february 16-29, 2016 long beach’s newsmagazine www ... · february 16-29, 2016 in the news long...

February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach’s Newsmagazine www.lbbizjournal.com

Long Beach Business Journal2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212Signal Hill, CA 90755-2139562/988-1222 • www.lbbizjournal.com

Prsrt stD

U.s. PostAGe

PAIDLos Angeles, cA

PerMit No. 447

THIRD SECToR REpoRT

Community

Organizations:

A No-Fail Recipe

For Success?

� By JEFFREY WILCOX

EXCLUSIVE TO THE BUSINESS JOURNAL

E ven with the promise thatsomething is a sure cure,

one size that fits all, or a no-failrecipe, something can invariablygo wrong. Just ask any doctor,parent or cook.If only adding the right ingre-

dients or keeping the easy as-sembly directions handy madeit possible for community or-ganizations to thrive! Even withthe volume of resources avail-able on the Internet, in book-stores and through trainingworkshops, every organizationis looking for the right way toput their organizations on thepath to success. After all, whenpeople and communities be-lieve in a cause, everyone wantsit to be successful. Because each is unique, how-

ever, there is no such thing as ano-fail recipe. But a full under-standing of how any nonprofitorganization can be successful isbest gained by understandingwhat causes most of them to fail.The sobering statistics about

business failures are not irrele-vant benchmarks for gauging thesame reality that exists amongtax-exempt enterprises. Whatcan skew the numbers, however,is that nonprofit organizationshave an added source of bailout

(Please Continue To Page 31)

More PersPectives:29 – Inside City Hall

By Gerrie Schipske

29 – Technology And Innovation

By Forouzan Golshani

30 – HealthWise

By Shaun Setty

30 – Effective Leadership

By Mick Ukleja

31 – Realty Views

By Terry Ross

31 – Small Business Dollars & Sense

By Ben Alvarado

Demand Is Growing AcrossThe Board In Long BeachReal Estate Markets

� By SAMANTHA MEHLINGER

Senior Writer

L ow inventory and high de-mand are the prevailing dy-

namics across most real estatemarkets in Long Beach thus farinto 2016, driving up lease ratesand sales prices for most propertytypes. The exception is the officemarket, which still has double-digit vacancy rates, although realestate professionals and econo-mists expect to see increased de-mand for office space this year.The industrial market remains

the tightest real estate sector inLong Beach, with an overall va-cancy rate hovering near 1 per-cent. Demand to buy and leasecontinues to be high due to strongactivity at local ports, job gains inrelated fields and low interestrates, according to local industrialbrokers. By comparison, Los An-geles County’s overall vacancyrate was 2.5 percent at the end of

last year, according to RobertKleinhenz, chief economist for theLos Angeles County EconomicDevelopment Corporation.“Transportation, warehousing

and wholesaling are all seeing biggains in jobs, and that’s indicativeof growth in those sectors,” Klein-henz said. “For example, whole-sale trade added jobs at a 2.3percent [rate] from December2014 to December 2015, andtransportation and warehousing inL.A. County added jobs at a 1.7percent rate year over year in De-cember,” he explained. “Both have

(Please Continue To 2)

For The First Time, Southwest Airlines PlansTo Offer Flights From Long Beach Airport


Senior Writer

F ounded in 1951 by the National Soci-ety of Professional Engineers (NSPE),

Engineers Week was originally meant tospotlight the contributions of engineers to so-ciety, and has since evolved as a tool for thefield to reach out to youth across the nation

in the hopes of growing a valuable futureworkforce. This year’s Engineers Week takesplace from February 21 to 27.“It was initially started for publicity and

recognition of engineers. They were doingso many phenomenal things, and engineersare not big on talking about themselves orwhat they do,” Kathryn Gray, a past presi-

Real estate and technology professionals agree: technol-ogy is shaping the real estate industry now and for the future. Matthew Firth is one ofthe drivers of that change. His Long Beach-based tech firm, Hobizbo, has pioneereda mobile application that allows buyers, sellers and real estate agents instant accessto tools previous only available by appointment and once involving complex papertrails. See story Page 22. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)

Taxing Issues For Voters

� By GEORGE ECONOMIDES

Publisher’s Perspective

B y now, most of you haveheard that Mayor Robert

Garcia is proposing a measure forthe June ballot that would raiseLong Beach’s sales tax from thecurrent 9 percent to 10 percent.We’ll get to the why in a moment. What you may not have heard

is that, on that same ballot, theLong Beach Community CollegeDistrict may be proposing a bondmeasure that could be as high as$800 million. The college dis-trict’s five-member board oftrustees meets February 23 todiscuss a recommendation fromSuperintendent and PresidentEloy Oakley.The bond measure would be as-

sessed on property taxes, therebyaffecting property owners only.The sales tax would impact everyresident and visitor. Twice in thepast 15 years – 2002 and 2008 –local voters approved bond meas-ures for the college. The lattermeasure was promised matching


� By SEAN BELKStaff Writer

I f everything goes smoothly,Southwest Airlines may be of-

fering service for the first time everfrom the Long Beach Airport.The Texas-

based airline wasgranted four ofnine additionalflight slots that were recentlyadded at the airport. JetBlue Air-ways, which already holds 32 slotsas the airport’s primary air carrier,received three new slots, whileDelta Air Lines, another existingair carrier, received two new slots. Southwest officially an-

nounced its interest in servingLong Beach at an employee gath-ering in Las Vegas on February

10, a day after airport manage-ment, the city attorney’s officeand outside counsel allocated theslots through a prescribedprocess. Southwest employeesalso gathered in Downtown Los

Angeles to cheer on the an-nouncement. In Southern California, South-

west currently serves four air-ports, including Los Angeles


65th Annual Engineers Week Aims To Spark Interest In Youth, Diverse Groups

(Please Continue To Bottom Of Page 26)

Southwest Airlines has for the first time broken intothe Long Beach market following an allocation ofnine new flight slots made available at the LongBeach Airport. (Southwest Airlines photograph)

Focus On Aviation & AerospaceSee Page 8

• Smart EngineeringFor HospitalsAnd Schools• Shortage Of Qualified Engineers Persists

See Pages 24-27

1_LBBJ_February16_LBBJ 2/13/16 9:06 PM Page 1

Inside This Issue 4 In The News

• People News

• Grocery Outlet Bargain Market Opens In Northeast Long Beach

• Playa Amor Restaurant Opens At The Marketplace

• City Prosecutor’s Office Presents IMPACT Award

• Erwin Dazelle Named Official Artist For Toyota Grand Prix

• Milana’s New York Pizzeria Celebrates 6th Anniversary

6 Cultural Arts• Baroque Orchestra Musica Angelica Brings Audiences

Into The Fold – Onto The Stage

8 Focus On The Aviation & Aerospace Industries• Update On Commercial, General, Corporate Aviation

• Southwest Given Flights Slots For Long Beach Airport, from Page 1

12 Special Quarterly Report: Real Estate• Overview, from Page 1

• Residential Market

• Office Space

• Industrial Space

• Retail Space

• Future Plans For Douglas Park

• Update On The Bixby Knolls Market Area

• How Technology Is Shaping The Real Estate Industry

24 Engineers Week• Shortage Of Qualified Engineers Persists

• Smart Engineering For Hospitals And Schools

• Massachusetts-Based EBI Consulting Opens Long Beach Office

• 65th Annual Engineers Weeks Aims To Spark Interest, from Page 1

28 Perspectives• Inside City Hall: The Numbers Just Don’t Add Up For Tax Increase• Technology And Innovation: 3D Printing Made Easy• HealthWise: America’s Most Common Birth Defect• Third Sector Report: Community Organizations –

A No-Fail Recipe For Success, from Page 1• Effective Leadership: 5 Ways To Overcome Your Fears • Realty Views: Builders See Rise In Housing Demand• Small Business Dollars & Sense:

Run A Year-Round Business In A Seasonal Market

Free: Long Beach Business Journal Digital Edition,

Monday Morning Coffee and NewsFlash – Sign up at: www.lbbizjournal.com

Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter: @LBBizJourn

This Edition’s AdvertisersADG Commercial.......................................................16

Aquarium of the Pacific ......................................7 & 25

Big E Pizza..................................................................23

Boulevard Cadillac.....................................................22

Boy Scouts of America, Long Beach Area Council .......4

Brascia Builders, Inc. .................................................17

Brix at the Shore .......................................................23

Buono’s Pizzeria ........................................................28

Bustamante, George/Warshauer, Steve/

Jacques, Cameron – CBC BLAIR WESTMAC ............15

Catalina Express ........................................................27

Coldwell Banker Commercial BLAIR WESTMAC ........13

City of Long Beach, Department of

Financial Management, Purchasing Division.........25

Evans & Silver Attorneys .............................................5

Eye Physicians of Long Beach......................................4

Gaut, Roy – CBC BLAIR WESTMAC ............................17

Gems & Jewels Fine Jewelry .....................................21

Grounds Bakery & Café ...............................................3

Hoyt Realty & Investments .......................................17

International City Bank .............................................24

International City Escrow ..........................................17

International City Theatre...........................................7

INCO Commercial......................................................14

Irvine-Parker, Barbara –

Keller Williams Pacific Estates ................................15

Kafe Neo......................................................................3

Knightling ....................................................................5

LB Walker Automotive ..............................................23

Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services...19

Long Beach Airport .....................................................9

Long Beach Commercial Real Estate Council ............19

Long Beach Symphony ................................................7

Long Beach Water Department ................................20

Marcus & Millichap...................................................12

Michael Levy Gallery...................................................7

Naples Rib Company .................................................23

P2S Engineering ........................................................25

Pacific Gateway Workforce

Investment Network ...............................Back Cover

Rubbercraft ...............................................................11

Sares•Regis Group/CBRE ..........................................15

The Carson Center.....................................................10

The Social List............................................................22

Volterra Dental............................................................5

Upcoming In The Business Journal . . .

March 1 Issue: Women In Business $99 Advertisements.

Call Heather Dann at 562/988-1222

1_LBBJ_February16_LBBJ 2/13/16 9:26 PM

Arts Council For Long BeachNames Griselda Suarez ItsNew Executive Director

Following the announcement late lastyear that its executive director, Victoria

Bryan, was retiring,the Arts Council ForLong Beach hasfound its new leader:Griselda Suarez, pic-tured here. She be-gins March 1, withBryan staying on

throughout the transition period.Suarez is a creative writer and a lecturer

of Chicano and Latino Studies, literature,writing and other subjects at CaliforniaState University, Long Beach. She is also aculinary artist as the co-owner of LongBeach-based Peppered Up Foods andSliced and Diced Eatery.“Griselda’s appointment comes at a very

exciting time for the Arts Council,” councilBoard President Marco Schindelmann saidin a statement. “Her background as [an]artist, advocate, activist, teacher and leaderpositions her perfectly to help move us for-ward towards our future vision in whicharts and culture play a vital role throughoutour dynamic and innovative city.”Suarez said she is honored to take on the

position. “Not only do I look forward tochampioning the arts, but I also welcomeartists and residents to engage the arts in allparts of their lives so that we can become acity of art advocates,” she stated. For more information about the Arts

Council, visit: www.artslb.org.

Alison Bruesehoff AppointedNew Executive Director Of

Rancho Los CerritosRancho Los Cerritos has named Alison

Bruesehoff as its new executive director. Sheis set to take the reins on February 22 fromEllen Calomiris, who is retiring after 33 yearsmanaging the historic site. Bruesehoff hasserved as museum executive director for theDominguez Rancho Adobe Museum in Ran-cho Dominguez since 2007, where she spear-headed a 10-year strategic plan, fundraising,public programs, facilities improvements andother projects. Prior to that, she was the ex-ecutive director of the Forest Lawn Museumin Glendale. She holds a master’s degree inbusiness administration in marketing andleadership from Woodbury University and amaster’s in museum studies from GeorgeWashington University. The Rancho is lo-cated at 4600 Virginia Rd. in the BixbyKnolls area of Long Beach. For more infor-mation, visit: www.rancholoscerritos.org.

Pacific Merchant ShippingAssociation Names

Carl Kemp Vice PresidentThe Pacific Merchant Shipping Associ-

ation (PMSA) re-cently named LongBeach local CarlKemp (pictured) vicepresident, workingfrom the organiza-tion’s Long Beach of-fice. Kemp mostrecently worked for

Federal Maritime Commission Chair MarioCordero as senior advisor for legislativeand public affairs. Prior to that, he operatedhis own government affairs firm, with

PMSA as one of his former clients. Locally,he is also known for having established theoffices of government affairs for both theCity of Long Beach and Port of LongBeach. He holds a bachelors degree andmasters in public administration from Cal-ifornia State University, Long Beach. “Carljoins our team of industry experts and willhelp us work with policy makers at thelocal, state and federal levels on trade issuesthat are so important to the environment andeconomy,” PMSA President John McLaurinsaid in a statement. “The shipping industryis entering a critical era as it adapts to largervessels, new and more efficient technologyand global economic changes,” Kempstated. “We must work with policymakersto ensure that our ports are well positionedto respond to these changes.”

Dr. Kristin Mascotti NamedQuality Medical Officer For Memorial’s Three Long Beach Hospitals

Kristin Mascotti, M.D., has been namedquality medical officer for Long Beach Me-

morial, Miller Chil-dren’s & Women’sHospital Long Beachand Community Hos-pital Long Beach. Ac-cording to a hospitalstatement, Mascottihas “led quality effortsat academic medical

centers and teaching hospitals, and is knownfor her contributions to clinical research andmedical journals, presentations at medicalconferences.” She most recently served asvice president of clinical quality at Univer-sity of Minnesota Health, an academic healthsystem with more 900 beds that includes theUniversity of Minnesota Medical Center,Masonic Children’s Hospital and outpatientclinics. “My objective is to inspire, createand articulate a shared, compelling visionwhich translates into actionable measuresthat help achieve our strategic performancegoals in quality management, patient safetyand health information technology,” Mascottisaid in a statement.

Susan DeLanghe Joins LBSFinancial As Vice PresidentLBS Financial Credit Union has named

Susan DeLanghe its vice president of elec-tronic services. DeLanghe has more than

30 years of financialindustry experienceand most recentlyserved as vice presi-dent of banking oper-ations at Opus Bank.She spent many yearswith Kinecta FederalCredit Union where

she worked in operations and informationsystems. LBS Financial was founded in1935 as the Long Beach School DistrictEmployees Federal Credit Union. For moreinformation, visit: www.lbsfcu.org.

Tony Gales Named Partner At Rossi LLP

Downtown Long Beach-based public ac-counting firm Rossi LLP recently namedTony Gales a partner after 11 years with thefirm. In his new role, Gale oversees the taxdepartment, focusing on small businessconsulting and tax compliance, planningand strategies. He is a member of the

American Institute of Certified Public Ac-countants and the California Society ofPublic Accountants. He is also involvedwith local nonprofit organizations such asthe Long Beach Police Foundation andLong Beach Ronald McDonald House.Rossi LLP has been serving clients inSouthern California and throughout theUnited States for more than 30 years. Formore information, visit: www.rossillp.com.

New Boardmembers For Las Damas del la Plaza

Bev Cook is the new president of theboard of directors for Las Damas de la Plaza,which provides volunteer assistance to Com-munity Hospital Long Beach Foundation.Since its formation in 1984, the group hasraised more than $1 million for the hospital,

including $50,000 for the recent emergencydepartment challenge campaign. Otherboardmembers are: Sheila Cantrell, vicepresident; and Phyllis Bowles, co-hospitalitychair; Fran Bylund, event coordinator; NancyEilers, co-treasurer; Nell Kariger, co-hospi-tality chair; Yolanda Benavidez, nominatingchair; Mary Eickenhofer; membership chair;and Christy Roeber, historian and in chargeof press and photography.

GB Manufacturing, Inc. Recognized By Aftermarket

Auto Parts AllianceThe Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance re-

cently presented its Diamond Award to LongBeach-based GB Manufacturing, Inc., aprovider of remanufactured gasoline and

February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 3IN THE NEWS



diesel fuel injectors, injector componentsand diesel electronics. The award is given tocompanies that “stand apart from competi-tors for their superior customer service, sup-port, marketing, sales assistance and otherservices,” according to a statement from GBManufacturing. The award was presented atthe Alliance’s recent winter meeting forshareholders in Florida. “We are honored tobe recognized for our work by such an im-portant member of the automotive aftermar-ket,” GB Manufacturing President and CEOMichael Kitching stated. The firm has beenin business since 1986. For more informa-tion, visit: www.gbreman.com.

