TOP STORIES
Facilities Management West, a Costa Mesa-based consortium headed by the Fait family trust, has asked the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal to reconsider a decision to nullify its deal to buy the 150-acre Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa. The ruling will stand unless a rehearing is granted and the court reverses itself or the case is appealed to the California Supreme Court. Facilities West won a bidding process with an offer to buy the fairgrounds for $100 million. Opponents of the sale challenged the deal, and the court ruled that the state failed to provide the Legislature with an appraisal of the property, instead presenting the bidding process as a determinant of fair market value. The court also took issue with a lack of procedure for losing bidders to protest the outcome. The decision called on state officials to start the sale process over if Gov. Jerry Brown “so chooses.” Facilities Waste Management maintains the process was fair (see related item in OC Insider, page 3).
Walt Disney Co.’s Disneyland Park and Disneyland California Adventure—part of its Disneyland Resort in Anaheim—both saw increases in attendance last year, according to Burbank-based Themed Entertainment Association’s annual report. Disneyland Park drew 15.9 million visitors in 2010, up 0.5% from the year prior. Disney California Adventure Park had 6.3 million visitors, a 3% gain. Disneyland Park ranked second worldwide, about a million visitors behind Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World in Florida. Attendance at the company’s parks worldwide posted a 1.3% gain overall. Kottt’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, part of Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP, drew 3.6 million people in 2010, an 8% increase (see related item, Tourism).
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: The outlook for apartment landlords in Orange County, where the average rent is expected to rise 4.5% annually through 2015, according to Irvine-based John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Continued uncertainty in the housing market and a trend of young adults moving out of their parents’ homes are expected to keep the rental market strong.
TRANSPORTATION
Charter airline JetSuite Air moved its headquarters to John Wayne Airport from Long Beach and plans to double its workforce with 70 hires in the next 12 months. Much of the company’s workforce already lives here, and new hires will include pilots and other personnel, according to Chief Executive Alex Wilcox. The move is a boost for the airport’s general aviation business, which saw a 3% drop in traffic in May from a year earlier. JetSuite aims for high-end corporate customers and individuals. It arrives as the airport prepares for a November opening of a new terminal for commercial airlines.
AUTOMOTIVE
Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. signed Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers to a multiyear deal as its global spokesman. Griffin was named Rookie of the Year for the recently concluded season. He grabbed attention at last year’s All-Star game by jumping over a Kia Optima during a slam-dunk competition. Kia is part of South Korea’s Hyundai Kia Automotive Group.
CONSTRUCTION
The San Juan Capistrano City Council chose Encinitas-based Robert Green Co. to build a hotel as part of the proposed Plaza Banderas project that’s seen by public officials there as a catalyst for growth. The 124-room hotel is slated to be part of a development expected to include restaurants and stores near Ortega Highway and Camino Real.
APPAREL
Huntington Beach-based clothing maker Quiksilver Inc. is opening a store called Waterman at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, its first targeting surfers, paddleboarders and fisherman who are 30 and older. Quiksilver which makes clothes and shoes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and other action sports, is set to sell clothes, shoes, accessories and some boards and other sports gear at the store.
TOURISM
Matt Ouimet, onetime head of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and a former executive at Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc., has been tapped as president of the parent company of Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. Ouimet is set to become chief executive of Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP when current chief Dick Kinzel retires early next year. Cedar Fair runs Knott’s Berry Farm and 17 other amusement and water parks, as well as five hotels. Ouimet left Corinthian in 2010 as the company faced the prospect of renewed federal regulations on admissions, graduation rates and student loans (see related Top Story, above).
MANUFACTURING
Newport Beach-based American Vanguard Corp. signed a deal with Monsanto Co. of St. Louis to market an herbicide for undisclosed terms. American Vanguard subsidiary Amvac Chemical Corp. will market Impact, a corn herbicide, as part of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Plus weed control product line. Publicly traded American Vanguard has a market value of around $331 million and makes specialty and agricultural products for protecting and managing crops, turf and ornamental plants as well as public and animal health.
