Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
AUTOMOTIVE
Orange County’s auto sales are expected to rise 8.4% this year to 131,000 vehicles, according to a report from the Newport Beach-based Orange County Automobile Dealers Association. That would be a third-straight year of sales growth for OC dealers. Local dealers began to see a sales recovery beginning in 2010 with a 10.4% increase, followed by a 13.6% gain last year. OC dealers sold a record 197,000 vehicles in 2004.
EDUCATION
Mildred García was named president of California State University, Fullerton, effective after June 1. Garcia will succeed Milton Gordon, who stepped down this month after almost 22 years at the CSUF helm. Interim President Willie Hagan will serve until June. García has been president at Cal State Dominguez Hills since 2007, when she became the first Latina president in the Cal State system.
FINANCE
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Premier Bancorp Inc.’s fourth-quarter profit rose 60% from a year earlier to $2.6 million. The bank’s annual profit surged 152% to $10.6 million. Pacific Premier is the third-largest bank based in Orange County with $961.1 million in assets at the end of 2011, 16% more than a year earlier.
REAL ESTATE
Groundbreaking for the Grand Terrace project at Honda Center in Anaheim will be held in early February. The addition to the sports arena, will feature a 200-seat restaurant, a private-membership bar and a sports-merchandise shop. The Honda Center is currently home to the Anaheim Ducks professional hockey team. It’s been central to recent efforts to land a professional basketball franchise in Anaheim.
The Anaheim City Council waived $158 million in future bed taxes on two hotel high-rises planned at Anaheim GardenWalk mall. The hotel project would cost an estimated $283 million and total 866 rooms. Developers would be allowed to keep 80% of bed taxes, which are 15% of room rates. PKF Consulting estimates the project will create 3,200 construction jobs and 1,300 permanent positions. The city would collect about $20 million annually in taxes under the waiver, according to the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.
RETAIL
Lake Forest-based Del Taco LLC, a unit of Del Taco Holdings Inc. has awarded a three-location franchise development deal to DT Restaurants of Dallas/Fort Worth in Texas. DT is operated by former Southern California brothers Ryan and Chris Blake. There currently are six Del Tacos in Dallas/Fort Worth.
TECHNOLOGY
A 24,000-square-foot pet facility was from 18871 Teller Ave. in Irvine, where it owes $200,000 in back rent, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Passionate Pet Superstore in Irvine opened in 2009, selling pet food and supplies and offering pet grooming and boarding. Its 10-year lease on the 25,000-square-foot location was to run through October 2019.
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. announced a $125 million cash deal to sell certain assets that speed up computer performance to Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. The sale of QLogic’s InfiniBand business is expected to close this quarter, subject to customary regulatory approval.
Western Digital Corp. fell short of its profit targets in reporting financial results for the December quarter, but the Irvine-based disk drive maker outpaced Wall Street expectations on revenue. Adjusted profit was off 36%, compared with the same three months in 2010 at $145 million. Quarterly revenue fell 20% from a year earlier to $2 billion.
OTHER NEWS
Fitch Ratings this week its second-highest grade of AA+ from a previous rating of AA. The authority is using more than $300 million in bond money to improve OC transportation infrastructure following passage of a voter referendum boosting the state sales tax by ?-cent. Fitch cited strong economic fundamentals here in raising the bond ratings.
Irvine has a new official motto: City of Innovation. The city held a motto competition via the city’s website. The motto will be used all year in connection with its 40th anniversary celebrations.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Spending by visitors to Orange County last year. Tourists, conventioneers and other visitors spent $7.75 billion, up 4.7% from 2010, according to recent data from the Anaheim/Orange County Visitor & Convention Bureau and San Diego-based CIC Research Inc. The increase came despite a rise of only 1% in the number of visitors to the county, to 42.9 million persons. Most of the higher spending occurred in Anaheim, home of the Disneyland Resort and Anaheim Convention Center. Visitor spending in Anaheim rose 6% from a year earlier to $4.45 billion.