Sunset Designers & BuildersAwarded Best Of Houzz 2016 Sunset Designers & Builders (SDB) of

Los Alamitos is the2016 winner of the“Best of CustomerService” on Houzz, anational platform forhome remodeling anddesign. In business for68 years, SDB is an el-

evated swimming pool design and buildcompany. According to a statement, the firmwas chosen by more than “35 millionmonthly unique users that comprise theHouzz community from among more thanone million active home building, remodel-ing and design industry professionals.” JohnZahn, owner of SDB, said, “I enjoy helpingresidents to elevate their outdoor living. Wehave ideal weather – why not make the bestof Southern California living?” For informa-tion, visit: www.gosunset.net. �

4 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016IN THE NEWS

(Continued From Page 3) Grocery Outlet Bargain Market Opens In Northeast Long BeachGrocery Outlet Bargain Market, a self-professed “extreme-value” grocer offering name brands at reduced prices, opened its first Long Beach store in earlyFebruary on East Spring Street. The store is owned and operated by husband and wife team Jonathan and Jennifer Lawton (pictured), who have operatedprevious locations in Chico and Oroville. Founded in 1946, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market is based in Emeryville, California, and has 240 locations in Cal-

ifornia, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsyl-vania and Washington. The Long Beachlocation is expected to generate morethan 30 new local jobs, according to acompany statement. It is one of 19 newstores slated to open in Los Angeles andOrange counties this year. The Lawtonsmade a donation of more than $4,300 tothe Junior League of Long Beach basedon the number of Facebook likes theirstore received before its grand opening,at $1 per like. “We are thrilled to openup a new Grocery Outlet in the LongBeach community and serve the local res-idents by providing exceptional serviceand an enjoyable shopping experience,”Jonathan Lawton said in a company state-ment. The store, located at 6436 E.Spring St., is open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.all week long. For more information, call562/425-5550. (Photograph by the Busi-ness Journal’s Larry Duncan)

Playa Amor Restaurant Opens At The Marketplace In Southeast Long BeachChef Thomas Ortega, owner of Ortega 100 in Redondo Beach and Amor Y Tacos in Cerritos, and his business partner Todd Tsujioka recently opened

Ortega’s third restaurant, Playa Amor, at the MarketplaceLong Beach shopping center off of Pacific Coast Highway.Ortega is a native of Cerritos, where he met Tsujioka in firstgrade. While growing up, he spent time in Long Beach, ac-cording to an announcement for the restaurant’s opening.Seafood dishes make up a good chunk of the menu, includ-ing fish tacos, lobster and charred octopus. The approachto the menu is “playful yet gourmand . . . without the intim-idation of white tablecloths and pricey plates,” accordingto a restaurant statement. Hours of operation: Mon-Thurs,2-10 p.m.; Fri-Sat, 2 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.; and Sun, noon to9 p.m. 6527 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.; 562/860-2667. Pic-tured at Playa Amor, from left, are: Mikey Gonzalez, exec-utive sous chef; Erik Carpo, chef; Thomas Ortega, ownerand head chef; and Eddie Gonzalez, managing partner.(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)


February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 5IN THE NEWS

City Prosecutor’s Impact AwardsLong Beach City Prosecutor Douglas Haubert presented his 5th an-nual IMPACT Awards on February 4 to individuals and groups who,“working with the City Prosecutor’s Office, have made a positive,significant impact on the City of Long Beach in the past year.” Join-ing Haubert in the salute was Long Beach Assemblyman Patrick O’-Donnell. Pictured with O’Donnell (far left) and Haubert (far right) aresome of the honorees, from left: John Dodson III, Long Beach EastDivision patrol officer; Claudia Lopez, a clinician/case manager ofthe Long Beach Trauma Recovery Center at St. Mary Medical Cen-ter; Erin Simon, Ed.D., director of student support services for theLong Beach Unified School District; Long Beach Quality of Life PoliceOfficer Christopher Roth; Marcelle Epley, president/CEO of the LongBeach Community Foundation; and Brad Futak, also a quality of lifepolice officer. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)

Milana’s New York Pizzeria Celebrates 6th AnniversaryTo celebrate its 6th anniversary, Milana’s NewYork Pizzeria is offering two specials during sepa-rate six-hour increments on February 19. The firstspecial – up to three slices of cheese pizza, percustomer, for 60 cents each – starts at noon andlasts until 6 p.m. The second special – pick-up ordine-in $6 cheese pizzas with toppings for an ad-ditional $2 – goes from 6 p.m. to midnight. OwnerAdriel Fasci encourages guests to choose a simplecheese pizza at his establishment because “If acheese slice cannot stand on its own, it's not greatpizza. An abundance of toppings only hides infe-rior pizzas,” he said in a recent company state-ment. “It’s been a privilege to operate in thedowntown for the past six years. We have mademany friends and customers but, most importantly,we’ve made many great pizzas together.” An an-niversary announcement stated that Milana’s hasmade nearly 625,000 pizzas and served morethan 22,236 slices since opening in 2010. Forhours and more information, visit www.milanas-newyorkpizzeria.com. 165 E. 4th St.; 562/901-1111. Fasci is pictured with his wife, Ester, theirson, Cameron, and their daughter, Milana. (Pho-tograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)

Official Grand Prix ArtistErwin Dazelle, pictured, is the official artist for the April15-17 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Frenchartist’s work is featured on the official Grand Prixposter. His work will appear on a variety of race mate-rials.More about Dazelle: dazelleusa.com. (GP photo)



Senior Writer

Gone are the days when audiences file in to a theater,wait for the lights to dim, listen to an orchestral per-formance, clap when the lights go up and then leave

to talk amongst themselves in the lobby – at least, such is thecase at Musica Angelica performances. For the historically in-formed baroque orchestra and relatively new resident per-forming arts group in Long Beach, the audience is an activeparticipant in the musical experience.New concertgoers attending a Musica Angelica perform-

ance at the Long Beach Performing Arts Center’s BeverlyO’Neill Theater can expect direct contact with the players,Music Director Martin Haselböck told the Business Journalfrom Austria during a conference call conducted at the LongBeach Convention & Visitors Bureau offices. “They are sitting very close and have personal contact to

the performance,” Haselböck said. “They can meet the musi-cians after the performance. This direct contact with the musicis a feature we really want to push with our programming.”Why the emphasis on getting up close and personal? The

answer involves the orchestra’s historically informed nature.“Today’s normal symphony orchestras use different instru-ments than those that were used when the composers wrotethe music,” Haselböck said. “The instruments we use are ex-actly the instruments which were used at the time when themusic was written. So, if we use a piano, we don’t use a mod-ern Steinway; we use a piano that is either an original or acopy of an instrument which was built 250 years ago.”This requires that all members of the orchestra – the number

of which fluctuates from seven to 25 depending on the pieceof music – be well-researched specialists in their historical in-struments. As such, they are all, at one time or another, high-lighted as soloists. “We could say the sound is authentic. It isrelated to the pieces when they were composed and written,”Haselböck said.During performances, Haselböck speaks directly to the au-

dience to explain the historical background of musical piecesand to discuss the instruments being used. After perform-ances, audience members are invited on stage to see the in-struments up close and to chat with performers.“What Musica Angelica really does well is build a two-way

interaction with the audience,” Ben Parr, author of “Captivol-ogy: The Science Of Capturing People’s Attention,” told theBusiness Journal. Parr is a former co-editor and editor-at-largefor Mashable, an online news source, and is also a generalpartner of DominateFund, a venture capital fund. While hehasn’t yet been able to make it to a performance of MusicaAngelica, he’s seen their performances online, and is a fan.“They make it so that it’s not just that you’re the audience,

you’re listening and then you leave. You’re involved. Youcome on stage, you provide suggestions, you get to learn,they talk to you,” Parr said of the orchestra. “That doesn’thappen in the vast majority of orchestras, and it’s a mistakeon their part in the modern era. You see this through socialmedia and you see this through our new communicationtools,” he said. “We expect and want communication withthe things we interact with: the brands, the TV shows andthe performers. What Musica Angelica is doing is ab-solutely the smart way to go about it.”Being based in Long Beach provides Musica Angelica with

an opportunity to get to know and build a relationship with acommunity, Haselböck noted. “If you know your audience andyou can develop an attachment to your audience, you can reactbetter,” he said. “You can finally ask the people, ‘What do youwant to hear? In which direction should our programminggo?’” He continued, “Usually, with a big symphony orchestra,you get tied to a certain repertoire. We are open.” �

Baroque Orchestra Musica Angelica Brings

Audiences Into The Fold – Onto The Stage

Martin Haselböck conducts Musica Angelica, a Long Beach-based baroque orches-tra for which he serves as music director. The orchestra plays with instruments thatwere either made during the periods of the pieces they perform or are replicas.(Photograph provided by Musica Angelica)

A musician with baroque orchestra Musica Angelica chats with alocal student musician onstage following a performance. Audiencemembers are invited onstage after Musica Angelica performancesto learn about the historical instruments used by orchestra members.(Photograph provided by Musica Angelica)

UpcomingConcert InLong BeachMarch 11Elements . . .

Earth, Water,

Wind And Fire

Tickets:www.

musicaangelica.org

CulturalArts6



Though the closure of Boeing’s C-17production line in Long Beach last yearsignaled an to an era of aircraft manufac-turing in Southern California, the region’slegacy of aerospace still carries on, as com-mercial space flight companies, such asVirgin Galactic, have planted roots whilesuppliers maintain a strong presence. Commercial aviation also continues to

prosper with Southwest Airlines planningto offer flights from Long Beach whilethe city considers international travel atthe request of JetBlue Airways. Generalaviation, meanwhile, has seen positivegrowth with executives purchasing largercorporate jets and businesses continuingto train pilots of the future. It’s a diverse mix of operations at the

Long Beach Airport, which has dailyflights of commercial airlines and com-muter aircraft, along with general aviation

tenants, including corporate jet charterbusinesses, fixed based operators (FBOs),small private airplanes, helicopters andflight schools.

Commercial Aviation Though commercial flight activity de-

clined last year, causing the airport to raiserates and charges on airlines in an attempt torecoup a near 25 percent drop in revenue,flight activity and seat capacity have “stabi-lized” so far this year, said Bryant Francis,director of Long Beach Airport, in an e-mail. “As of now, we expect a slight increase in

passenger enplanements this year versus2015,” he said, adding that approximately1.3 million passengers are expected to boardcommercial flights in Long Beach this year. Should the forecast for future enplane-

ments be as strong as expected, the hope isto maintain current rates for Fiscal Year 2017as revenue begins to “rebound,” Francis said.The airport, meanwhile, has allocated nine

additional flight slots to three commercial aircarriers, including Southwest Airlines, which

received four slots and which plans to be-come the newest airline at the airport. JetBlue Airways, which holds 32 slots as

the main air carrier at the airport (consideredits West Coast hub) since 2000, receivedthree new slots. Delta Air Lines, another ex-isting air carrier, received two new slots.The additional flight slots were allocated

after a recent noise analysis determinedthat more slots could be offered under thecity’s airport noise ordinance as airplaneshave become quieter through technologicaladvancements. Francis said the airlines have up to six

months to begin service of the new slots,pointing out that a potential increase in rev-enue for the airport may not be realizeduntil fourth quarter 2017. Future flights and destinations at Long

Beach Airport, however, are largely de-pendent on whether the city moves forwardwith a U.S. Customs and Border Protectionor Federal Inspection Services (FIS) facil-ity to offer international flights.

About a year after JetBlue formally re-quested that Long Beach city officials con-sider applying for international flights, theLong Beach City Council approved anagreement on January 19 to hire consult-ants to study the issue. The airport plans to hold two community

meetings on the subject with results of thestudy expected to be available this July,after which the city council will determinewhether to proceed with the project. While JetBlue and general aviation tenants

have asserted that such a change would be aboon for the local economy, a group of air-port adjacent residents who have long foughtairport expansion have expressed concerns itwould legally threaten the noise ordinance. Morgan Johnston, spokesperson for Jet-

Blue, told the Business Journal in an e-mail that adding international flights atthe airport would enable the New York-based airline to use its existing slots fullyfor flights to popular leisure and businessdestinations to the south.“Demand for international travel continues

to grow, and, to that end, we hope to be ableto better serve our focus city of Long Beachwith international service if and when thecity requests such a customs facility from thefederal government,” he said. “More flightsequate to more revenue for the city from theairport as well as more jobs, more tourismand more economic growth for the city.” “Getting a customs facility is a no-

brainer,” said Business Journal PublisherGeorge Economides. “It does not addflights, it does not add noise. It is anotherasset that will continue to propel LongBeach forward and attract more businessesto locate in the city. This should be fast-tracked. We know the Feds can movequickly on this, but can, will Long Beach?”

Corporate Aviation In recent years, corporate aviation activ-

ity in Long Beach has steadily grown at theairport, according to airport operators. John Tary, general manager of AirFlite,

Inc., an FBO operating as a fully ownedsubsidiary of Toyota Motor Sales, Inc., saidthe corporate aviation operation, which of-fers hangar space and other services, hasseen a “slight increase” in activity year overyear over the past five years. Although issues remain on the horizon

that have the potential to stymie generalaviation activity, such as the Federal Avia-tion Administration’s (FAA) recent push toprivatize air traffic control, the hope is thatthe positive trend will continue, he said. “We have been cautiously optimistic for

the future,” Tary said. “We definitely areseeing positive growth in all sectors, in-cluding charter business use.”He said private use of aircraft, however, has

been fairly stagnant if not declining, a trendseen across the nation, mainly because it hasbecome more expensive. However, Tary saidthe drop in fuel prices might help reduce ex-penses to encourage more private users. Curt Castagna, president and CEO of

Aeroplex/Aerolease, which has leasedhangar space out to tenants at the airportsince 1984, said corporate aviation ac-tivity continues to improve over the re-cession years.

8 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016FOCUS ON AVIATION

Aviation And Aerospace Industries Shifting Gears But Still Growing Steady In Southern California

Kiyotaka (Kiyo) Ihara, president of Shimadzu Precision Instruments, Inc. (SPI), which manufactures aerospace assemblies and composites, is seen holding anengine gearbox component created using machining equipment at the company’s new plant at Douglas Park in Long Beach. The company relocated lastyear from Torrance to a building with twice the floor space than its previous location. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)

Passengers deplane from a JetBlue Airways jet at Long Beach Airport. The New York-based airline has requested that the airport consider adding a U.S. Cus-toms and Border Protection facility to offer international flights. A study on the feasibility of such a facility is expected to be released in July, with two publicmeetings to be held for community input. The Business Journal strongly supports a customs facility. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)



Though Long Beach Airport is still con-sidered by corporations a “middle marketarea” between Los Angeles and OrangeCounty, the hope is that the city evolveswith economic development, attractingmore business and becoming more of adestination, he said. “What we’re really hoping for is an evo-

lution of Long Beach from an economicstandpoint, targeting corporations to behere and that the airport, of course withinthe confines of the noise ordinance, playsa vital role,” Castagna said. He added that corporate aviation tenants

at the airport as well as the city as a wholewill benefit economically if a U.S. customsfacility is provided at Long Beach Airport asinternational corporate executives would be

able to fly directly into the city without hav-ing to check in at LAX or other airports first. “All we hope to do is maximize these busi-

ness ventures within the confines of what thenoise ordinance is,” Castagna said. “We arevery supportive of the noise ordinance but atthe same time within those regulations wewant to maximize business and we look tothe airport as our landlord to facilitate that.”Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., which pro-

vides completion services for newly man-ufactured business jets with exterior paintand interior installations, along with serv-ice and maintenance support, expanded op-erations at the airport last year.The Georgia-based corporate jet man-

ufacturer moved to a hangar space at theairport at 3521 E. Spring St., previouslyused as a modification center for BoeingC-17 production. According Becky Johnson, vice president

and general manager of Gulfstream LongBeach, the new building, dedicated to air-craft maintenance, encompasses a 19,000-square-foot hangar and nearly 10,000 squarefeet of shop support and office space. After Gulfstream added about 50 em-

ployees last year, the operation, which out-fits new G650s, G650ERs and G550s,employs more than 800 people includingcontractors in Long Beach, she said. “As the anchor for Gulfstream’s West

Coast operations and also a supporter ofcustomers in Asia, we simply needed addi-tional space,” she said in an e-mail. “In2015, Long Beach technicians servicedmore than 1,100 aircraft at the facility oron road trips to nearby general aviation air-ports, including Van Nuys, one of thebusiest in the U.S.”

General AviationGeneral aviation tenants, such as flight

schools, have seen positive growth as well. Angel City Flyers, Inc., which has oper-

ated as a private flight school at the airportfor nearly 11 years, has seen more sales dur-ing the second and third quarters of last yearand more activity is expected at least throughthe end of the first quarter of this year, ac-cording to operations manager Erick Bryant. “It’s been fantastic,” he said. “We’ve

been definitely seeing an uptrend over thelast few years. Last year turned out to be astrong year for us and 2016 looks evenmore promising.”Bryant said that about 20 percent of

customers are people looking to becomeprofessional pilots while 80 percent arethose seeking to fly for recreational orbusiness reasons. He added that business is booming in de-

mand for light six-seat, two-engine jets thathave become safer, easier to fly, more reli-able and more fuel efficient through tech-nological advancements. Candy Robinson, owner of Long Beach

Flying Club & Flight Academy, which hasbeen providing flight training services for35 years, said her business has seen a 7 to10 percent increase in sales last year, defy-ing national trends of decreasing generalaviation activity. She said foreign students from countries

such as England, Korea, the Philippinesand Italy, make up about 15 percent of hercustomer base while the other 85 percentcome from the local area. However, foreignstudents, who require visas to train, oftentake up more flight hours since they aremore serious about becoming pilots for air-lines in emerging countries. “We’re supplying pilots to the industry as

one of the biggest U.S. exports of educa-tion,” Robinson said. “We’re educating theworld right now.”

