Public agency Fresno EOC Transit Systems has selected San Diego’s Nuvve Holding Corp. to electrify its 50-shuttle fleet. The value of the project was set at $16 million, according to a news release.
Nuvve is developing a technology platform that enables electric vehicle batteries to store and resell unused energy back to the local electric grid as well as provide related grid services.
Fresno EOC said it will deploy the shuttles over the next five years, supported by a 2.5-megawatt on-site solar generation and battery storage system.
The Fresno human services agency says it oversees more than 35 programs to help underserved populations in the area become more self-sufficient.
It deploys its bus fleet to transport people to and from work, school and medical appointments, as well as deliver meals and conduct other transportation tasks.
Nuvve CEO Gregory Poilasne said he envisions the project “as a model for modern, efficient, and eco-friendly public transportation, addressing historical air quality challenges in Fresno.”
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Nuvve also made news on Wall Street this month, conducting a 1-for-40 reverse stock split of its common stock on Jan. 19. The new shares began trading on Jan. 24.
According to a news release, Nuvve said it wanted to regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement of $10 per share of common stock to continue its listing on Nasdaq.
The stock closed at $5.52 a share on Tuesday, up nearly 70% from it’s low on Jan. 19.
The reverse stock split reduces the number of issued and outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock from 49.9 million shares to 1.3 million shares.
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Orange County’s Atlas Hospitality Group. reports that during 2023 two hotels with a total of 267 rooms opened in San Diego County. The largest was the 145-room AC Hotel San Diego.
The hospitality real estate broker reported there are currently six hotels with 2,191 rooms under construction in the county.
The largest is the 1600-room Gaylord Bayfront Resort in Chula Vista. It’s also the largest in the state.
Statewide, there are 107 hotels under construction totaling 14,225 rooms.
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San Diego continues to show growth in shared office space in CoworkingCafe’s most recent industry report for the final quarter in 2023.
Analyzing data from the website’s database, the report does a deep dive into the 25 largest coworking markets in the U.S., assessing factors such as development, national-level prices, total inventory, square footage coverage, and key market players.
In San Diego, coworking space increased with the addition of five new locations in the fourth quarter, bringing the total to 108. San Diego maintained its 18th position nationwide in terms of location count.
Despite a 2% drop to 16,804 square feet during the quarter, overall square footage increased 3% to 1.81 million square feet by year-end 2023.
San Diego’s median rate at the end of 2023 was $129 per month for virtual offices and $150 for open workspaces.
Nationally, the coworking inventory saw a marginal 1.28% increase over three months, reaching a total of 6,251 flex workspaces by the end of 2023.
Los Angeles took the lead in having the highest number of spaces for coworking, surpassing Manhattan with a total of 268 locations.
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Turning from coworking to traditional office space, U.K.-based commercial real estate broker and advisor Savills says there has been a slight uptick in commercial leasing activity to 1.1 million square feet, compared to the previous quarter.
This is according to its most recent report on activities in the market here.
Total leasing activity amounted to 4.4 million square feet, a 24% decrease from the 5.8 million square feet in 2022.
Despite the decline, there is cautious optimism for a resurgence in leasing activity in 2024, especially if interest rates decrease and venture capital funding rises, the broker said.
The region’s vacancy rate for all classes of office space reached an all-time high of 21.4%, with Class A availability closing the quarter at 25.4%.
Additionally, available sublease space expanded to over 2.4 million square feet, reflecting a significant 26% increase from the 1.9 million square feet of space reported a year ago.
With high availability rates, tenants now have the upper hand in lease negotiations, leading to an increase in concession packages.
The average asking rental rate climbed to $3.30 per square foot per month, marking only a 2.2% increase from the previous year, thanks to the addition of new space to the market.
“Despite a slowdown in VC funding in 2023, the San Diego office market remains a highly desirable market for occupiers due to a solid tech and life sciences ecosystem, a well-educated workforce, and top universities,” said Savills Research Manager Caitlin Matteson.
“Although leasing activity has cooled, planned conversions of vacant office space into other property types such as medical office or multifamily adds cautious optimism to the market. Office leasing, especially downtown, is expected to remain slower through the first half of 2024 with most lease transactions remaining expiration driven.”
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Finally, this item of note: San Diego’s Roseling Nakamura Terada Architects signed a lease for 10,000 square feet on the fifth floor of Block D, a 60,000-square-foot office building in downtown San Diego’s makers quarter district.
RNT is relocating its headquarters from the Gaslamp Quarter a mile away.
The six-story Block D, owned by L2HP and designed by BNIM Architects, claims it is the first commercial office building downtown to achieve energy and environmental-friendly certifications.
Derek Hulse and Morgan Reno of Cushman & Wakefield represented the landlord, while Star Hughes-Gorup of Hughes Marino represented the tenant.
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.
