In case you haven’t noticed, hotel construction is booming in North County.
Oceanside municipal planners recently OK’d construction of three new properties close to Buena Vista Lagoon near the southern border with Carlsbad. The three total close to 400 rooms, with all three sporting the Hilton nameplate, according to published reports. When completed, hotel guests can take advantage of a revitalized Buena Vista Lagoon, now partially blocked from the cleansing effects of the tides. SANDAG, or the San Diego Association of Governments, has approved a plan to better protect the 220-acre preserve.
These three projects top a list of new hotel construction that includes the 130-plus room, $110 million property in south Carlsbad overlooking popular Ponto Beach and a 137-room hotel planned near the entrance to Oceanside’s Corazon Park. Meanwhile, the 387-room Oceanside Beach Resort now under construction at the western end of Oceanside’s city center is set to open next spring. The hotel will feature the beach house from the 1987 movie “Top Gun,” which has been moved from San Diego’s waterfront to its new location.
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Speaking of hotels, the 1,628-room Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego reopened for business Aug. 2 after a months-long shutdown due to the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The bayfront towers are tallest hotel buildings on the West Coast. A news release issued by the hotel says numerous measures have been adopted to protect guests from the coronavirus.
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Local USB financial advisors Kalyn Maher Walker, Earl B. (Bryan) Thompson III and Alex Howell have found their way onto the 2020 Forbes/Shook Top Next-Gen Wealth Advisors list. The ranking features 500 advisors who manage $1 trillion-plus in client portfolios. The employers nominated each of the honorees, who were then vetted and ranked by Shook Research. Walker ranked within the top 100 of this year’s list and has been ranked previously in this and several other lists recognizing talented young advisors. Both Thompson and Howell were listed in the Forbes 2018 and 2019 listings of Best-in-State Next-Generation Wealth Advisors.
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Business is looking up at San Diego International Airport. JetBlue recently re-launched service between San Diego and New York. The flights will connect San Diego with the Newark airport. JetBlue becomes the one carrier that offers nonstop New York service since the COVID-19 pandemic struck with full force in March. A spokesperson said SAN has lost many of its nonstop connections to key domestic markets, including those in the Northeast, Florida and Hawaii, not to mention its international flights. In January, the spokesperson said the airport had flights to 70 nonstop destinations, including 11 international cities. By the end of May, the number of nonstop flights had dropped to 27. The spokesperson said the airport has since restored nonstop service to 54 cities.
Ballast Point, Kilowatt Brewing, Mujeres Beer House and San Diego Beer News have joined forces to brew their version of the Black Is Beautiful collaborative brewing project organized by Weathered Souls Brewing. The project is a national effort to raise awareness for the injustices people of color face daily, social justice, equity and inclusion. Each participating brewery has been asked to brew an imperial stout developed by Weathered Souls, a black owned brewery in Texas. Each participant puts a spin on the beer. About 1,000 craft breweries nationwide are participating.
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And while we’re on the topic of beer, San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewing Company has not been sitting idle during the pandemic. The beer-maker is introducing eight new beers over the next few weeks, all of which can be purchased at its Miramar and Leucadia tasting rooms. Saint Archer began the series with the launch of its first 7th anniversary beer in June. The latest includes its Black is Beautiful stout and a slow pour pilsner. both launched recently. The beers can be purchased in 16-oz. 4-pack cans until supplies are depleted.
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The San Diego Workforce Partnership is partnering with Jobs for the Future and Google.org on a new Outcomes for Opportunity Initiative (O4Oi). The new job training effort was announced by Google as part of its Google Career Certificates initiative. The goal is to provide accessible job training. O4Oi is a two-year pilot to enable workforce boards, job centers and nonprofit job training providers to improve the prospects for those seeking to retrain and improve working skills.
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High-profile Houston-based CPA firm Weaver has moved to larger quarters in San Diego as of Aug. 1. A news release notes that the firm serves clients in energy compliance with emphasis on work related to the state of California’s standards for fuel emissions.
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Finally, let’s give reporters Kacey McKinnon at KUSI and Zabala at Fox5 credit for this heartwarming business success story. Brandon Sloan and Chris Gentile have launched a pop-up eatery in San Diego in East Village with a very clever name, Pandemic Pizza. The two, furloughed from their jobs earlier this year due to the lockdown, started selling pizzas from their tiny studio apartments to friends and neighbors. But they were soon swamped with orders. Tom Tarantino, owner of RoVino The Foodery on Market Street, heard about the operation and let them move operations to his downtown restaurant and market. The pies have been flying out the door, as a result. They’ve even hired other out-of-work restaurant workers to help handle the business. You can order pizzas for pickup or delivery at their website. The two donated $1 from each pizza to various nonprofits.
Tom York is a Carlsbad-based independent journalist who specializes in writing about business and the economy. If you have news tips you’d like to share, send them to tom.york@gmail.com.