Aerospace And DefenseHigh-performing aerospace and de-

fense industry businesses, meanwhile,have found a way to stay profitable de-spite the loss of Boeing’s C-17 manufac-turing plant that has been a major blow tothe city and regional economy.One sector taking off is the commercial

space flight industry. Virgin Galactic, partly owned by Sir

Richard Branson, moved to a 150,000-square-foot facility at Douglas Park nearLong Beach Airport last year. The facilityhouses the design and manufacturing ofthe company’s small satellite launch vehi-cle, LauncherOne. Somewhat similar in design to Space-

ShipTwo, Virgin Galactic’s reusable vehi-cle for space tourism, the satellite launchvehicle is designed to be “flexible, afford-able and responsive” so that it can belaunched from an aircraft for commercialand governmental customers. Christine Choi, Virgin Galactic

spokesperson, told the Business Journalthat the company, which employs 150 peo-ple in Long Beach, doesn’t require directaccess to the Long Beach Airport sinceflights of LauncherOne, which have yet tobe publicly disclosed, are expected to takeplace in Mojave. She said Virgin Galactic’s decision to

move to Long Beach had to do with the fa-cility and Long Beach’s “enduring contri-butions to aerospace” along with the “highquality aerospace professionals and candi-dates who call Long Beach home.”“Southern California has always been a

CARSON CentertheCARSON Centerthe

Cal StateUniv-Dominguez Hills

Links AtVictoria

E Victoria St

E 223rd St

E Carson St

E Del Amo Blvd

Figu

eroa

St

S Wilm

ington Ave

Norm

andi

e Ave

Avalo

n Bl

vd

Harb

or F

wy

405

91

110

E University DrW 190th St

CARSON CentertheCARSON Centerthe

10 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016FOCUS ON AVIATION

Aviation/Aerospace(Continued From Page 9)


hotbed of aerospace and, with the growthof the entrepreneurial space industry here,the future looks promising,” Choi said. Although aircraft manufacturing has left

the region, many aerospace and defensecompanies still rely on the large pool of tal-ent and suppliers in Southern California.Rubbercraft, for instance, which supplies

rubber and composite parts mostly to aero-space and defense companies, such as Boe-ing, Northrup Grumman, Gulfstream andSpace X, moved to Long Beach from Gar-dena about five years ago and finished lastyear with double-digit growth, according toCEO Larry O’Toole. The company, which relocated simply

because it needed more space and a betterfacility with close proximity to the airportand aerospace businesses, is expected tosee the same “robust” growth this year, hesaid, adding that the company added about16 managerial engineering positions lastyear and is hiring this year as well. O’Toole said Southern California is still

viewed as a “global player” in the aero-space and defense market if for no otherreason than because of the large presenceof suppliers. While original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs) aren’t as close asthey used to be, parts can easily be deliv-ered to other states or overseas, he said. “Even though some of the large aircraft

are no longer being made here, that doesn’tsay that the world-class suppliers that havebeen here aren’t still here,” he said. “Whenyou think about what’s going to happen inthe space industry . . . I don’t think thelegacy is going to go away any time soon.It’s just being carried on in a different way.” Shimadzu Precision Instruments, Inc.,

(SPI), a Japanese manufacturer of aero-space assemblies and components, relo-cated from Torrance to a new facility withtwice the floor space at Douglas Park inLong Beach last year. Kiyotaka Kiyo Ihara, president of SPI,

stated in an e-mail that the company ex-pects more than 30 percent growth in 2016and more than 10 percent growth in 2017.He said the company employs about 60people in Long Beach and plans to hire 10more employees this year based on opera-tional growth. Ihara said the company, which services

Boeing’s commercial aircraft division inSeattle and Honeywell Aerospace engine di-vision in Arizona, moved to Long Beach inorder to add new functions of in-house partmachining and surface treatment capabilities. He said a plus for operating in Southern

California is the region’s rich experience inthe aerospace business and skilled labor.Still, Ihara noted that operating costs are

“relatively high” and the company is al-ways competing with businesses that havelower operating costs in other states andother countries, such as China, India, Braziland Canada. Long Beach city officials, meanwhile are

in the process of transitioning Boeing’snow empty C-17 Globemaster III assemblyplant, which once provided nearly 5,000 di-rect jobs, into productive use. Mayor Robert Garcia recently an-

nounced that the city will be working withThe Rose Center for Public Leadership,jointly operated by the National League ofCities (NLC) and the Urban Land Institute(ULI), to develop strategies for economicdevelopment, industry attraction, job reten-

tion and workforce training to transformthe site into a “hub for emerging technol-ogy and innovation.” Garcia and Rose Center representatives

made a presentation to the public about thestudy on February 12, presenting prelimi-nary findings. “Repurposing the Boeing site is a priority

for the city and the continued development

of Douglas Park as a business and technol-ogy center,” Garcia said in a statement. The city is seeking a development strategy

for the facility to be developed, acquired andplanned for furthering emerging technologyand innovation uses. The study area is about130 acres, including the Boeing-owned as-sembly plant, portions of Long Beach Air-port and parcels around Cherry Avenue. �

February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 11FOCUS ON AVIATION

International (LAX), Burbank, Santa Anaand Ontario airports. “Long Beach would make it five for five

in greater L.A. for Southwest, and wouldgive us another service point to fulfill ourpromise to connect our California customersnot only to what’s important but also towhere is important in planning business, va-cation or personal travel plans,” Gary Kelly,Southwest’s chairman, president and CEO,told employees, according to a statement. “Nobody can match the value you all

bring to air travel with our world-famoushospitality, and no one can offer Californiawhat we do on a daily basis, especially withthe attractive addition of our low-fare serv-ice at Long Beach,” he added. As a new air carrier to the city, Southwest

was automatically given two slots as re-quired by the city’s flight allocation resolu-tion while the rest of the slots wereallocated on a “sequential basis,” accordingto the city attorney’s office. The nine additional flight slots were of-

fered after a recent noise analysis audit in-dicated that cumulative noise levels fromaircraft have decreased at the airport. This

increases the airport’s total air carrier flightslots from 41 to 50. Under the city’s noise ordinance, the air-

port is required to offer additional flightslots to airlines if noise levels fall below anestablished floor. According to the analysis,noise has reduced primarily because air-planes have become quieter through ad-vancements in technology. Kelly told the Las Vegas Review-Journal

that Southwest is considering Las Vegas asa potential destination from Long Beach. Bob Montgomery, vice president of air-

port affairs for Southwest, stated in an e-mail to the Business Journal that he couldn’tconfirm destination info, adding that detailsabout flight schedules and low fares wouldbe published in the weeks ahead. Southwest, however, still needs to deter-

mine whether the level of capacity allocatedfor Long Beach Airport makes initiatingservice “financially viable,” Long BeachAirport Director Bryant Francis said in astatement.He said the airport is currently in the

process of drafting an allocation award letterto each of the three airlines. Air carriers haveup to six months from the point of notifica-tion to begin operations and 90 days to makeflights available for sale, Francis said. �

southwest Airlines(Continued From Page 1)


been growing steadily for several monthsrunning, so that tells us that the industriesthemselves have been expanding and havebeen putting pressure on the demand for in-dustrial space.”Real estate professionals from local of-

fices of Lee & Associates and ColdwellBanker Commercial BLAIR WESTMACexpect sales inventory of industrial spacein Long Beach to increase somewhat thisyear as potential sellers finally take advan-tage of high sales prices. Plus, Sares-RegisGroup intends to break ground on severalmore industrial buildings at Douglas Parkin East Long Beach this year.By contrast, the office market still has the

highest vacancy rates of all Long Beach realestate sectors. Cushman & Wakefield’s most

recent office market report showed a va-cancy rate of nearly 18 percent amongdowntown office buildings and 16 percentamong suburban offices. Those are improve-ments over recent years, however, when va-cancy rates were closer to 20 percent. Local real estate agents expect vacancy

rates will tighten up further due to a trendof converting aging office buildings intomulti-family residences. One such projectis the conversion of former Verizon officesat 200 W. Ocean Blvd. to 86 residentialunits, which was approved by the LongBeach Planning Commission in September.“The office market throughout the county

has seen steady improvement over thecourse of the last year, really the last two orthree years, and that’s being driven in partby nice gains in the kinds of industries thatsupport office occupancy,” Kleinhenz said.Health care and professional services indus-

tries continue to have significant job gains,which is contributing to demand for officespace in L.A. County, he noted.The local retail real estate market contin-

ues to improve, with demand high in well-trafficked areas such as Belmont Shore andThe Promenade in downtown, which is driv-ing up lease rates in those areas. There is ahigh demand to purchase retail properties inLong Beach, but not much inventory avail-able, according to local real estate agents.Positive economic fundamentals should

support more leasing and sales activity inthe local retail market, Kleinhenz said. “Theunemployment rate has fallen from morethan 8 percent in December of 2014 to 6.4percent in December of 2015,” Kleinhenzsaid. “That tells us that households andworkers are moving forward financially,and as such they are able to spend moneyon both discretionary and nondiscretionary

purchases. All of that should support somegreater health in the retail sector.” Kleinhenz, who lives in Long Beach, ob-

served that there has been an increase ofnew retail space opening locally. The PikeOutlets, for example, continues to seek ten-ants for its revamped retail center, whileCity Place near the downtown core is un-dergoing a contemporary facelift. “Themarket for retail space should be fairlygood in 2016 and probably into 2017, to theextent that we think the economic expan-sion has legs into the next year,” he said.Both the single-family and multi-family

residential markets continue to experiencevery low inventory, strong demand and in-creasing sales prices.“In general, we have a market that is

characterized by very strong demand andlimited inventory,” Leslie Appleton-Young,chief economist for the California Associ-ation of Realtors, told the Business Journal.“We have been in this situation for the pastcouple of years.”According to Appleton-Young, annual

sales transactions in Long Beach increasedby 8.9 percent in 2015 compared to 2014.“In January, the median home price was$458,500, which was up 11 percent on ayear-over-year basis,” she observed.Demand to buy single-family homes is

“fairly robust,” Appleton-Young said. “Wehave got strong job growth, and we havegot the lowest unemployment rate we havehad in eight years,” she noted. “We have arebound in household formation. And wehave got historically low and falling mort-gage rates. So the fundamentals underlyingdemand are positive.”There isn’t enough inventory to meet

demand – local real estate agents estimatethere are fewer than 500 homes for sale inLong Beach, which would all sell in abouta month and a half at the rate of currentdemand. The dynamic is part of what’sdriving up sales prices, which is impactingaffordability for homebuyers. This chal-lenge is typically associated with first-time homebuyers, but it extends beyondthem. “We have a systemic situationwhere baby boomers are not moving,” Ap-pleton-Young said. “They want to tradeup, they want to trade down, they mightwant to do something different, but theysimply can’t afford to do it.”Kleinhenz expected these trends to con-

tinue. “I think price gains and an increasein sales should be in the cards for 2016,maybe even 2017,” he said.Even during the worst of the Great Re-

cession, Long Beach had a fairly stablemulti-family market, and it remains strong,as Eric Christopher, senior associate withLong Beach-based INCO Commercial,pointed out. “Across the board, in LongBeach we had maybe 7 to 8 percent va-cancy in the worst recession that you and Iwill hopefully ever see,” he said. Vacancyrates are now closer 3 percent, he added.“It is always the case that the L.A. region

and Long Beach in particular have verytight multi-family markets,” Kleinhenzsaid. “We have seen that rents on apart-ments have continued to increase for the re-gion as a whole.” Although new household formation has

been slow to gain traction since the reces-sion, Kleinhenz said older millennials arenow starting to look to purchase homes ormove into rental markets, which should putmore pressure on rents.

12 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016SPECIAL REPORT: REAL ESTATE

real estate overview(Continued From Page 1)



Due to low vacancy rates, increasingrents and low interest rates, the demand topurchase multi-family properties remainshigh, according to local professionals. Asin other real estate market sectors, thereisn’t much inventory available for sale,which continues to push up sales prices.“If you look at L.A. County building per-

mits, the lion’s share of new residentialconstruction is occurring with multi-family.A big chunk of that is for rent,” Kleinhenzsaid. Long Beach is no exception. There areseveral projects underway in DowntownLong Beach, in particular, with most alongOcean Boulevard or near city hall. TheCurrent, a 17-story residential tower at thenorthwest corner of Alamitos Avenue andOcean Boulevard, is closest to completion.A temporary leasing trailer at the site isnow open. �

Tight Inventory, High Demand Persist In Local Residential Market


Senior Writer

For the past year, local real estate pro-fessionals have speculated that, when

the Federal Reserve began raising interestrates, home mortgage and multi-familyloan rates would also increase, putting aslight damper on demand to buy residentialproperties. But, even after the Federal Re-serve raised interest rates by a quarter of apercent in December, banks have actually

reduced their own interest rates, allowingthe high demand to buy property that char-acterized 2015 to persist.

Single-family HomesAccording to real estate website

Zillow.com, the average current 30-yearfixed rate for a home mortgage in Califor-nia is about 3.43 percent.“It looks like we are going to start seeing

interest rates down in the mid-threes [per-cent range] again,” Mary Ann Edwards, of-fice manager and agent with Re/MaxCollege Park, told the Business Journal.“Nobody predicted it. Nobody thought thatwould happen, including myself.” Edwardssaid banks might be lowering rates to re-main competitive internationally.Phil Jones, owner of Coldwell Banker

Coastal Alliance, said the Long Beach sin-gle-family market experienced heightenedactivity this January. Compared to January2015, “We saw a 10 percent increase,roughly, in sales,” he said.Very limited inventory coupled with

high demand is continuing to drive upsales prices, according to Jones. “The de-mand outweighs the supply, clearly,” hesaid. “At the end of December we had 1.6months of supply . . . at the current rateof sales, that’s how long it would take tosell all the inventory if nothing else cameon the market,” he said. At the end of December, there were 486

single-family homes listed for sale in LongBeach, whereas four years ago there wereabout 1,000 more than that, Jones noted.“Historically, Long Beach used to have2,000 listings on the market at any onetime. So we are really in a historically lowinventory period,” he said.

Jones estimated that the current medianprice of homes for sale in Long Beach is$475,000, an increase of 9 percent com-pared to the same time last year. If low in-ventory and high demand persist, he saidsales prices should continue to increase.“What I would hate to see is the rate of ap-preciation increase more, because that’s notsustainable,” he said.Affordability for first-time homebuyers

is becoming more of an issue as homeprices continue to rise. “The level of first-time homebuyers has dropped,” Jones said.“It used to be historically in the 40 percentrange. We are seeing it right about 30 per-cent on average. The first-time homebuyersare literally either being priced out of themarket or haven’t reached a point wherethey feel comfortable buying a home.”

Kelsea Mazzocco, a realtor with Son-nocco Real Estate Group in Bixby Knolls,said potential sellers may be hanging onto their homes because they aren’t surewhen the real estate market will reach itspeak and begin to decline. “People arestarting to feel like, is this it? Is this thetop?” she said. “Everybody is in thinkingmode, like, is this it or should we hang onfor one more year?”Homes priced at $400,000 to $600,000

are highest in demand, according to RussCaldarella, an agent with First Team RealEstate. “With the shortage of properties,that’s why when there is a new listing that’sreasonably priced, it has got multiple offerson it,” he said.“The higher-end market in Long Beach

is also doing well,” Caldarella observed. “It


Mary Ann Edwards, office manager and agent with Re/Max College Park Realty, said home prices inLong Beach are nearing pre-recession peaks. Homes highest in demand are priced between $400,000to $600,000, like this two-bedroom, two-bath house she owns at 3255 Eucalyptus Ave., currently valuedat about $430,000. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)

(Continued From Page 12)


doesn’t move as quickly sometimes as thestuff in that $400,000 to $550,000 range.”As a rule, the average number of days

homes go unsold has decreased acrossprice points, Jones said. “It’s roughly be-tween 50 and 60 days, and some are get-ting multiple offers within hours of beinglisted if they are priced well and they’reparticularly attractive,” he explained.The Bixby Knolls area has become

popular with f irst-time homebuyers be-cause homes there are often pricedmoderately and there are many places toeat and things to do in the area, Maz-zocco said. The Los Altos neighborhoodis also in high demand for similar rea-sons, she noted.The neighborhoods south of Conant

Street, as well as beach-adjacent areaslike Belmont Heights, Bluff Park andAlamitos Beach, are also hot right now,according to Caldarella.

Multi-family ResidencesAs has been the case for more than a

year, very low inventory and high demandcontinue to define the local multi-familymarket.When word got out last year that the

Federal Reserve planned to raise interestrates, Steve Bogoyevac, first vice presi-dent of investments with the Long Beachoffice of Marcus & Millichap, expecteddemand might cool off a bit. “In Decem-ber everyone was kind of fearful thatrates were going up, and the Fed bumpedtheir rates, but interest rates [now] are ac-tually probably a little lower today,” hesaid. “The inventory is so low and ratesare as good or better than they were at the

end of last year, so I don’t really expectany change,” he said, referring to buyerdemand.As of February 8, there were only 27

multi-family properties listed for sale onthe MLS, a multiple listing service wherereal estate professionals share and gatherinformation about properties for sale, ac-cording to Eric Christopher, senior asso-ciate with INCO Commercial. “Usuallythere are between 60 and 90 listingsshowing on the MLS,” he said.To get around the problem of low in-

ventory, buyers motivated by improvingrental rates and low interest rates aremaking offers on properties not evenlisted for sale, Christopher observed. “Myanalysis shows that about half the deals,or maybe even more than half, are goingoff market right now,” he said. “You nevereven see it make it to the MLS.”Christopher called the imbalance of in-

ventory and demand “huge,” and attrib-uted the dynamic to an increase in foreigninvestment and a desire among babyboomers to make tangible investmentsrather than looking to the stock market. “Price points are definitely right back

where they were at the top,” Christophersaid, referring to the last multi-familymarket high in 2006. He said he expectedsales prices to plateau because if theywere to increase further, the amount buy-ers would spend on a property comparedto the income that property would gener-ate through rent would be too small and adisincentive. Certain areas of town highlypopular among renters and investors, such

February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 15



as Belmont Shore, may continue to seeprice increases, he added.

Bogoyevac said sales prices might con-tinue to increase. “Looking at comps[comparable sales prices], things closingnow versus what closed at the end of thefourth quarter last year are closing athigher prices,” he said. “It seems like it’scontinuing to increase.”

Part of the reason buyers are willing topay higher sales prices is that rents arecontinuing to increase, both Christopherand Bogoyevac noted. “The landlords outthere most definitely have their minds onrent increases this year if they haven’t al-ready,” Christopher said. Many are con-sidering increases of at least 5 percent,he added.

Bogoyevac pointed out that landlordsare able to increase rents partially becausethey are investing in higher quality coun-tertops, kitchens and bathrooms. “They’regetting top-of-the-market rents,” he said.“There has got to be a ceiling somewhere,but I don’t know where it’s at.”

