experience.”
Among the first to learn of the news: Newport Beach’s Frank Di Bella, a cancer survivor whose annual Let’s be Frank event here fundraises for the center. It has a new campus in the works at FivePoint Gateway in Irvine.
The ranking “underscores the importance of City of Hope’s $1 billion commitment” for the Irvine project, said Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County.
