|
from OCBJ.com - Orange County Business Journal
OC Insider, June 22, 2009
Local Effort to Buy Fairgrounds; New Bren Adviser
Gov. Arnold may be getting an offer for the OC Fairgrounds—one of the more prominent state-owned properties he wants to unload for badly needed cash. The Insider hears that some Fair Board advocates have approached the guv about buying the 150-acre Costa Mesa site in order to keep it as is. However, the group's offer would likely fall well short of the state's $96 million to $180 million valuation range. The state obviously assumes private development of the site, but city officials have sounded adamant about maintaining the current "recreational-institutional" zoning. Stay tuned ...
Broadcom cofounder Henry "Nick" Nicholas continues his philanthropy (and image-building.) About 300 people celebrated at the billionaire's Newport Coast estate with 24 Santa Ana Unified high school grads tutored at his Nicholas Academic Center. All are college-bound, most on full scholarships. The party included wild animals and the reunited SoCal 'skunk" band Sublime, but was otherwise sedate: There was no alcohol, and Sublime vocalist Rome Garcia warned the grads about drugs, citing the death of the band's original vocalist, Brad Nowell, from a heroin overdose. "Dr. Nicholas" exhorted the grads to "take it to the next level." Nick's mom and three kids were there, on the same day he won dismissal of a lawsuit by ex-wife (and the kids" mom) Stacey seeking full control of the family trust because of his drug and securities fraud indictments ...
Nick also came to KOCE-TV's gala at the Island Hotel and donated $20,000. The event honored Marian Bergeson and Discovery Science Center ...
Another Meg Whitman fundraiser this week, this one at the Newport Coast home of Glenn and Mindy Stearns ...
Buddies Larry Thomas" and Tom Rogers" ships passed in the night along the Alaskan coast ...
Work for a California Republican governor and you might qualify for Donald Bren's Irvine Company. Consultant and troubleshooter (interim Grubb & Ellis CEO) Gary Hunt was a Gov. Ronald Reagan staffer and national GOP operative before joining Bren. Retired PR dean Larry Thomas was press secretary to then-San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson and Gov. George Deukmejian. Now Gov. Schwarzenegger speechwriter Gary Delsohn has joined the company as senior veep of communications. His reports include John Christensen, who remains the primary corporate spokesman. Delsohn is a Chicago native (and the Insider happily notes, a White Sox fan) and longtime journalist (Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News and Sacramento Bee, where he covered the Gray Davis recall). He authored "The Prosecutors," about a year inside the Sacramento D.A.'s office. Delsohn joined Arnold in 2006 before switching to Irvine Company in February (so don't blame him for the propositions debacle.) He says journalism and government work fulfilled his ambitions to "help make the world a better place" and, "I can't think of a developer in the country that's done more for its community and region than the Irvine Co."
Rick Reiff
Copyright, Orange County Business Journal.
All rights reserved
|