If the market were flooded with new in-ventory, that could bring down salesprices and rents, Bogoyevac said. Thereare several new apartment buildingsplanned over the next few years, most ofwhich are in the downtown area, but Bo-goyevac said the increase in inventorywould have to be “incredible” to have animpact. The only factor that could quashhigh demand would be if interest ratesbegan increasing at a rapid pace, headded. “Otherwise I see pretty much asimilar story as we had last year.” �

Local Office Market ToTighten This Year As Demand Strengthens And Lease Rates Rise

� By SEAN BELK

Staff Writer

As Downtown Long Beach under-goes a renaissance with new retail

options and old high-rise buildings beingrenovated to cater to creative users, demandfor office space is projected to furtherstrengthen in 2016, with vacancy droppingand rental rates rising throughout the city.

According to local commercial real es-tate brokers, more tenants took up spacethan vacated at office buildings in down-town and the suburban area of the city lastyear as companies have expanded and mar-ket conditions have improved in the region.Brokers estimate that there will be evenless available office space this year.

According to Cushman & Wakefield’slatest market report, some space was putback on the market in the fourth quarterdue to some consolidations and changingmarket dynamics.

Overall for the year, however, the citysaw positive net absorption, meaning moretenants were moving in than leaving, in thedowntown and suburban markets.

Furthermore, the report states that officespace vacancy rates in Long Beach (hover-ing at 17.8 percent for downtown) are ex-pected to fall, as continued growth of the

office-using sectors in the South Bayshould drive additional demand in 2016.

“We anticipate that with the improvingmarket conditions, new space on the mar-ket will be absorbed in the near future,”said Robert Garey, senior director andcommercial office real estate broker forCushman & Wakefield. “I think the marketis still on a positive trend of increased leas-ing, and rental rates will still continue totrend upwards as they are.”

He noted that conversions of office toresidential use at some high-rise buildingsdowntown will further tighten the officemarket this year.

“Tenants that are in those buildings thatmay ultimately get converted will get dis-placed and likely go to other buildings inDowntown Long Beach,” Garey said. “Wethink the market will continue to tightenas that occurs.”

A factor fueling the demand for officespace is the improving economy, he said,noting that the unemployment rate in LosAngeles County in December last yeardropped to 5.9 percent, down from 8 per-cent the prior year. “The economy is doingbetter than it was and we’re seeing the fruitsof that, so to speak, from the fact that officevacancies are going down,” Garey said.

He added that investments in officebuildings increased substantially, notingthat ownership of some large office build-ings in Downtown Long Beach changedhands last year.

A major deal involved Santa Monica-based Ocean West Capital Partners purchas-ing the 209,882-square-foot office buildingat 100 W. Broadway from Adler Realty In-

16 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016

Robert Garey, senior director for Cushman &Wakefield of California, Inc., is pictured at the Kil-roy Airport Center office complex, where Cush-man’s Long Beach office is located. (Photographby the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)


SPECIAL REPORT: REAL ESTATE


vestments, Inc. for $35 million. Ocean Westalso purchased the 211 E. Ocean Blvd.building, which has more than 105,000square feet of office space, for $17 million,according to Cushman & Wakefield’s report. “Investment in office buildings is in-

creasing,” Garey said, noting that the twobuildings are slated to undergo major ren-ovations to develop the latest creative officespace, which is what tenants in today’s mar-ket are seeking. “New capital coming in it bodes well for

the overall quality of the stock of officespace,” he said. “More creative, inspira-tional space is what most tenants are lean-ing towards these days.”David Smith, senior vice president at

commercial real estate firm CBRE, Inc.,confirmed those sentiments, adding thatexisting Class B office buildings are beingrenovated to develop brand new state-of-the-art creative space. “Tenants don’t want the type of standard

mid-to-high-rise office space,” he said.“They want employee amenities and relaxedwork environments. That’s the type of thingthey’re looking for and where the demandis . . . Downtown Long Beach is becomingthe type of environment that companies arelooking for throughout the Western U.S.” Smith said office vacancy is expected to

decline this year with rental rates steadilyon the rise.In the suburban area of Long Beach, an

office building at 4900 and 4910 AirportPlaza Dr. is about 20 percent leased afterBoeing left a hole after consolidating intocompany-owned facilities, Smith said. Garey said sales prices for office build-

ings have been increasing throughoutSouthern California. He said appreciationlargely depends on job creation, adding thatall sectors, including health care, engineer-ing, entertainment and technology, appearto be on a more “growth-oriented” trend. Jon Sweeney, a commercial real estate

broker for ADG Commercial who handleslistings at Daugherty Sky Harbor at theLong Beach Airport, said parcels at thebusiness park are 95 percent leased. He saidGreen Apple Event Company, which pro-vides catering services, is moving into thetop level of a three-story building at the sitethat has long been used as restaurant space. In addition, about two months ago,

25,000 square feet of hangar space filledup, Sweeney said, noting that only about5,000 square feet of office space is left forlease at the site. He said most airplanehangars at the airport are becoming occu-pied as the size of corporate jets has in-creased and some tenants have moved fromOrange County/Santa Ana Airport. �

Industrial Real EstateMarket May See MoreSupply In 2016, But Vacancy To Remain At All-Time Low� By SEAN BELKStaff Writer

Demand for industrial real estate inLong Beach and the surrounding




FuturePlans ForDouglasPark


Senior Writer

W hat years ago was a vacant land-scape left behind by the dwin-

dling presence of the local aviation andaerospace industry has since been revivedinto a bustling mixed-use business commu-nity, Douglas Park, home to globally rec-ognized firms like Mercedes-Benz USAand Virgin Galactic. With significantacreage left for development, developerSares-Regis Group has big plans for thepark, with a new hotel, expansive retail,and more headquarters-type office and in-dustrial buildings already in the works.In early March, Sares-Regis plans to

break ground on a new extension of Dou-glas Park, Pacific Pointe East, at the south-east corner of Conant Street and LakewoodBoulevard, across the street from Mercedes.The land is currently an unused parking lot.“It will be comprised of three new indus-trial, flex-tech buildings totaling 494,000square feet which were designed to appealto a broad range of users, such as corporateheadquarters, technology and light manu-facturing uses,” Patrick Russell, Sares-Regis’s senior vice president, commercialdevelopment, told the Business Journal.Pacific Pointe East is being built on spec-

ulation without pre-assigned tenants, likeother previous preplanned projects at Dou-glas Park. “A portion of each building willinclude well-appointed office space and amezzanine. The office layout is designed toallow for expansion depending on specificuser needs,” Russell said. The buildings willalso feature up to 34 feet of clearance forstorage and manufacturing space, he noted. Just as Sares-Regis has done along Lake-

wood Boulevard, the company plans to makeextensive street and landscaping improve-ments to the project frontage, Russell said.The project should be complete and ready fortenants by the end of 2016, he estimated.“In addition to Pacific Pointe East, there

are several projects that we expect to beginconstruction on this year,” Russell said.“Some of these projects are by other devel-opers who have purchased land from us.”Perhaps the largest of these is a 241-room,

five-story Hampton Inn and HomewoodSuites to be built at 3855 Lakewood Blvd.on the south side of Cover Street, acrossfrom the existing Courtyard Long BeachAirport hotel. According to a city staff re-port, the development encompasses 3.94acres. Plans include a 1,200-square-foot fit-ness center, an outdoor pool, a spa area, agaming and barbecue area, a 900-square-foot meeting room, a 700-square-foot board-room and a space for lounging and dining.The Long Beach Planning Commission ap-proved the plans in December.

United Pacific MovingHeadquarters To Douglas Park

United Pacific, an independent owner,operator and supplier of gas stations andconvenience stores in the Western United

States, announced on February 9 that it hadpurchased land at Douglas Park to build itsnew headquarters. The firm is currentlybased in Gardena. It is not affiliated withanother company named United Pacific In-dustries that is headquartered at DouglasPark, which is a supplier of commercialtruck and classic car parts.According to Russell, United Pacific’s

headquarters are slated to be built on thewest side of the new hotel at the southeastcorner of the intersection of Cover Streetand Worsham Avenue.“We completed a major acquisition last

June, essentially doubling the size of ourcompany, tripling it in some respects,” JoeJuliano, CEO of United Pacific, told theBusiness Journal. “So we are just flat out ofspace in Gardena.” The firm, formerlyknown as United Oil, acquired 251 gas sta-tions and convenience stores from PacificConvenience & Fuels in June, expanding itsreach to five states including California,Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.After expanding, United Pacific con-

ducted a thorough review of available prop-erties in the Greater Long Beach area, butdid not initially find anything to meet itsneeds. “Then we discovered Douglas Park,and the opportunity to build new or from theground up was exciting to me,” Juliano said. “In terms of just logistics, I wanted to

have the company headquarters near a majorfreeway,” Juliano continued. “I wanted it tobe near a large commercial airport, butdidn’t want to go as far south as OrangeCounty.” He noted that the location is centralto most of his employees’ residences. “When I actually visited Douglas Park

for the first time, I was excited about all theamenities that were there and were beingplanned for construction,” Juliano said.“There was already a hotel and fast casualrestaurants that would all be within walkingdistance of the location.”The 40,000-square-foot corporate office

is being built on 2.65 acres. Plans featurewarehouse space for facilities maintenanceequipment, offices for administration andsupport services for the company’s gas sta-tion stores, training space and conferencerooms, Juliano said. The lobby has been de-signed as a fully operating gas station con-

venience store for training employees andexperimenting with new products and tech-nology, he noted. Whittier-based OltmansConstruction Co. is slated to build theheadquarters, which is designed by New-port Beach’s DRA Architects.“We’re working with the city right now to

get our plans approved and start the permit-ting process,” Juliano said. “We’re hopingto get started in mid-June with grading.”The company aims to have constructioncompleted by the second quarter of 2017.

In The Works: Pacific Pointe Northwest

Sares-Regis expects to start work thisyear on new office-industrial buildings onundeveloped land at the northwest cornerof Douglas Park off Carson Street, accord-ing to Russell. “A couple smaller industrialflex-type buildings are planned for thesoutherly portion of that quadrant, but themajority of the site is currently unplanned,”Russell said. “It could accommodate a cor-porate campus or a combination of build-to-suit buildings tailored to specific userneeds. We’re still in the process of formu-lating our strategy for those parcels.” Thefuture development has been dubbed Pa-cific Pointe Northwest.Northeast Douglas Park: In EscrowLast year, Burnham USA Equities, Inc.

of Newport Beach, a real estate developer,told the Business Journal it was acquiringland at the northeast corner of DouglasPark off Carson Street and LakewoodBoulevard for a retail development. Thatdeal is in escrow, according to Russell.

“They have a great reputation for creativ-ity and high quality retail developments,”Russell said of the company. “They haveshared some preliminary visions of whatthey would build at Douglas Park. It’s about250,000 square feet of retail at that north-east corner,” he explained. “The vision is avery pedestrian friendly, diversified, highlycreative retail experience, based on what Ihave seen. I think it’s going to be a fantasticamenity not only for the workforce there atDouglas Park and the junior college, butthe community as well.”Whether Douglas Park eventually expands

beyond its existing parameters is up in theair. The main opportunity to do so would beif Sares-Regis acquired land formerly usedby The Boeing Company for manufacturingthe C-17 Globemaster III, a program whichended last year. “The vision for the C-17 siteis still in flux,” Russell said. “We expect itwill take some time for Boeing and the Cityof Long Beach to determine its ultimate useor reuse. We certainly have interest in thesite; however, it is unclear as to the timing ofoffering the property for sale.”As Douglas Park continues to grow, Rus-

sell had a positive outlook for the site. “We believe Douglas Park has the potential

to attract more high quality businesses thatpromote excellent employment opportunitiesin Long Beach,” he said. “Douglas Park’shighly desirable location adjacent to the LongBeach Airport as well as the freeway and theport, coupled with the state-of-the-art facili-ties and amenities that have been created, is areally unique workplace opportunity.” �

Nautilus International Holding Corp. is moving into its new 40,000-square-foot headquarters at DouglasPark today, February 16. The LEED Gold-certified building is set to house 65 executives and adminis-trative employees, with enough space to double that figure. The company is relocating from Wilmington,where it has been based for almost 90 years. The firm’s subsidiaries, which include Metro Ports, MetroCruise Services, Metro Shore Services and Metro Risk Management, are also to be housed at the newbuilding. Pictured at the new location on Cover Street are Chief Operating Officer Michael Giove, left,and Chief Technology Officer Boyette Fabio. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)


area is expected to stay strong in 2016 withvacancy remaining at an all-time low, butmore supply may hit the market this year,according to commercial real estate brokers. Last year, the biggest challenge for in-

dustrial users was a lack of product and thatis still the case this year, said Brandon Car-rillo, principal and industrial real estatebroker for Lee & Associates’s Long Beachoffice. He added, however, that space hasstarted to open up in the first quarter, a signthat property owners may be more inclinedto sell as prices remain at record highs. “I think we’re going to see some more

product and more supply enter the market,and users are going to see more choices thisyear versus last year,” Carrillo said. “We’restarting to see that in the midst of the firstquarter . . . More property owners are beingopen to selling if they get their price.”Still, aside from large corporate head-

quarters being built at Douglas Park nearLong Beach Airport, developable land fornew industrial product remains sparse,with most property contaminated or in theprocess of remediation, real estate bro-kers said. According to Lee & Associates’ latest

market report, the direct industrial vacancyrate in the Long Beach/South Bay marketthis year is expected to hover at a historiclow of near 1 percent, down from a 3.1 per-cent vacancy rate reported earlier last year. Pent up demand from users taking ad-

vantage of low interest rates in a strength-ening economy has put upward pressureon lease rates and even more so on salesprices for industrial property over the pastyear, Carrillo said. This year, however, there has been a fair

amount of “uncertainty” in the marketplaceas the country experiences high volatilitywith regard to the stock market and oilprices, adding to concerns that the windowfor high sales prices may be closing, he said. “With uncertainty, you usually see a

slowdown as people take a breath and wantto see where things are going in the mar-ketplace,” Carrillo said. While local economists predict na-

tional and California economies to re-main “healthy” over the next few years,worries remain about China’s economyand its effect on the Los Angeles Countybasin’s economy, the Lee & Associates’report stated. Real estate brokers said whether the mo-

mentum of strong demand in the industrialsector continues will largely depend on

consumer spending and imports in theUnited States since industrial real estate islargely tied to the local ports. Jim Flynn, president of The Carson

Companies, which owns millions of squarefeet of industrial space in Southern Califor-nia, said demand for industrial real estatehas been “extremely strong,” with theSouth Bay vacancy rate at an “all-timelow.” He noted that rental rates are at ornear peak levels throughout the local area. Flynn added, however, that it’s unclear

which direction the market will turn. As the U.S. dollar strengthens amid tur-

moil in the world economy, it will be moredifficult for local companies to competeglobally, particularly as it relates to exports,he said. However, whether the UnitedStates is heading toward another economicdownturn is anybody’s guess, Flynn said. “Clearly, there are some storm clouds on

the horizon,” he said. “They might blowover or they may blow up. Nobody knows.”New construction of industrial prop-

erty, however, remains limited, Flynn said,adding that there isn’t much land left fornew development. According to Lee & Associates, there was

a total of 741,832 square feet of industrialproperty under construction in the fourthquarter in the entire South Bay market. John Eddy, senior vice president and in-

dustrial real estate broker for Coldwell

Banker Commercial BLAIR WESTMAC,said the market for industrial property re-mains “incredibly tight.” He said busi-nesses related to the local ports are havingtrouble finding suitable properties. “The amount of product that’s on the

market is just miniscule,” Eddy said. “Wehave qualified buyers who are just unableto break through in the market.”Besides some new construction at Dou-

glas Park, most new development of in-dustrial property are “infill” projects inwhich existing structures are redesigned

and in-filled with new product at acheaper cost, he said. Demand for industrial space is mostly

driven by the area’s proximity to the localports, Eddy said, adding that corporationsand small businesses have consistentlygrown over the past three to four years asinterest rates have remained “low and ad-vantageous.”The Carson Companies, meanwhile, has

a 183,000-square-foot building that will beavailable for lease in the next couple


Pictured, from left are Lee & Associates’ commercial real estate brokers, Associate Nate Ortega, Principal Brandon Carrillo and Principal Garrett Massaro, atan industrial building that the commercial real estate firm has listed at the Long Beach Technology Center. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)





months, Flynn said. Epson, which has a ro-botics division that manufactures printersand other electronics, is vacating the spaceand doubling in size to a 338,000-square-foot building, he said. However, there remains very little avail-

able property for sale, Flynn said. Withrecord prices for local land, The CarsonCompanies decided last year to expand intoHouston, Philadelphia and New Jerseywhere there is more opportunity for invest-ment, he said. Although Boeing’s C-17 assembly plant

closed late last year while Toyota and othermanufacturers announced their departurefrom California for more cost-effectivestates, demand from “trend-setting” compa-nies, such as Virgin Galactic in Long Beach,has driven up prices and sent developersrushing to provide space, Carrillo said. In addition, the announcement that the

Rams professional football team will bemoving to Inglewood and building a sta-dium there should make property evenmore valuable, he said. Carrillo added that, with limited space

available, local cities need to make it easierfor companies, such as third party logisticsfirms and those that use trucks and trailers,to operate in heavy industrial-use zones. Hesaid Long Beach’s industrial zone, for in-stance, requires conditional use permitsthat range from $10,000 to $20,000 in cost. “I hope cities remember that the port is our

bread and butter,” Carrillo said. “We need tofind a way to make it more transparent andeasier for companies with those uses to getapproval in heavy industrial-use areas.” �

Long Beach Retail Market ExperiencingStrong Demand,Repositioning Of Properties


Senior Writer

Citywide, vacancy rates of retail prop-erties are ticking down, with restau-

rants driving the most leasing activity,according to local real estate agents. Thereis high demand to purchase retail proper-ties, but, as in other local market sectors,there is a lack of inventory to meet that de-mand. Meanwhile, a trend of repositioningolder retail properties is gaining traction andintroducing new product to the market.In a word, activity in the Long Beach re-

tail real estate market is “brisk,” accordingto Brian Russell, vice president of ColdwellBanker Commercial BLAIR WESTMAC.“We’re getting a lot of phone calls anddoing a lot of showings,” he said. Russell estimated that the citywide retail

vacancy rate is nearing the single-digitrange. “It’s probably 10 to 12 percent, butI’d say it’s getting close. What kind ofskews it a little bit is all the new develop-ment going on at the Pike,” he said, ex-plaining that the rebranded The PikeOutlets still have a significant amount ofsquare footage to lease out.Restaurants are driving leasing activity,

Russell said. He noted that this is a positive

economic indicator, as it suggests that con-sumers feel comfortable spending moneyon going out to eat.“There is a ton of activity in the restau-

rant realm,” Doug Shea, president of INCOCommercial, said. “On January 1, the floodgates opened up. Our whole office is justhumming.”Leasing activity is going strong in areas

of town that typically have healthy retail ac-tivity, such as Belmont Shore, Los Altosand East Long Beach, Shea said. Russellnoted the same areas, in addition to Down-town Long Beach. Elizabeth Dana, a broker associate with

INCO specializing in the downtown mar-ket, said she is seeing a trend of retailersmoving to the area. “Pine Avenue is still ahot spot because of the foot traffic. You alsohave really great spots along Linden and4th Street,” she said.

The Promenade has been a hot spot of re-tail activity within the past month. A newchain restaurant specializing in hot dogs,Dog Haus, opened at the intersection ofThe Promenade North and 3rd Street lastmonth, and city hall records indicate thatBeer Belly, an L.A.-based craft beer joint,will soon open just around the corner at 3rdStreet and Long Beach Boulevard. Plus, inlate January, the Long Beach office of Lee& Associates closed a $5.2 million sale ofa 27,173-square-foot office and retail spaceat 210-218 The Promenade North.In areas with strong demand, lease rates

are ticking up, Shea said. “Lease rates arestill nudging up in East Long Beach andBelmont Shore,” he said, adding that ratesare flat in Bixby Knolls. Downtown leaserates are, overall, relatively flat in compar-ison to last year, with the exception of ThePromenade. “The Promenade can com-mand more money than the rest,” he said.There is a high demand to buy retail

properties in Long Beach, but not enoughinventory to meet that demand, Shea said.“Some of the older centers where you cancome in, redevelop it and get higher rents,I mean there is huge developer demand forthat. But there is not a lot for sale,” he said.“It’s really hard. There is just no product atall. I mean, if you know of any, tell me.”Single-tenant properties are also in high

demand, according to Russell. “In fact,Carl’s Jr. on Atlantic [Avenue] in BixbyKnolls just sold and closed in January,” hesaid. That property sold at a capitalizationrate – the ratio of net operating income toproperty value – of 3.5 percent, he added.The repositioning of properties like The

Pike Outlets is also driving activity in the re-tail market. Formerly a sleepy shopping cen-ter called the Pike at Rainbow Harbor, thewaterfront center was recently rebranded andgiven a contemporary facelift by propertymanagement firm DDR Corp. Major tenantssuch as Gap Factory, F21 Red, H&M, Con-verse, Nike Factory and others have sincemoved in, and space is still available.Further inland, work has begun to mod-

ernize the City Place shopping center basedon the designs of local firm Studio OneEleven, a division of P+R Architects, whichis also set to become a new tenant there. Thefirst phase of construction has started on thenorth side of 3rd Street between The Prom-enade North and Long Beach Boulevard.Other parts of town are seeing similar de-

velopments. In East Long Beach, DouglasPark is set to bring in a new retail develop-ment soon (see story on Page 18). And inBixby Knolls, a major shopping center onAtlantic Avenue is steadily gaining a list ofnew tenants (see story on adjacent Page). �



Brian Russell, vice president of Coldwell Banker Commercial BLAIR WESTMAC, said activity in LongBeach’s retail market is “brisk,” with strong demand in Belmont Shore, downtown and other areas. He ispictured with Sheva Hosseinzadeh, a Blair associate, at gallery421, a downtown apartment communityfor which they oversee ground floor retail leasing. (Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)




New office and retail tenants are fillingup space quickly in Bixby Knolls, wherea budding dining scene is taking shapeand commercial developments are set totransform the neighborhood-orientedbusiness district. Blair Cohn, executive director of the

Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Asso-ciation (BKBIA), said numerous newrestaurants are slated to open up this yearat commercial corridors along Atlantic Av-enue and Long Beach Boulevard with po-tential for more on the horizon. “We’re pretty optimistic,” he said. “We

know there’s a number of other restaurantssniffing around looking for places to open,so we’re very excited about that.”A major development moving forward

this year is a project slated for the cornerof Long Beach Boulevard and BixbyRoad in which developer and general con-tractor Howard CDM is partnering withlocal design firms to repurpose shippingcontainers into a multi-tenant commercialpark to be called SteelCraft. Considered the first of its kind in Los

Angeles County, the complex is expectedto house several eateries, a craft beer tap-room for Torrance-based Smog CityBrewery, public gathering space and alocal produce stand, among other ameni-ties. Cohn said the project is to be com-pleted in May. A few blocks north, Trader Joe’s is

planning to relocate from its Atlantic Av-enue location to a site formerly occupiedby Ralph’s at Long Beach Boulevard andSan Antonio Drive. Also moving to the shopping center,

which is being renamed “The Knolls” andis undergoing an overhaul, are Chipotle,Jersey Mike’s Subs, Crunch Fitness andPet Food Express, Cohn said. The center’slandlord, Red Mountain Retail Group, isstill looking for two more tenants, he said,adding that the project should be com-pleted in early April. Meanwhile, at a small shopping center at

the southeast corner of Bixby Road andLong Beach Boulevard, The Pan Restau-rant, which serves breakfast all day inGlendale, is opening a third location at3550 Long Beach Blvd. by the end of nextmonth, he said. At the same shopping center, new own-

ers of Liquorland are remodeling the spaceto make it more upscale, adding a newrestaurant called The Green Olive, whichserves Mediterranean food, Cohn said. Hesaid the BKBIA plans to help with façadeimprovements, including new paint, light-ing, landscaping and signage. At the Bixby Knolls Shopping Center

at Atlantic Avenue and 45th Street, a newSmart & Final extra! store is opening thisyear, taking up a portion of the buildingformerly occupied by Orchard SupplyHardware (OSH), which closed threeyears ago. In addition, ALDI, a German-based dis-

count grocery store chain, plans to open itsfirst Long Beach store at the shopping cen-

ter at 4580 Atlantic Ave., replacing theBixby Knolls post office. ALDI, whichhopes to break into the organic food mar-ket, currently operates 1,400 stores in 32states and is opening its first stores in Cal-ifornia this year. The shopping center, owned by Glen-

dale-based Gaska Inc., is getting a com-plete makeover as well this year, Cohn said,adding that some façade improvements arealready finished. He said Massage Envyhas opened up next to Marshalls as well. Several new retailers are also moving to

the Atlantic Avenue corridor, Cohn said.Lola’s Mexican Cuisine on 4th Street’s

Retro Row is expected to soon open its sec-ond location at 4140 Atlantic Ave., replac-ing Le Yen Chinese Family Restaurant,which closed last year after being in busi-ness for 45 years. Cohn said that a new Chick-fil-A is

slated to be built on a lot at 33rd Street andAtlantic Avenue.Also recently expanding to Bixby Knolls

from 4th Street is boutique Twig & Willow.Other new retailers moving to Atlantic Av-enue are The Better Half Boutique andShare And Do Good, opening its second lo-cation from Fullerton. Hoyt Hochman, president of Hoyt Realty

& Investments with listings in BixbyKnolls, said an undisclosed regional re-tailer is negotiating a deal to take up aspace at 3630 Atlantic Ave., where a 98Cents Plus Toys store is closing, with otheroffers coming in as well. “There’s strong activity on the property

and it just shows that the demand for retailspace in Bixby Knolls is only gettingstronger,” he said. “What I’m seeing nowis as soon as a site goes vacant or even be-fore it gets listed, people are contacting theowner trying to see if they can get in.”Hochman said office space is also filling

up fast in Bixby Knolls. In the last month, two law firms signed

deals to take up an entire floor of about12,000 square feet at the multi-tenant of-fice building at 3711 Long Beach Blvd.One of the law firms is relocating fromDowntown Long Beach’s Catalina Landingbuilding, he said. Office users are attracted to Bixby

Knolls by its proximity toupscale neighborhoods,local freeways and retail op-tions in addition to leaserates that are lower thandowntown or near the air-port, Hochman said. Headded that medical users arealso expanding out of LongBeach Memorial’s campus,taking up space along LongBeach Boulevard. �

February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 21SPECIAL REPORT: REAL ESTATE

Bixby Knolls Sees New Office And Retail Tenants As Commercial Developments Move Forward

Blair Cohn, left, executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Associ-ation (BKBIA),welcomes Luis Navarro, owner of Lola’s Mexican Cuisine to the neigh-borhood. Navarro, who owns two popular restaurants on 4th Street’s Retro Row –Lola’s Mexican Cuisine and The Social List – is opening another Lola’s at the site inBixby Knolls that formerly housed Le Yen Chinese restaurant (Photograph by the Busi-ness Journal’s Larry Duncan)

Hoyt Hochman, left, president of Hoyt Realty & Investments, andBrendan Morris, senior associate of Hoyt Realty & Investments, areleasing the agents for Long Beach Towers, located at 3711 LongBeach Blvd. and pictured in the background. They also representthe Meadows office park at 3701 Long Beach Blvd. The commer-cial real estate agents have leased more than 30,000 square feetof office space in the past six months. (Photograph by the BusinessJournal’s Larry Duncan)



Senior Writer

Mobile applications and online platformsoffering more access to data and greater au-tonomy to real estate buyers and sellers arebecoming increasingly prevalent. In doingso they’re reshaping the role of real estateprofessionals to an extent – but they’re alsoassisting those in the industry by improvingcommunication between parties andstreamlining transaction processes.“The consumer is much more educated

now before they even contact somebodyabout looking for property, which is a

very good thing,” Geoff McIntosh, pres-ident-elect of the California Associationof Realtors and owner of Long Beach-based Main Street Realtors, told theBusiness Journal.Websites and mobile applications such

as Zillow or Trulia not only give home-buyers access to home listings and pho-tos, they also provide data about the areasthey’re searching in. “Now 47 percent ofreal estate searches by consumers aredone on mobile [devices],” McIntoshsaid. “Because of the new apps that areavailable, I can be standing in front of aproperty that has a for sale sign on it,

open an app, and it will give me all the in-formation about the house before I evergo inside. That’s pretty cool.”Technology that provides buyers access

to average and median price points for cer-tain areas helps keep their expectations inline with reality – a bonus for real estateprofessionals. “One of the things that used to happen to

us back in the dark ages in the real estatebusiness was we would get calls from peo-ple who wanted the $150,000 house in Bel-mont Shore, which never existed,”McIntosh recalled. “And they would thinkwe were hiding it. Well, now they have fullaccess to all the data. They can see exactlywhat’s available and what isn’t.”Being able to search for properties online

enables buyers to narrow the criteria ofwhat they’re looking for in advance of con-sulting with a real estate professional. “When I started selling real estate in the

’80s, it was not unusual to show someone25 to 30 houses before they found one theywanted,” McIntosh said. “Now, because ofthe change in technology, frequently peoplewill find a house in five or 10 showing ap-pointments because they’ve already elimi-nated what they didn’t want.”As a result, agents are “doing less driving

people around on a Saturday and tellingthem which homes they should buy,” ac-cording to Matthew Firth, CEO of LongBeach-based Hobizbo, a real estate tech-nology company. Hobizbo launched a betaplatform for its mobile application in 2014,and officially launched in 2015.Hobizbo allows users to search the re-

gional multiple listing service (MLS),which aggregates information about list-ings in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.“It allows buyers to search the MLS andmake appointments with agents on de-mand,” Firth said. Through a partnershipwith Newport Beach-based The BoutiqueReal Estate Group, Hobizbo is able to sendout an agent on demand to meet with usersand show them a home. “The main functionality is geared to-

ward the consumer in searching for prop-erties and making an appointment with anagent,” Firth said. But it’s also useful foragents. “Agents can write offers back andforth to each other. The buyer can also ob-viously write their own offer, but it’s notas common.”Hobizbo was partially born out of

Firth’s own experience as a real estateagent trying to contend with complex pa-perwork and communication betweenbuyers, sellers and other agents. In one in-stance, a home he had listed for sale re-ceived 25 offers, resulting in mountainsof paperwork – but none of the offerseven panned out. Hobizbo allows users tosolidify key points of a deal before mov-ing forward, such as price, an end date forclosing escrow, how much money will beput down, closing costs, and so on.“If you go through the app you can very

simply enter those data points, and onceterms are agreed upon then it goes to abinding, legal purchase contract,” Firth ex-plained. “It’s the same one that everyoneuses from the California Association of Re-altors. So we aren’t trying to circumventtheir forms or anything, we’re just trying tomake the initial negotiation easier.”For single-family real estate, nearly all

aspects of transactions are done digitallynow, according to McIntosh. “Back in theolden days, it was pretty common to havea 60-day escrow because it took that longto generate paperwork and hand deliverit or wait for the mail to come,” he said.“Now something I might have waitedthree or four days for, I can have in a fewminutes.”Most transactions are done through dig-

ital signature programs such as Do-cuSign, which allows official transactionsto take place online or through mobile de-vices without generating any actual paper,McIntosh noted.Similar trends are taking place in com-

mercial real estate, according to Garrett


How Technology Is Shaping The Real Estate Industry


Massaro, principal with the Long Beach of-fice of Lee & Associates. Massaro special-izes in the industrial market. Unlike whenhe started in the business 10 years ago, allthe information and data he needs is readilyavailable through mobile applications andonline notifications, he said.“I would say in a typical transaction,

your face-to-face [interaction] is going tohappen in the beginning to get the ballrolling, but then the minutiae of the trans-action like the exchange of paperwork . .. that happen along the way, that’s all donedigitally” Massaro said. “It’s very stream-lined. Then you are going to get yourface-to-face back at the end when youhave your final document signing for ei-ther a lease or a sale.”Massaro pointed out that, in commercial

real estate transactions, digital signatureplatforms are not yet in common use. “Incommercial we still don’t do that. Leasesare originally signed. . . . And then for pur-chase and sale agreements, people actuallyprint them, sign them, scan them and thene-mail them,” he explained.“I would say if this trend continues to

happen, the face-to-face may become lessand less,” Massaro said. “There is this the-ory that brokerage is going to change overthe next 20 to 30 years, that it’s going to be-come more of a corporate-based business,and technology will have a lot to do withthat the more it is streamlined.”Hobizbo is currently developing a tool

called Hobizbox that will enable home-buyers to access and view homes withoutan agent. The concept is similar to the tra-ditional lockbox used by real estate

agents to access properties, but hooked upto Hobizbo technology. “Think of a homebuilder’s community

where a buyer can go through that modelhome without the pressure, even thoughit is unintended . . . where you can gothrough and experience the home in theway that you want without someone try-ing to sell you or trying to represent youto buy it,” he said. The Hobizbox could also be a useful

tool for agents because, when potentialbuyers use it, they would also be submit-ting information about their viewing ex-perience to Hobizbo. “Collectingfeedback on what they liked . . . helpsthem to be able to market the home betterand maybe understand why the home isn’tselling, if it isn’t,” Firth said.McIntosh said the fear that real estate

professionals could eventually be made ob-solete by technology is one that is now inthe past. “Realtors, like most everybodyelse, aren’t always anxious to embracechange. And so there is some discomfort inthat,” he said. “Technology always alterssomething. The reality is that, cumulatively,these tools are a tremendous benefit.”“We have always been of the mind that

people will never be replaced,” Firth said.“We think their role in the transaction hascertainly changed. In a way, we’re kind ofchampioning that change.” He continued, “This is kind of our mes-

sage to them: don’t fear the technology, justembrace it. Focus on what you do reallywell that no one could possibly replace,which is, in our opinion, their breadth ofknowledge.” �

Oil Change

A/C Check

Smog Check

Auto Repair & ServicesOver 43 Years of Experience

1000 E. Wardlow Rd., Signal Hillwww.LBWalkerAuto.com

facebook.com/lbwalkerauto

562-981-2222

�,�0+��-0�+$�+')��*#3�6)0#.��('"�,)�0#��*"�+.�!�.0.'"%#�6)0#.��#40.��+/0�!�./�

$29.95 �5*0&#0'!��)#*"

�� +/0��./��)"#.��+"#)/��40.�

$31.75

�.#//1.#��#/0$+.��#�(��

�'/1�)��*/,#!�0'+*�$+.��#�(��.#+*��40.��+/0��./�$39.95

FreeBrake Inspection

�$�/#.2'!#�'/*##"#"��$.+*0��*".#�.� .�(#/��*# 4)#�+*)5

+��(��*��

+��$&




Partnerships between local educational in-stitutions and companies have helped narrowthe gap between employers’ needs and theskills of current applicants in recent years, buta shortage of qualified engineers still persistsand more graduates in science, technology,engineering and math (STEM) disciplines areneeded to meet demand, business and univer-sity leaders told the Business Journal. The concern for decades across the na-

tion has been whether there will be enoughskilled applicants to fill positions left by re-tiring senior-level engineers. More recently,growing companies are seeking prospectiveengineers to heed the call of making sure

the United States remains a leader in tech-nology and innovation. While progress has been made in bridging

the so-called “skills gap,” many companiescontinue to experience challenges with re-cruiting enough qualified applicants in a widevariety of disciplines, including mechanical,electrical, environmental, aerospace, civil andmanufacturing engineering fields.Forouzan Golshani, dean of the College of

Engineering at California State University,Long Beach (CSULB), said in recent yearsthe Long Beach Unified School District andlocal community colleges have made stridesin building a “pipeline” of students seekingengineering and sciences as a profession. In fact, the number of engineering gradu-

ates produced through CSULB’s College of

Engineering has doubled over the past eightyears, increasing from about 430 graduatingengineers in 2007 to more than 1,000 grad-uating engineers last year, he said.“We have taken the message that we

should not overlook STEM disciplines andthat we should prepare students for successin these areas that are the backbones of suc-cessful study in engineering or sciences,”Golshani said. “Because of that, we havebeen able to increase our enrollment . . . Weare producing an astounding number of en-gineers who are successful in the regionalworkforce . . . We are very active and wecontinue our work to do what we can tohelp solve the nation’s problems.”Still, with many engineering industries

expected to grow over the next decade, and

as more senior engineers retire, there arestill concerns that there aren’t enough qual-ified applicants coming out of universitiesto meet the projected demand in the UnitedStates, which competes with highly skilledapplicants in other countries, he said. “It is not so much that we are completely

out of qualified engineers for various jobs,”Golshani said. “It’s that the potential forthis country is so great that we need to beproducing many, many more engineers tokeep up with the global competition thathas started in the past decade and a half.” He added that other countries are gaining

in technology and innovation, and the onlyway the U.S. can maintain its “sovereigntyand superiority” that has lasted over a cen-tury is to produce enough talent that cansupport the country’s “innovation engine.”Golshani noted that many engineering

students come from other countries tostudy in the U.S., adding that, if more stu-dents locally aren’t entering STEM fields,companies in an increasingly global econ-omy may be forced to look elsewhere tofind talented applicants.“We definitely want to give preference to

U.S. born individuals, except that, if they’renot going to go into these disciplines, thenyou have to rely on transplanted individualsto come and study,” he said. In addition, there has been more focus on

encouraging women to enter engineeringfields, Golshani said, adding that, unlikeother professions such as medicine and lawthat enjoy gender parity, engineering con-tinues to be “lopsided” with an 80 percentmale and 20 percent female workforce. “Women have not participated as

strongly as we would like them to in thisfield,” he said. “Part of the solution is to tellthe young women that this is a great careerfor them and that they can make great con-tributions to a field that directly impacts thequality of life for people.”Golshani pointed out that, despite the loss

of Boeing’s C-17 production plant, the aero-space company continues to hire engineersin Southern California, which still has alarge base of suppliers. He said the industrylocally is shifting from manufacturing tomore technically oriented positions. Boeing’s operation in Seal Beach is ex-

pected to grow to over 2,000 engineers inthe foreseeable future, adding that the com-pany hired 1,000 new engineers last year,Golshani noted. “Boeing has changed its workforce

here,” he said. “It is not completely gone.The manufacturing and building of wholeairplanes have left Southern Californiawith the C-17 shutting down, but engineer-ing work is coming from Boeing becausethey recognize the talent pool that existshere. It’s just that the nature of the work thatthey do has changed and will continue toevolve in the foreseeable future.”Nationally, however, there is still a great

need for engineering in manufacturing, al-though the type of engineers needed intoday’s workforce have changed fromdecades ago, according to industry experts. While many companies have offshored

manufacturing jobs to other countries withlower labor costs, many of those jobs arenow returning to the United States, such asthe automotive industry, albeit more relatedto working with automation and technolog-ically advanced equipment.

24 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016FOCUS ON ENGINEER’S WEEK

Shortage Of Qualified Engineers Persists, More STEM Graduates Needed


The national Manufacturing Institute, con-sidered an authority on the attraction, quali-fication and development of world-classmanufacturing talent, issued a report in 2015stating that over the next decade nearly 3.5million manufacturing jobs, including engi-neering jobs, will likely need to be filled. Theskills gap is expected to result in 2 million ofthese jobs going unfilled, the report states. “The situation is definitely a reality, and

it’s only going to get worse,” said JeannineKunz, director of Tooling University for theSociety of Manufacturing Engineers (Tool-ing U-SME), which is based in Ohio and isconsidered an industry leader in the UnitedStates for online manufacturing trainingand working on comprehensive programs. She said the shortage of skilled appli-

cants has already caused manufacturers inthe United States to have trouble withmeeting customer demand and has forcedcompanies to run a second shift becausethey don’t have the people to run the job. “It hasn’t gotten better,” Kunz said. “The

challenges and issues the manufacturers arefacing continue to be repeated in the re-search . . . It’s pretty prevalent among man-ufacturers that the issue exists.”Over the last five years, many compa-

nies have been challenged with develop-ing programs to attack the skills gapproblem, she said.Kunz said the main focus of Tooling U-

SME is to help supplement curriculum forstudents at schools across the country whileworking on developing partnerships be-tween educational institutions, local com-munities and employers to address thesituation. In many cases, employers are pro-

viding funding to schools through an edu-cation foundation to bolster such programs. Locally, many engineering firms have

become more proactive in working withlocal educational institutions, such as at ca-reer fairs, in order to help address the issueand recruit talented applicants. Kevin Peterson, president of P2S Engi-

neering, which has been based in LongBeach for 25 years and which provides elec-trical, mechanical and construction manage-ment engineering consulting services, saidthe company has grown over the last threeyears, adding about 50 new employees. He said the company sees no shortage of

people applying for jobs, noting that thecompany receives about 1,000 to 2,000 ap-plications for open positions. From thatpool, the company interviews about 100applicants. However, many of the appli-cants lack the experience needed for thejob, Peterson said. “From an industry perspective, the skills

gap still exists,” he said. “I don’t think it’sbeen narrowed quite yet.”Peterson said the impact on the industry is

that companies have become more efficientand in some cases have acquired other firmsin order to obtain experienced, qualified talent. Still, he said that the curve is going back

up in engineering schools, such as atCSULB, as universities have recently takenmajor steps to increase the number of en-gineering graduates that had been on thedecline across the nation. He said the company has also been more

proactive in strengthening ties with localuniversities in an attempt to recruit more


(Please Continue To Top Of Page 27)


26 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016FOCUS ON ENGINEER’S WEEK

Smart EngineeringFor HospitalsAnd Schools


Senior Writer

Engineering firms will readily tell youthat California has some of the strictestbuilding requirements, not just within theUnited States, but also in the world. This isespecially true for schools and hospitals, thedesigns for which must be approved at thestate level, rather than locally. As regulations are continuously updated,

schools and hospitals, many of which havelimited funding, must contend with meetingstate requirements, as well as ensuring thecomfort of students and patients and keep-ing up with new technology. To meet theseneeds, engineers are continuously at workdevising smart and creative methods forseismic safety, energy efficiency and creat-ing more comfortable spaces within thesebuilding environments.

HospitalsOne of the biggest infrastructure and de-

sign issues facing California hospitals isseismic safety. Signed into law in 1994,Senate Bill 1953 requires all California hos-pitals to either retrofit their facilities orbuild new structures to meet modern seis-mic standards by 2030, or face closure. The bill was in part a reaction to the 1994

Northridge Earthquake, which caused somehospitals’ systems to fail, according toMichael Gilmore, manager of Long Beach-based P2S Engineering’s Healthcare Group.“That spawned an enormous amount ofconstruction within the health care industry.Groups like Kaiser built a lot of replace-ment hospitals,” he said. As technology advances, health care fa-

cilities are adding new pieces of equip-ment, which also must meet seismic safetystandards. “The greatest change we’ve seen is the

requirement for electronic medical records.

It has increased the need for mobile workstations and wireless devices for both hos-pitals and clinics so they can perform pa-tient charting at the exam roomsthemselves,” Rick Beall, partner with MHPStructural Engineers, based at DouglasPark, explained. Multi-functional pieces ofequipment are also now commonly beinginstalled at hospitals to allow for diagnosisand treatment in one location, he noted.All of this equipment must meet seismic

safety standards. “What happens is they putthe equipment on a shake table and themanufacturer actually shakes it and makessure that through a certain level of earth-quake it’s still operable,” Beall explained. MHP works with hospitals to anchor

equipment and ensure the facility’s structureis able to handle the weight. “We have to an-chor it and then also check the floor levelthat it rests on or it is suspended from, be-cause these new MRIs may weigh 40,000pounds,” Beall said. “So, when you put themon the third floor of a hospital, you have tomake sure that the floor is okay to handle it.”Gilmore pointed out that meeting strin-

gent seismic standards comes at significantcost to hospitals. “California is very unique.It costs a lot [more] money to build a hos-pital here than, say, Arizona or Florida orOhio because of the strict seismic and struc-tural implications,” he said.One of the ways engineers help hospitals

offset these costs is through energy-effi-cient infrastructure and design. “Across the country, acute care hospitals

or inpatient hospitals are the secondbiggest energy hog of any building, secondonly to fast food restaurants,” Gilmore said.“So the power usage per square foot in ahospital is the second worst among alltypes of buildings.”A big push in the health care industry

right now is to identify energy cost savingsto help make up for lost reimbursement dol-lars due to the Affordable Care Act,Gilmore said. “A lot can be done in energysavings,” he said. P2S is currently workingwith an Orange County hospital to create anonsite central utility plant. “We are able toreally design and optimize our systems, to

where a plant today is going to use 20 to 25percent less energy than a plant that was in-stalled 20 or 30 years ago.”In addition to hospital safety and reduction

of energy consumption, a top priority forhospitals today is creating comfortable con-ditions for patients. “Another thing we’reseeing is . . . a lot of improvements withcomforting and calming environments,” par-ticularly for patients undergoing long-termtreatments, such as chemotherapy, Beall said. MHP performed the structural engineer-

ing for Long Beach Memorial MedicalCenter’s Todd Cancer Institute Pavilion,which has a rooftop garden, plentiful natu-ral lighting and other calming features. Thefacility opened in 2013. “As you walkthrough that project you’ll see waterfalls,and they have really nice views so that pa-tients can be there for a long period of timeand not have the sterile type of environmentthey used to have when they went into thistype of a treatment center,” Beall said.Another way hospitals and engineers are

working together for the benefit of patientsis by creating flexible environments able toadapt to different patients’ needs. “I haveseen a push in the last five years to reallymake hospital spaces much more flexible innature, especially when it comes to the pa-tient experience, because a lot of reimburse-ment now is tied to patient satisfaction andno repeat business on the same illness,”Gilmore said. “In health care today, thesmart designs are going to be very flexiblein nature, so that we aren’t continually rip-ping out stuff, putting in stuff and then fiveyears later having to rip it out because of anew technology.”P2S is working with a Los Angeles hospi-

tal on what Gilmore called a “room of the fu-ture.” When completed, a patient would beable to check in at the front desk or a kiosk,and would receive a mobile tablet device thatwould provide them access to their informa-tion and enable them to control various as-pects of their environment. “When they getto their room, they are able to create their ownenvironment through specialty lighting andalmost scenery-type elements,” Gilmore said. The room of the future also features large-

scale wall installations for video, whichwould enable clinicians and patients, as wellas their families, to review information to-gether on a large scale. Having control overtheir own environment and access to theirown health information would be a comfort-ing benefit for patients, Gilmore noted.

SchoolsCalifornia has no shortage of aging

schools and universities, many of whichmay have met seismic safety standards atthe time of their construction but do notmeet modern standards.“In California, we have probably one of

the strictest building codes in the world, andit’s a constant struggle to keep up with it,”Paul Soltis, vice president of geotechnicaloperations for Twining, a Douglas Park-based engineering firm, noted. “In Califor-nia the building codes change every threeyears, and it seems to get more and morestrict, especially with respect to the seismicstuff. It leads to us engineers having to fig-ure out ways to retrofit existing buildings tomake them work,” he said.As Soltis put it, when it comes to schools,

the challenge is making sure classrooms areas safe as possible and function properly“without breaking the bank of the schoolthat you’re working for.”

Kevin Peterson is president of Long Beach-based P2S Engineering, which provides electri-cal, mechanical and construction managementengineering consulting services for a numberof local projects, including the Middle Harborredevelopment at the Port of Long Beach.

dent of NSPE, told the Business Journal.Gray owns a software engineering firm inIllinois called GrayTech Software Inc. andis a past chair of the American Associationof Engineering Societies. She currently sitson board of directors for DiscoverE, a coali-tion of more than 100 organizations dedi-cated to growing a dynamic engineeringprofession through outreach and education,which oversees Engineers Week. When Engineers Week began in the

1950s, it was limited to state and local chap-ters of the NSPE. In the ’80s, it grew to in-clude other technical societies, schools,companies and interested parties. “Over theyears it has grown because of the fact thatwe saw less and less people joining the en-gineering profession, and more need for en-gineering knowledge and the ability todesign and come up with ideas for the fu-ture,” Gray said. Now, many organizationsand schools, such as California State Uni-

versity, Long Beach’s School of Engineer-ing, host their own Engineers Week events.The engineering field needs not only to

grow the size of its workforce, but also thepresence of women and diverse voiceswithin that workforce, according to Gray.Part of the reason this is a hot topic in engi-neering today is the concept that diversethought leads to better designs. For example,if a group of engineers were to design a pieceof equipment for someone who is disabled,that design would be better informed if a dis-abled engineer were included in the workprocess, she explained. “That’s somethingwe’re missing right now,” she said.As Gray put it, engineering is “essential

to our health, happiness and safety.” Engi-neers make our buildings seismically safe,build bridges for us to cross, design carsand planes for us to travel in. They createthe software on our computers, and ourcomputers themselves. Biomedical engi-neers create the medicines that protect ourhealth. Getting the youth of America to seethe real-world implications of engineering

through events and programming like En-gineers Week may be key to growing the fu-ture of the industry, according to Gray. The DiscoverE website, www.discovere

.org, provides informational resources and ac-tivity guides for educators, parents, volunteersand students to help them plan their own en-gineering-related activities throughout Engi-neers Week and all year long. “This year wehave close to a 60 percent increase in down-loads of our K-12 resources,” Gray said. “Wehave exceeded two million views on that.”One of the largest Engineers Week events

is the final for Future City, a national compe-tition challenging groups of middle-schoolersto design their own cities of the future usingthe program SimCity. “They have to solve aproblem that’s designed each year,” Gray said.“Perhaps it’s how do we make sure everyonewill have the necessary water resources, orenergy, or necessary transportation, andwhat’s that going to look like.”For more information about Engineers

Week, visit www.discovere.org/our-pro-grams/engineers-week. �

engineer’s Week(Continued From Page 1)

One of the top challenges when engineering forschools and hospitals is ensuring seismic safety re-quirements are met, according to Lance Kenyon,left, and Rick Beall, partners at Douglas Park-basedMHP Structural Engineers. One of their current proj-ects involves modernizing and retrofitting LongBeach Polytechnic High School’s historic auditorium.(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan)


One of Twining’s recent projects accom-plished just that. When California StateUniversity, Long Beach (CSULB) wasplanning to build a new student recre-ational and wellness center, they contractedwith Twining for construction work. Theygot more than they asked for when Soltisand his team reviewed the project plans andcame up with a cost-saving alternative. “They originally had the idea that, in

order to properly support the building, theywere going to remove 10 to 13 feet of theonsite soil upon which to build the build-ing, and effectively replace most of it withgravel,” Soltis recalled. He and his teamhad doubts about the plan, and expressedthem to the university. Removing so muchsoil would require many truck trips, whichwould represent a significant on-campusdisruption and disturbance to neighboringresidents, he explained. “The alternative was a system called geo

piers,” Soltis said. Instead of removing soilthroughout the project site, rock columnswere placed in 15-foot-deep holes beneaththe structure’s footings. “Instead of exca-vating and replacing the entire site, you justdo it selectively below the foundationswhere it’s needed,” he explained. CSULB listened to Twining, and decided

to go with their new plan. “That saved themprobably $1-to-$2 million,” said Soltis.When existing campus buildings repre-

sent good space conditions for students, acost-saving measure (as opposed to build-ing a new structure) that also avoids creat-ing excess waste is retrofitting andmodernizing the structures, according toLance Kenyon, a partner at MHP. Engineers are able to run computer tests to

determine how well buildings can stand up toearthquakes, which may help determine whenretrofitting is an option, rather than rebuild-ing. “You can model a building on the com-puter and really predict its behavior,” Kenyonsaid. “You can put in an old existing earth-quake record and actually shake the buildingon your computer with an earthquake that oc-curred in the past and see how it performs.”“Most of the existing buildings can be

modernized,” Kenyon said. “They can be-come really good buildings as long as thespace plan is good enough to start with.”But, he pointed out, aging school build-

ings often come with many issues. “You know, ADA [American Disability

Act] laws have changed, and older build-ings don’t have ramps. There are stairseverywhere, and that’s a big problem,”Kenyon said. “Structural safety, seismicsafety is a huge issue,” he added, as are in-sufficient insulation, heating and cooling.MHP recently upgraded CSULB’s Liberal

Arts buildings for seismic safety, ADA ac-cess, and heating and cooling. “It’s not rocketscience to fix these things. It’s science, butit’s not rocket science,” Kenyon said.Older school buildings often aren’t as en-

ergy efficient as they could be, CharlesMusser, electrical engineer and project man-ager for P2S Engineering, observed. “One bigmodernization aspect that schools are pursu-ing has to do with energy efficiency,” he said.Simple fixes include updating existing light-ing fixtures with LEDs, which save energy, orinstalling sensors on the windows of class-rooms to automatically adjust the amount ofartificial light in the room based upon the nat-ural light coming in, he explained.Some universities are considering build-

ing on-campus cogeneration plants, which

simultaneously generate power, heating andcooling for facilities. “It’s kind of expensiveto build those, but, once you’ve got one,you’re going to save 50 percent on your elec-tricity,” Soltis said. These plants are typicallyalso fueled by natural gas, which is consid-ered a clean source of energy, he noted. Musser pointed out that, by cutting back

on energy use or even generating their ownenergy, schools are able to save funds andput them towards other resources, such asteachers or supplies.Energy efficient lighting may also hold

promise for creating more learning-con-ducive environments at schools, Mussersaid. Studies have shown that LED coloredlights may influence student learning, henoted. “For example, if the color blue helpscreative learning, when it is art class time,the color scheme in the room could shift toa blue tone,” he explained. “It could notonly help with being able to learn better,but also it would help the kids recognize[the change in subject].”Engineers are also helping implement

new technologies that aid in student learn-ing and student-teacher interaction. “One thing we’re doing at a lot of

schools is called smart boards,” Mussersaid. “It’s kind of like a white board, butyou can project on it from the computer orthe Internet,” he explained. “What you’rewriting can be recorded as well, so that canbe posted to the Internet . . . and kids couldbasically have a recap of what was taughtthat was captured real time.” In the end, Musser emphasized that the

end goal of engineering for schools isworking within the means of the educa-tional institutions to achieve necessaryfunctionality and usability. �


Massachusetts-Based EBI Consulting Opens Office In Bixby KnollsEBI Consulting, a national engineering and due diligence firm headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, recently opened its first West Coastoffice in Long Beach’s Bixby Knolls neighborhood. The company has about 400 employees nationwide, most working remotely. Twenty employeesare associated with the new office on Long Beach Boulevard. Jose Gandara, senior project manager, said the company could easily double the num-ber of local employees in the near future. “Long Beach is a perfect location for us. It gives us the flexibility of working in the L.A. markets as well asthe Orange County markets,” he said. Shana Hurley, retail account manager, said employees love the Bixby Knolls area. “With the airport so close,it’s been great for when people fly in,” she noted. EBI services an array of industries, including retail, manufacturing, health care, real estate,financial services, wireless telecommunications and more. According to the firm’s website, “EBI Consulting provides environmental risk and compliancemanagement, due diligence, energy efficiency, and engineering services to organizations seeking to improve operations, lower costs, manage riskand exceed stakeholder expectations.” Pictured above at EBI’s new office, are, from left: Suemur Bezabeh, account executive; Hurley; Gandara; LeoBertolino, environmental consultant; Benjamin Clark, vice president of telecom; Ashley Brown, regulatory reporting specialist; and Victoria Kim, ar-chitectural designer.(Photograph by the Business Journal’s Larry Duncan) – Samantha Mehlinger, Senior Writer

engineers while implementing workplacepractices to boost employee retention. Brian Kundert, senior vice president of

human resources for Arcadis, an interna-tional design and engineering consultancyfirm that has offices in Long Beach, saidthere still remains a shortage of engineersacross the country and the world, addingthat the need is interdependent on location. “I don’t know a time when there wasn’t a

shortage of engineers and it’s still true today,”he said, adding that the company does its bestto hire entry level engineers to grow the skillsof individuals within the company. Kundertsaid that the shortage persists primarily forengineers with experience. Julio Nuno, vice president of environ-

mental services for Long Beach-based SCSEngineers, which provides engineeringservices related to landfills, said the com-pany has recently seen longtime engineersretire, leaving a void. He said that the number of qualified en-

gineers has somewhat increased from abouta decade ago, but the biggest problem isfinding mid-level engineers with “special-ized” experience. “I think the biggest problem we have is

finding those mid-level people with theright experience and demeanor to be in theconsulting business to be able to provide theservices that we need,” Nuno said. “We willget a fair number of applicants wheneverwe do have a position that’s available. It’sjust trying to find the right person with theright experience.” �

Qualified engineers(Continued From Page 25)


funds from the state. That did not occur.There is no record on file of Long Beach

voters ever approving a tax increase. Andthere’s a good reason why.Prior to 1996, voters did not get a say on

tax increases. Neither the state legislatureor city councils needed voter approval toraise taxes. In fact, twice in the early 1990sthe Long Beach City Council voted to in-crease the utility users tax (UUT), taking itfrom 5 percent to 7 percent, then to 10 per-cent. Voters had no say. Both times the UUT was increased,

councilmembers promised it would be“temporary.” Councilmembers did not keeptheir word, which led to voters taking mat-ters into their own hands in 2000 by reduc-ing the UUT back to 5 percent, where itstands today. By the way, the average UUTin the state is around 3.5 percent, so LongBeach remains higher than most cities.In November 1996, California voters

approved Proposition 218 – the “Right ToVote On Taxes Act.” Borrowing languagefrom the California Tax Data organiza-tion, “This constitutional amendment pro-tects taxpayers by limiting the methods bywhich local governments can create or in-crease taxes, fees and charges withouttaxpayer consent. Proposition 218 re-quires voter approval prior to impositionor increase of general taxes, assessments,and certain user fees.”

The question is, will voters supportone, both or neither measure if they areplaced on the June 7, 2016, ballot? Do themeasures hurt their chances for passageby being on the same ballot? As “out-sider” presidential candidates haveproven, the electorate is angry. Is theanger shown by voters in Iowa and NewHampshire spreading to California? If so,both measures could fail.

Sales Tax JustificationMayor Garcia’s argument – shared by

many residents and business owners – isthat Long Beach needs to fix its infra-structure now because the longer wewait, the more expensive it becomes.City staff has identified about $2.8 bil-lion in infrastructure needs – from streetsand sidewalks to alleys to communitybuildings and storm drain systems andmore. City officials also claim thatmoney is needed to hire more police tobattle the recent rise in crime and “to re-store fire staffing to maintain 911 para-medic response times at stations acrossthe city.” These are all important issues,and the mayor is correct in putting thembefore the city council and the voters.Many law enforcement officials blame

the rise in crime throughout the state tothe passage last year of Proposition 47,which changed some nonviolent feloniesto misdemeanors. Thousands of inmateswere let out of prison early or did notserve jail time. The hoped-for rehabilita-tion of these nonviolent criminals has, itappears, not materialized. Police officersare being tested physically, and overtimeis considerable as the ranks have dwin-

dled due to funding issues, retirementsand a lack of academies.If Mayor Garcia gets his way and the city

council approves his 10-year sales taxmeasure – set at a 1 cent increase (10 per-cent sales tax) for the first six years anddropping to a half-cent increase (9.5 percentsales tax) for the final four years – for theJune ballot, it would require a simple ma-jority of city voters to approve it for pas-sage. That means the additional moneyraised – estimated for the 1 cent increase tobe $48 million a year at current prices –would go into the city’s general fund. And there’s the rub.General fund money can be spent pretty

much however councilmembers wish, in-cluding on infrastructure repairs, hiringmore law enforcement personnel and, ofcourse, pay raises for city employees. That takes us to the “trust” issue. Will

councilmembers spend the “new” revenueon infrastructure and more police offi-cers? Unlike the recent city college bondmeasures – where a citizens’ committeeoversees how the money is spent and con-ducts public meetings – there is no inde-pendent oversight (no offense to city staff)of councilmember budget appropriations. (The college’s citizens oversight com-

mittee, consisting of seven members, isconstrained by bylaws and must produceannual reports, etc. For information, visit:www.lbcc.edu/bondprogram/COC.cfm.)One of our concerns is, indeed, trusting

city councilmembers to do the right thing.Since a majority of the council is unionfriendly – as illustrated by votes raisingthe minimum wage and establishing aproject labor agreement – can we trustthat the city council will not use new taxdollars for hefty pay increases for unionemployees? After all, the city’s nineunions are either in negotiations with thecity or soon will be. It is a pretty safe betthat the unions will not forgo pay raises.There are differing views on city em-

ployee salaries. Unions and their employ-ees say they’re too low “compared toother cities,” while many residents feelthey are too high compared to what theaverage household income is locally andstatewide.We’ve never bought into the “city com-

parison argument” since unions intention-ally pit one city against another to achievepay and benefit increases. We believemany city employees – especially at thelower end of the pay scale – probably de-serve increases. However, our caveat is:can we afford it? Voters have much to consider if one or

both of these measures appear on the Juneballot. They need to ask questions of thecollege trustees and of the mayor andcouncilmembers.

Our Recommendations –In The Name Of Transparency

The Business Journal generally sup-ports all school bond measures, which re-quire a threshold of 55 percent to pass.The maximum that can be asked of prop-erty owners is to pay $25 per $100,000 ofassessed valuation. According to LBCC’sOakley, once the need for new class-rooms, renovations, etc. are accomplishedthrough this proposed measure, the col-lege will be set for 50 years. That’s asound investment that we can all support.The sales tax proposed by the mayor is

the fairest of taxes since everyone con-

tributes (we would have opposed an at-tempt to increase the UUT). We do notoppose this sales tax – but let’s be clear,that is different from supporting it. We would like to see the mayor and

councilmembers take several steps priorto asking voters to approve a sales taxincrease:Public Safety Command Staff – We

believe the fire and police departmentscould eliminate a few command staff.There are currently (budgeted) 3 deputypolice chiefs and 11 police commanders.The number of commanders should be re-duced through retirement by one or twopositions. The fire department has 3deputy fire chiefs, 2 assistant fire chiefsand 12 battalion chiefs. The latter posi-tions were created in 2000-2001 as a wayto promote more people from captain andbattalion chief, where some of them felt“stuck.” The assistant fire chief positionsshould be eliminated altogether. The sav-ings from the above positions can trans-late into additional firefighters and patrolofficers. We hope the police and firechiefs embrace these suggestions in thespirit they’re intended.Contracting out – The city council

should show taxpayers it’s willing to lookat cost-saving measures. One of the bestmethods is contracting out city services.There needs to be a citywide departmenteffort to identify work that can be per-formed as well or better for less money bythe private sector. Efficiencies – in boththe public and private sectors – are alwayspossible if one is willing to explore. Wefully understand that several general funddepartments have been squeezed, but let’stake another look. Reaching out to em-ployees for cost-saving ideas should alsobe encouraged and rewarded. Every $1million in savings could fund 7 police of-ficers, so it’s worth making an effort.City Council Office Budgets –We en-

courage councilmembers to lead by ex-ample. Specifically, take a look at yourcity council office budgets – which arethe same for each council district – andtrim 10 percent of your costs. That sav-ings would allow for 3 more police offi-cers on the street. Oversight Committee – Finally, if

councilmembers have nothing to hide,then they should be willing to form a cit-izens’ oversight committee to monitorhow the new sales revenue is spent. Wewould suggest one representative fromeach of the nine city council districts, plustwo mayoral appointees from the businesscommunity – preferably budget man-agers, CPAs or the like. Public meetingsshould be held at least quarterly. Electedofficials are always talking about trans-parency. Here’s their chance to prove it.Long Beach has tremendous economic

and cultural assets, an enviable geo-graphic location and tens of thousands ofresidents and business people who arewilling to get involved so their city canmove forward in a positive way. Publicsafety and infrastructure are two criticalkeys to Long Beach achieving its poten-tial. We believe taxpayers are willing tosupport a sales tax increase if the mayorand councilmembers prove they supporttaxpayers – many of whom are strugglingin a very fragile economy. Adopting theabove four recommendations is a goodplace to start. �

28 Long Beach Business Journal February 16-29, 2016PERSPECTIVES

Publisher’s Perspective:

taxing issues

For voters(Continued From Page 1)


February 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 29NEWSWATCHPERSPECTIVES

3D Printing Made Easy

T he dawn of personalcomputers brought

printers from offices into ourhomes. These simple dot-matrix devices used a mov-ing print head that struck anink-soaked ribbon just likeits predecessor, the type-writer. Dot-matrix technol-

ogy was soon replaced by Inkjet printing,which sprayed tiny ink droplets without thedevice making contact with the printed sur-face. The technology was further improved bylaser printers that used toner instead of ink. Given a computer file, ordinary printers cre-

ate images on two-dimensional surface. 3Dprinting follows a similar process, whereby athree-dimensional object is synthesized whilesuccessive layers of material are laid downunder the instructions of a precise computermodel. While 2D printers work with ink orfine powder, 3D printers are built to depositpowder, plastic, metal, composites or – virtu-ally any type of material. The object beingprinted can have a complex shape or geometry.It may be defined by a Computer-Aided Design(CAD) model or any other digital data sourcesuch as a range camera. Simply put, a 3Dprinter is an industrial robot with extruders ofdifferent types attached to it, depositing mate-rials under a precise computer program. The layer-upon-layer process used in 3D

printing is often characterized as “additivemanufacturing,” contrasting it to the traditionalfabrication methods known as “subtractivemanufacturing.” Starting with a solid block,subtractive manufacturing involves removal ofextraneous pieces through various millingprocesses using lathe machines, drills, or saws. 3D printing technology is especially impor-

tant for rapid prototyping – construction of

an illustrative and functional sample of a de-sired object. It is also used increasingly inlarge-scale production due to its potential forcost-saving, precision, and timelier delivery.However, the main strength of additive man-ufacturing is the fact that it allows a design-driven manufacturing process.Instead of the manufacturing process deter-

mining the design, 3D printing enables the de-sign and manufacturing of highly complexstructures that are light, stable, and robust.This high degree of design freedom leads tomore optimizations and allows for the integra-tion of additional functional features. Further-more, manufacturing in small batch sizes canbe done at more reasonable costs, and productcustomization can be achieved even within se-rial production.Already today, there are numerous applica-

tion areas for 3D printers, including the med-ical field, nanostructures, and microelectronics.Combining a variety of processes such as ex-trusion, fusion, lamination, and deposition, thematerial(s) that make up the designed objectare positioned layer after layer. For example,with 3D bioprinting we can generate spatiallycontrolled cell patterns that preserve cell func-tion and viability. Imagine a bioprinter that re-constructs a bone or a tissue in patient’s body.Many believe that in time the production line

assembly that has been the backbone of manu-facturing in the past century will become obso-lete and 3D printing will create a third IndustrialRevolution. Such a belief is not too farfetched,considering that we already have the ability tosend a CAD model of any product to a 3D print-ing facility and it will be built using the materialthat we have specified. Even better, if you havea 3D printer at home, next time when a partbreaks down, instead of running to your localhardware store, just find the part’s specifica-tions from the Internet and print it at home.(Forouzan Golshani has led the CSULB

College of Engineering as its dean since2007. An IEEE Fellow, he holds a dozen U.S.and international patents, is the founder ofthree successful companies, and has authoredmore than 200 articles. He’s a former advisorto the Costa Rica Minister of Science and amember of California Assembly’s AerospaceAdvisory Council.)

Technology And Innovation

By Forouzan

GolShani


The Numbers JustDon’t Add Up For A

Tax Increase

By the time thiscolumn runs,

there will have been apress conference fea-turing current and pastelected mayors whothink it is very wise forthe taxpayers of LongBeach to pony up

again and pay more taxes.These politicians think it is perfectly

fine to ask taxpayers to approve an in-crease in sales taxes.California already has the highest state

level sales tax rate at 7.5 percent. Coun-ties and cities have added on their ownsales taxes, which is what Long Beach isproposing to do by increasing the tax.The increase is being justified to vot-

ers because, gosh darn it, the city needsmore money. And, remember, they areonly asking for a “one-cent increase.”So, on every $1.00 you spend, you cur-rently pay 9 cents in taxes. Long Beachwants you to pay 10 cents. It adds up.What will the increased taxes be

used for? Everything. See, they have to say that

because, if they specified how that in-crease is going to be used, it would re-quire two-thirds of those voting toapprove it. When you don’t specify how tax in-

creases will be used, then you only needto convince a “simple majority” of thosevoting to say “yes.”There is chest pounding and wailing

about how the city needs more moneyfor police and fire and infrastructure.And we will likely start seeing the roll-

out of the “why we need more taxes”show at community meetings.Apparently, it doesn’t matter that over

the past 10 years, according to the Cityof Long Beach Comprehensive AnnualFinancial Report, revenues increasedfrom $263,132,000 in 2005 to$349,352,000 in 2014. That’s a nearly33 percent increase! It also doesn’t matter that not every-

one in Long Beach has to pay salestaxes. Over the years, the city has givenaway sales tax revenues to shopping cen-ters, car dealers and other businesses.And many of the largest businesses inLong Beach are nonprofits whose prod-ucts or services are not taxable.It also doesn’t matter that this mayor

and council have moved forward onvery expensive, unnecessary projects –such as a Civic Center complex that isso costly that the State Legislature hadto pass a bill allowing Long Beach to in-crease the number of years it could fi-nance the debt from 35 to 50 years.And was anyone listening when the

mayor promised 1 percent to the artscommunity in his state of the city?So who is left to pay the sales tax in-

crease? The working (and not working)people whose incomes have risen lessthan sales taxes, which is insulting con-sidering that this tax increase will helppay for increases in salaries and benefitsfor city employees.The politicians are counting on a

large voter turnout in June of mostlyDemocrats for the presidential primaryand, as an aside, a handful of councilelections. Without protections of strongoversight on how this new money willbe spent, the not so “simple majority”should vote against this tax increase.Next column: Why Sex Trade Hurts

Long Beach(Gerrie Schipske was elected to both

the Long Beach Community CollegeBoard of Trustees and the Long BeachCity Council. She is the author of severalbooks on Long Beach history. Her blogis www.longbeachinside.blogspot.com.)

Inside City Hall

By Gerrie

SchipSke

��

��!��%"�%��%��!#�!"*

��"�)��!*�#��%"�%��$��!��!#�/��0��"��!�$��31�)��!"��"�!&��#��.�%��#)�'�#�� %��#)��(��$��"*��%�#%!��&��#"��%��$��!��!��"+��!��"#��)��%"�%��#��#��#�#�"��#��#��!��#��!�!)��$��!��!#*��%��$��!#+� ��&��&��%��#��"#�#'��"��&��)��&�!�2��&�"�#�!"�#��#�+

�%!��$��"��!�'��#��&�!�2*411��#"��%!��%��&�"�#�$��"��!�'��#��&�!�51*111+�%!�!��#�)��$�#��,��#��&�-��!��#��!�&��"��%��)��!$��"��%"�#��#

�!��"�"��.��!��#��#��%"�%��#��)��%!��(��#"��!$��#��!#�'�!�"��"+ ��#��)�%��!�)�%!�"%��!#��!'�!��#��)��%#%!��%��%��%!��"#��!#"

��$�%��#��"�!&��#��!��#�!��%#��!��!��%��#)��"��%�$��"��.��!)��!#��"$#%$��!�&��!�"".�%�#%!��%�+�

#%�!#��+��"��!�"��#��

�� (+�!�!�!�!�� -� ��%��&

��# ')�.,+�$��# '(�,,+�$�("*��# '.,+�$�("-��# '+.+�� "#!�%$$� !!!


America’s Most Common Birth Defect

E ach year approxi-mately 40,000 ba-

bies are born in theUnited States with a con-genital heart defect, andtwice as many childrendie from congenital heartdefects than from allforms of childhood can-cers combined.

Congenital heart disease is a defect ormalformation of blood vessels or the heartstructure that occurs during fetal develop-ment before birth. Depending on the defect,symptoms can appear right away, or maynot present themselves until later on in life.The defects can range from a simple “hole”between two heart chambers, abnormalheart valve development, abnormal connec-tions between veins/arteries and the heart,to missing heart chambers, and more. Manycongenital heart defects can require surgeryby pediatric congenital heart surgeons tocorrect the defect and prevent problems inthe future. Some examples of types of de-fects include:Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) ASD is a defect (ie: “hole in the heart”)

in the wall that separates the left and rightatriums. The hole allows blood to overloadthe right side of the heart and places anundue stress on it. Atrioventricular Septal Defects (AVSD)Commonly seen in patients with the ge-

netic syndrome, Trisomy 21 or Down Syn-drome, this defect includes the abnormaldevelopment of the inside of the heart in-cluding holes in the heart and improper de-velopment of heart valves.Anomalous Left Coronary Artery

from the Pulmonary Artery (ALCAPA)

ALCAPA is a congenital heart defectwhere the left coronary artery stems fromthe pulmonary artery rather than the aorta.The low oxygen content and pressure ofthis system causes the left heart to weakenand valves to improperly function.Transposition of the Great ArteriesThis congenital heart defect is when the

pulmonary artery and the aorta areswitched so that the aorta stems from theright side of the heart and the pulmonaryartery from the left side of the heart. In thiscondition, the blood is pumped in parallelcirculations and is life threatening at birthwithout additional maneuvers to temporizethe situation till surgery can be completed. Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)VSD is a hole in the wall between the

heart’s right and left ventricles. The size ofthe hole may vary between patients andmay cause symptoms dependent on theamount of blood flowing through it. Signs & Symptoms on Congenital

Heart DefectsThe wide variety of congenital heart de-

fects can affect the ability of the heart toperform well. Some of the common signsand symptoms to be aware of include:bluish color to lips, tongue or nailbeds; in-creased rate of breathing; difficulty breath-ing; difficulty feeding or poor appetite;weight loss or failure to gain weight; heartmurmur; sweating; and decreased pulses inthe lower extremities Although congenital heart disease is gen-

erally associated with children, advances insurgical treatment means most babies whowould have once died of congenital heart dis-ease now survive well into adulthood. Manydefects have to be monitored over a lifetimeWhen a congenital heart defect is found

in a teenager or adult, they still require theexpertise of a congenital cardiac surgeon tocorrect the defect. Surgeons specializing incongenital heart defects can care for any per-son with a congenital heart defect at any age.(Shaun Setty, M.D., is the medical direc-

tor of the Pediatric Heart Center at MillerChildren’s & Women’s Hospital LongBeach.)

5 Ways To Overcome Your Fears

W e are living in a political atmos-phere where fear is exploited and

we are the target. Fear mongering is aneasy tool for manipulative purposes. Donot fall to its antics. Understand that fear is a fact. It im-

pacts all leaders – great and small. Ifyou are in business or working for anorganization there are plenty of oppor-

tunities to allow fear to control you, or at least makeyou miserable. I’m not referring to the phobias thatpeople have or the adrenaline that explodes through ourbody when our safety is suddenly threatened. The firstneeds clinical help, and the second recedes as the dan-ger passes.I’m talking about those fears that keep you stuck in

some area of your life.We might regret the past, but we don’t fear it. The pres-

ent isn’t what we fear either. What we are anxious about

and fear is the future. And since it hasn’t arrived, it is notreal. It’s also true that most of the things we fear will notcome to pass.We all fear shark attacks even though they are ex-

tremely rare. And here’s my point: most dangers we feelare disproportionately relevant to our lives. When fear persists, it distorts our ability to make de-

cisions. It impacts our relationships, our health, ourwork, and our spirituality. In short, it prevents us fromexperiencing the “good life.” We can forget about ourstrengths, brilliance, and resilience.Do you fear failure, rejection, going broke, living

alone? Who hasn’t had these fear-filled thoughts at somepoint? The problem is when they are isolated, amplified,and take control. When that happens, you have boughtinto the illusion. The side effects are a speeding heartand sleepless nights.Here are five ways to overcome your fears and take

back control.1. Be specific about your fears. Is it fear of loss, fail-

ure, risk, change, or even success? Hiding them givesthem energy. Bring them out into the light of day and youdecrease their power. By identifying them you begin totake back control. Rather than being haunted by themyou are now dealing with them.2. Change your perception. Listen to the stories you

tell yourself about your intelligence and strengths.Your self-worth is just that – worth you ascribe to your-self. You can expect the best or the worst, so why notexpect the best. Habits take work. So you’ll need to

focus what you want. Your thinking will snowball inthe direction you choose.3. Applaud the success of your friends. Thoughts of

envy and negativity toward others are energy vampires.(Facebook users, beware). Be happy for people who getwhat you want. Their victories have nothing to do withyours. Negative projections diffuse the focus you needto create your own victories.4. Create space for gratitude. What’s going on in

your life that you appreciate? Fill your mind with that.Be grateful for the love you give and receive. Stop to ac-knowledge your strengths, determination, accomplish-ments, and uniqueness. By doing this you build apositive image, and that’s much closer to reality thanyour fears.5. Get comfortable with the uncomfortable. We all

have a built-in system that makes change difficult. Theseboundaries can be described as our “comfort zone.”Sometimes our fears are simply our natural tendency

to stay in our comfort zones. It keeps us stuck. Thegreater the change, the greater the intensity of resistance. Doing the thing we thought we couldn’t do awakens

the warrior in each of us.(Mick Ukleja keynotes on topics related to leadership

and personal productivity. He’s president of Leadership-Traq, and author of several books. His clients have in-cluded Fortune 500 corporations and nonprofitorganizations. Check his weekly blog at www.leader-shiptraq.com.)

HealthWisefunds and life support: theback pockets of their fansoffered up at times whenno financial institutionwould ever qualify themfor lines of credit or fi-nancing.Throughout history,

there are five elementsthat have proven them-

selves as essential ingredients in the no-fail recipe for a thriving communityorganization. The first is its ability toprove its effectiveness or impact. Eventu-ally, every organization must provide con-vincing evidence, rather than conjecture,that its work is creating a measurable dif-ference for its stakeholders. There aremore than a handful of organizations thathave found out the hard way that doingsomething nice isn’t the same as doingsomething meaningful.When charitable and public dollars or

member dues are a stake, demonstratingeconomic savvy is required. Proving effi-ciencies and balancing overhead costs thatare appropriate for the work being doneagainst the impact that is being sought, re-quires a careful minding of the store. Asecond ingredient is never giving lip serv-ice about how efficient and resilient an or-ganization is at all times. A dashboard isthe best way to keep a transparent watchon the road to either thriving or dying.Evolving with the community is the

third essential ingredient. Resting on thelaurels of a glorious past does not paint arosy picture for the future. Making sure theorganization is contemporary is a constantresponsibility, and an expensive game ofcatch-up when ignored. Involving newgenerations of people, embracing technol-

ogy whenever feasible, employing newbest practices, striving to pay good peopleat market, and knowing the trends that areshaping their stakeholders are ways for anyorganization to not only stay in the game,but remain at the top of their game.An organization’s equity is founded in

its base of support. If an organizationlooks more like a closely held, family-runbusiness controlled by a tight inner circle,the chances of building adequate equityfrom the masses to assure its future ispretty slim. The fourth ingredient in theno-fail recipe for success is continuallyfinding ways to engage and involve morepeople in the cause. Successful organiza-tions measure growth in terms of bothavailable human and financial capital tofulfill the mission.The final ingredient is the secret one.

It’s the one factor that has closed the doorson more churches, clubs, neighborhoodprograms, and associations than all theothers ingredients combined: the amountof respectful cooperation occurringthroughout the organization. When themalignancy of disrespect for others iscompounded with passive-aggressive be-haviors, different camps emerge under thesame tent, and the agenda turns to satisfy-ing internal concerns rather than externalresponsibilities, a one-way ticket to implo-sion is in the making. It’s the one ingredi-ent that no amount of bailout money canever turn around.There’s no claim that a no-fail recipe ex-

ists for successful community organiza-tions. However, history has taught us thatunless effectiveness, economic savvy, evo-lution, community equity and respectfulcooperation are a part of an organization’sleadership recipe, there is little chance ofever unleashing the incredible potentialthat lies within it for making a differencefor us all(Jeffrey R. Wilcox, CFRE, is president

and CEO of The Third Sector Company,Inc. Join in on the conversation about thisarticle at the Long Beach Business Jour-nal website www.lbbizjournal.com.)

Third Sector Report

Effective Leadership

By Mick

ukleJa

By Shaun

Setty, M.D.

By JeFFrey

Wilcox


PERSPECTIVES

Community Organizations:

A No-Fail Recipe For Success?



EDITOR & PUBLISHER

George Economides

SALES & MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Heather Dann

PHOTOGRAPHER AND

STAFF ASSISTANT

Larry Duncan

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

SENIOR WRITER

Samantha Mehlinger

STAFF WRITER

Sean Belk

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Gerrie Schipske

COPY EDITOR

Pat Flynn

The Long Beach Business Journal is a

publication of South Coast Publishing,

Inc., incorporated in the State of Cali-

fornia in July 1985. It is published

every other Tuesday (except between

Christmas and mid-January) – 25

copies annually. The Business Journal

premiered March 1987 as the Long

Beach Airport Business Journal. Re-

production in whole or in part with-

out written permission is strictly

prohibited unless otherwise stated.

Opinions expressed by perspective

writers and guest columnists are their

views and not necessarily those of the

Business Journal. Send press releases

to the address shown here:

Office

South Coast Publishing, Inc.

2599 E. 28th Street, Suite 212

Signal Hill, CA 90755

Ph: 562/988-1222 • Fx: 562/988-1239

www:lbbizjournal.com

Advertising and Editorial Deadlines

Wednesday prior to publication date.

Note: Press releases should be faxed

or mailed. No follow up calls, please.

For a copy of the 2016 advertising and

editorial calendar, please fax request

to 562/988-1239. Include your name,

company and address and a copy will

be sent to you. Distribution: Minimum

22,000.

Regular Office Hours

Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

Business Journal Subscriptions

Standard Bulk Rate: $30.00

(add $2 if paid by credit card)

1st Class: $70.00

(add $3 if paid by credit card)

(25 issues – 1 year)

Vol. XXIX No. 3

February 16-29, 2016

Builders See Rise In Housing Demand

D espite the overall economic chaos that hasbeen the trademark of Wall Street early in

2016, those who make a living in building, rentingand selling housing are seeing strong signs ofsteady improvement this year and are gearingtheir businesses accordingly.First of all, single-family housing construction

is predicted to increase by 18 percent this year to840,000 units – up from 711,000 units in 2015.

This is on the heels of a 14.5 percent increase in new home saleslast year, which was the highest level since 2007 – just before thestart of the Great Recession. In fact, sales rose in December byalmost 11 percent over November to a seasonally adjusted rate of544,000 units. Sales increased in all four regions of the countryin December. The Midwest, West, Northeast and South all postedrespective gains of 31.6 percent, 21 percent, 20.8 percent and 0.4percent.Using the 2000-2003 period as a healthy benchmark when sin-

gle-family starts averaged 1.34 million units on an annual basis,the ongoing housing recovery will see single-family startssteadily climb from 55 percent of normal production at the endof the third quarter of 2015 all the way up to 87 percent of nor-mal by the end of 2017. In the multi-family sector, the NationalAssociation of Home Builders (NAHB) predicts that buildingstarts will be up 5 percent to 417,000 units this year – up from397,000 in 2015.“There are a number of positive indicators that provide solid

evidence this will be a good year for housing and the economy,”said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. “Relatively low in-terest rates and an improving economy are motivating buyers tomake a new-home purchase. Builders are upping their inventoryin response to heightened consumer interest. Housing inventoryis now at its highest level since October 2009.”Private sector job growth has been averaging 240,000 jobs per

month over the past two years. GDP growth is expected to climbslightly above last year’s level, and consumer confidence is nearlyback to its pre-recession peak, Crowe added.Higher rates of household formation and pent-up demand are

two additional factors for the optimism in the housing sector.Labor market conditions, a key driver of housing demand, arestrong in many metropolitan statistical areas – supporting fasterhousehold formations and boosting local housing activity throughrising incomes.With the unemployment rate declining in 90 percent of the

metro areas over the past year, housing fundamentals are thestrongest in over a decade, according to David Berson, chiefeconomist at Nationwide Insurance. This is a trend supportedby the labor market, demographics and consumer preference toown. However, Berson noted, many areas with strong ties to en-ergy exploration and production in states including Louisiana,Texas, Wyoming and South Dakota are expected to see limitedhousing expansion in the near term, as low oil prices are reduc-ing employment.The mortgage equation in all of this is a mixed bag. Rates are

currently very low given historical levels – running at or below 4percent. On the other hand, underwriting is much tighter than 15-20 years ago – but is expected to loosen somewhat in the comingmonths and years.According to Frank Nothaft, the chief economist at CoreLogic,

rates will go up gradually over the year one quarter to one halfpercent higher than they currently are, and sales should enjoy a 4to 5 percent increase overall and 13 percent for new homes. TheSouth and West look to be the growth leaders in housing this yearbecause of the growth in households, population and demand inthese areas, he added. Nothaft predicted that home prices willreach the previous 2006 peak by mid-2017.For builders there will be increased challenges to developing

and building homes in the current environment, including the costand availability of developed lots, building material prices, labor,federal environmental regulations and policies that are making itmore expensive and difficult to build.Overall, however, it looks like builders are pretty optimistic and

are planning accordingly when it comes to increasing productionin anticipation of the increased demand.(Terry Ross, the broker-owner of TR Properties, will answer any

questions about today’s real estate market. E-mail questions toRealty Views at [email protected] or call 949/457-4922.)

Realty Views

By terry roSS

Run A Year-RoundBusiness In A

Seasonal Market

Whether your smallbusiness specializes

in landscaping, air condi-tioning, bicycles, taxes, ora myriad of other areas,chances are you experiencea seasonal market. Run-ning a seasonal businesscalls for a high degree of

financial flexibility. Here are some tips forsuccess:Build A 12-Month BudgetPlanning is the key to making a seasonal

business thrive financially. Even if you earnmost of your revenue in just a few months,consider your income and expenses over afull 12-month period because expensescontinue year-round even if you scale backyour operations in the off-season. • For the minimum budget your business

needs for the year, add up all your fixedcosts such as rent, loan payments, utilitiesand year-round payroll. • Factor in variable costs such as inven-

tory, supplies, and seasonal staff.

• Establish a business savings account tohelp cover ongoing costs and unexpected ex-penses. • Think about how you pay yourself. In a

startup or smaller business you may not drawa salary, but you should plan ahead for pay-ing personal expenses year-round.If your peak revenue doesn’t match expec-

tations, adjust the expense side wherever pos-sible. And if you take in more than you expect,consider making investments in the business,building up the savings account, or both.Ramp Up Your Down Time“There is no off-season” is the rule today

for athletes who want to perform their best.That maxim holds true for many busi-nesses as well. Some business owners findnew ways to expand their products andservices to appeal to customers beyondhigh season. For example, a landscapingcompany might provide holiday decoratingservices in December.Chances are, however, that you will still

face a drop in income at some point on thecalendar. When the revenue falls off, a lineof credit can help you cover your expensesand keep your finances in order. Dependingon your financial partner, you may even beable to link a line of credit directly to yourbusiness checking account and onlinebanking – so you’ll have easy access toyour funds at any time.

Keep In TouchPerhaps the single most important thing

you can do in the off-season is to stay intouch with your customers. To help sustaincustomer relationships year-round, manybusiness owners send thank-you messages,special offers, and other regular contact bymail or electronically. Others launch promo-tions such as off-season or early-bird dis-counts. Whatever tactic you choose, makeevery communication a welcome one by of-fering something of real interest or value. Protect Your InvestmentWhile the demand for products and serv-

ices may vary throughout the year, risk is aconstant. Take advantage of some down timeto make sure your business is protected frombusiness-related risks. If you haven’t yetdone so, talk to your banker or business in-surance planner about the risks inherent inyour business and learn how to set up a busi-ness property and liability plan. By keeping your perspective during the

peak season and making the most of the offseason, you can even out some of the finan-cial bumps, and groom your business for asmoother ride year-round. (Ben Alvarado, a 25-year veteran of Wells

Fargo, is the president of the bank’s So.Calif. Region, which stretches from LongBeach to Orange, Imperial and San Diegocounties.)

PERSPECTIVESFebruary 16-29, 2016 Long Beach Business Journal 31

Small Business Dollars & Sense

By Ben

alvaraDo


february 16-29, 2016 long beach’s newsmagazine www ... · february 16-29, 2016 in the news long...

Documents